FORERUNNER ESCHATOLOGY
Mike Bickle’s End-Time Teaching
& the International House of Prayer
The End-Time Prayer Manual
Throughout church history the book of Revelation has perhaps been both the most ignored
and the most abused book in the Bible. Because of Bickle’s absolute futuristic, and often
highly sensationalized exposition of the book of Revelation, he has inappropriately elevated
Revelation to a preeminent canonical position in the New Testament. He has redefined and
repurposed it as the church’s “canonized prayer manual” concerning Jesus’ specific end-time
battle plan.40
Bickle imagines that millions of praying Christians will one day be unified in prayer by
knowing exactly how and when to pray next because the judgments and events in the book
of Revelation are numbered and in sequential chronological order.41 According to Bickle,
since the specific sequencial events of the future have been prophetically predicted in the
book of Revelation, the end-time church will be able to loose or bind God’s judgments
exactly as they unfold in history.42
Bickle envisions prayer rooms around the world in full agreement as they pray the
events of the end-time battle plan into existence. It is with this belief that Bickle is now
attempting to get the global prayer movement to embrace his exclusive interpretation of the
book of Revelation.43 This would mean that by praying the final judgment events of the
book of Revelation into existence, the end-time church will be directly responsible for the
mass killing of billions of men, women, and also apparently children.44
John Piper provides wise correction to those like Bickle who attempt to chronologically
predict future events when he writes, “When our future perspective becomes chronological
instead of theological, then faith is endangered. The more detailed one attempts to map
out the future, the more inferences one must make which are not explicit in the Scripture.
Therefore, the tendency of the imagination to fill the gaps increases and the probability of
erroneous calculation grows.”45
END-TIME ESSENTIALS AND NON-ESSENTIALS
One of the mottos I try to live by is “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials,
diversity; and in all things, love.” Indeed there are eschatological biblical
essentials that must be commonly confessed by the church, such as, Jesus’
second coming, bodily resurrection, eternal judgment, and God’s ultimate
purpose of a new heaven and earth. The proper teaching of eschatological
biblical essentials are crucially important to the spiritual urgency and health
of the church.
Unfortunately from the beginning of the church sincere Christians have
been left confused and alarmed by wayward end-time teaching,46 and often
end up spiritually shipwrecked. There always has been, and are today,
church denominations and movements that are preoccupied and isolated by
eschatological date-setting and end-time chronological absolutes.
This has especially been true when dogmatic end-time teachings are
propagated through special revelations, dreams, prophecies, and extrabiblical
exaggerations that are not rooted in thorough exegetical disciplines
of Bible interpretation.
Mature Christians realize that there will continue to be interpretative
diversity within the church concerning the specific chronology and details of
biblical eschatology because end-time teaching requires us to expound
complex Bible passages. As the Apostle Paul makes clear, “Now we see but
a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know
in part; then I shall know fully” (1 Corinthians 13:12). N.T. Wright reminds
us that “all Christian language about the future is a set of signposts pointing
into a fog.”47
No one has an exclusive corner on the full truth concerning the specific
details of the end-times. As long as biblical eschatological essentials are
embraced, and sound contextual Bible interpretation is implemented, we
need to respect each other’s end-time perspectives. Preachers and teachers
should be very careful not to insist or infer that their eschatology is the only
“correct one,” an insistence which has often resulted in dividing the Body of
Christ.48 The Bible is clear that Christian teachers will give an account to
God for their proper and mature handling of the Bible (2 Timothy 2:15).
Sadly, Church history is littered with self-confident and prideful
preachers who have made end-time claims and predictions that have turned
out to be wrong, resulting in Christ’s name being defamed and Christians
being deceived.
One of the clear and essential teachings of New Testament eschatology
is that the church has been living in the Messianic age of the “end-times” or
the “last days” predicted by the Old Testament prophets now for over 2,000
years. Christians are living in the Messianic age of fulfillment,49 and we are
called to watch eagerly50 with full assurance and perseverance for Jesus’
second coming and the final consummation of God’s kingdom. However,
watching for Jesus’ second coming and predicting it are two totally different
things.
Too often, though, watching expectantly, and engaging in world
missions, is not exciting enough for many Christians, and so we become
preoccupied with attempting to predict the exact date or season of the
Messianic consummation. Let’s be honest, the topic of eschatology,
especially when it is sensationalized and fantasized, can easily appeal to our
unhealthy heart motives and ambitions, just as fortune telling, horoscopes,
and even spiritual channeling attract non-Christians. The idea of knowing
the exact season and details of future events can become very tantalizing to
finite humans.
Let’s be reminded that Jesus calls Christians to pray for and forgive our
enemies, even if we are martyred for our faithful witness. He rebuked
James and John when they requested to call down fire from heaven to
destroy the unbelieving Samaritans (Luke 9:51-56). We must reflect deeply,
and with sincere caution, when influential Christian leaders like Bickle start
to predict the exact time or season of Jesus’ second coming.51 Jesus’ own
words in Acts 1:7-8, “It is not for you to know the seasons or dates the
Father has set by his own authority” should lead those inside and outside the
IHOP movement to evaluate more closely the details and thrust of Bickle’s
end-time teaching and his interpretation of the book of Revelation.
God alone in his infinite wisdom holds the details of the future within
his own sovereign will. The ultimate future belongs to God. As for the
church, we must remain focused on Jesus’ great commission of world
evangelization in reaching the billions of men and women who are wandering
lost outside of the kingdom of God.52
1 Pytches, D., Buckingham, J. Some Said It Thundered: A Personal
Encounter with the Kansas City Prophets (Nashville: Oliver-Nelson, 1991).
IHOP’s Prophetic History http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:-
MJEye90RlcJ:www.fotb.com/Publisher/File.aspx%3Fid%3D1000010317+bob
+jones+tabernacle+of+david&cd=15&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefoxa
2 Mike Bickle, Overview of Revelation, mp3, 2008. Mike Bickle, Book of
Revelation: Study Guide (Kansas City: Forerunner Books, 2009).
3 IHOPU Catalog, 4; IHOP Interships Catalog, 18. The Coming Eschatological
Revolution. http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000042100.
Bickle believes that we are living in the early days of the generation in which
Jesus’ second coming, and that He will return within the lifetime of people
alive today.
4 www.IHOP.org
5 www.bobjones.org
6 Bickle was 27-years-old. Paul Steven Ghiringhelli, Watch and Pray
(Charisma Magazine September 2007). http://www.charismamag.com/
index.php/component/content/article/235-unorganized/15949-channelsurfing.
Also Jones prophesied comparing Bickle to President Harry Truman:
CBN YouTube Interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDBRgZP7ul8
7 I have been told by several church leaders that Mike Bickle is a man of
integrity. I had a long talk with him after I sent him a copy of my prepublished
article. I found him to be genuine, and very open to what I had
written.
8 This article is my response to Bickle urging Christians to challenge his endtime
teaching. See Bickle, Book of Revelation, 5. I would like to provide a
detailed response to Bickle’s interpretation of Revelation. However, I am
limited in this article to an introduction of his end-time teaching. See
Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation. New International Greek
Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999). Mark Wilson,
Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological
Perspectives (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007).
9 Stanley J. Grenz, The Millennial Maze: Sorting Out Evangelical Options
(Illinois: InterVarsity, 1992). Robert G. Clouse, editor. The Meaning of the
Millennium: Four Views (Illinois: InterVarsity, 1977).
10 Bickle is correct, from my perspective, in rejecting a secret pre-tribulation
rapture. George Elton Ladd, The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the
Second Advent and the Rapture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980).
11 Keith A. Mathison, Dispensationalism: Rightly Dividing the People of God?
(New Jersey: R&R Publishing, 1995).
12 Hal Lindsey, The Late Great Planet Earth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970).
13 In studying eschatology, it is important to allow the New Testament to
interpret Old Testament prophecies, not the reverse.
14 Bickle, Book of Revelation, 134.
15 Much of Bickle’s end-time teaching is founded upon his faulty
interpretations of Daniel 9:20-27 (Seventy Weeks), and Jesus’ Olivet
Discourse (Matthew 24). Sam Storms, www.enjoygodministries.org,
Theological Studies/Eschatology/Daniel’s 70 Weeks & Matthew 24 and the
Olivet Discourse; R.C. Sproul, The Last Days According to Jesus; John Piper,www.desiringgod.org, Misgivings About Hal Lindsay’s “Planet
Earth” (Sermon, 1974).
16 Bickle teaches an almost sensual bridal church paradigm based on his
allegorical interpretation of the Song of Solomon.
17 I visited IHOP for one-week in January 2009. I participated in their “Prayer
Room” for many hours. I generally found the worship, led by quality
musicians and singers, to be God-centered and Jesus-honoring.
18 IHOP’s online glossary. http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?
ID=1000044074. In response to the concerns I raised, Bickle told me that
he planned to remove this glossary from IHOP’s website.
19 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
20 “The prepared prophetic Church alone will have the answers to keep many
from being offended by God.” Bickle, Book of Revelation, 96.
21 Bickle does not see himself as uniquely special, and he affirms other
equipping ministries in the church.
22 2008 OneThing Conference Podcast Promo. http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=K5FMsDrNyn4&feature=email. Bickle, Overview of Revelation,
Session 1.
23 Revelation 8:1-5 reveals that God’s judgments are released by an angel,
and not by the direct prayers of the end-time church as taught by Bickle.
24 Bickle. Book of Revelation, 5.
25 2008 OneThing Conference Podcast Promo. http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=K5FMsDrNyn4&feature=email.
26 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
27 Bickle, Book of Revelation, 66, 80.
28 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
29 Bickle, Book of Revelation, 4.
30 Bickle includes Matthew 18:18-19.
31 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
32 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
33 The Coming Eschatological Revolution. http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/
Article.aspx?ID=1000042100.
34 2 Kings 1:8
35 IHOP leader Lou Engle (www.louengle.com) is the founder of TheCall
(www.TheCall.com) movement. Lou Engle, The Nazarite Uprising http://www.identitynetwork.net/apps/articles/default.asp?
articleid=37582&columnid=2093.
36 Bickle told me that he has no theological basis for his emphasis
concerning the “harp and bowl” style of prayer. Rather, he is very pragmatic,
and says that it is simply more enjoyable and attracts young Christians.
IHOP 24-7 prayer is led by 25 different worship teams comprised primarily of
young adults. Without these worship teams, I question whether IHOP could
draw and maintain Christians attending their 24/7 Prayer Room. In
discussing this point with Bickle, he fully agreed with me. This prayer model
is very difficult to maintain long-term, it is very labor intensive, requires paid
musicians and singers, and also costs large amounts of money.
37 IHOPU Catalog, 7. Mike Bickle, Tabernacle of David Fact Sheet http://
74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:Kh0-D-hcbSYJ:crossroadsihop.org/teaching/
Tabernacle%2520of%2520David.pdf+mike+bickle+tabernacle+
+david&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
38 Bickle told me that a ghost-writer wrote his initial Tabernacle of David
article (Charisma Magazine, October 2000) http://www.davidic24-7.com/
tabofdavid.html, and that he did not review it well before publication. The
same article was published online in June 2008 by Charisma http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/charisma-channels/prayer/18750, but
Bickle claims that he did not know that it had been republished. He has now
requested Steve Strang to remove it. However, a similar article including
teaching concerning the tabernacle of David was written by Bickle in April
2008. Mike Bickle, Enjoyable Prayer (Charisma Magazine, April 2008).http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/charisma-channels/prayer/18744
39 John Stott, The Message of Acts (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,
1990), 246-247. Sam Storms, www.enjoyinggodministries.com, Theological
Studies/Eschatology/Rebuilding the Tabernacle of David.
40 Bickle, Book of Revelation, 4. Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
41 Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
42 Bickle, Book of Revelation, 4.
43 2008 OneThing Conference Podcast Promo. http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=K5FMsDrNyn4&feature=email. Bickle, Overview of Revelation,
Session 1.
44 Bickle projects four billion people will be killed in the last three and half
years of the Great Tribulation. Bickle, Book of Revelation, 42.
45 John Piper, Misgivings About Hal Lindsay’s “Planet Earth,” 1974.
46 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2
47 N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 132.
48 To my knowledge, Bickle does not allow anyone, even the most qualified
Bible teachers, to teach on the end-times at IHOP unless they primarily
agree with his forerunner eschatology, and his interpretation of the book of
Revelation. Unfortunately, Bickle infers that other interpretations of
Revelation in the church today are lies, and a Satanic strategy to keep the
church from truly understanding Revelation as a end-time prayer manual.
Bickle, Book of Revelation, 96 & Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
49 George Elton Ladd, The Presence of the Future. (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1974).
50 George Elton Ladd, The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second
Advent and the Rapture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 105-119.
51 Bickle states that he is not predicting Jesus’ second coming, but is only
discerning the biblical signs of the times.
52 IHOP engages in local evangelism. However, it lacks any intentional
recruiting and training program for sending long-term cross-cultural
missionaries.
<< COFNIJ
piątek, 30 marca 2012
FORERUNNER ESCHATOLOGY - 1
FORERUNNER ESCHATOLOGY
Mike Bickle’s End-Time Teaching
& the International House of Prayer
Mike Bickle, the one-time charismatic leader of the controversial Kansas City
Prophets in the 1980s and 1990s,1 is now positioning himself to become an
end-time specialist to thousands of Christian young adults around the world.
He preaches an obscure interpretation of the book of Revelation,2 and
proclaims, with a conviction of certainty, that the world is now entering an
“eschatological revolution” that will lead to Jesus’ second coming within the
next fifty years.3
In A.D. 2000, the now 54-year-old Bickle resigned his senior pastorate
position at Metro Christian Fellowship to launch Kansas City’s International
House of Prayer, identified by the acronym IHOP.4 Today, Bickle is the
executive director of the multiple ministries of IHOP, and is the senior pastor
of Forerunner Christian Fellowship. IHOP boasts over four hundred full-time
staff that identify themselves as “Intercessory Missionaries,” and raise their
own financial support.
According to Bickle, the launching of IHOP was a direct fulfillment of a
prophecy he received in 1983 from Bob Jones, one of more disputed of the
so-called Kansas City Prophets.5 Jones predicted that God would raise up a
Kansas City prayer and worship movement “in the spirit of the Tabernacle of
David” that would be made-up of thousands of Christian young adults.6
The IHOP movement has motivated many Christians towards a passion
for Jesus and intercessory prayer. However, in light of Bickle’s escalating
eschatological enthusiasm, it is very timely and significant for Christians,
especially leaders and pastors, to become more informed concerning his
personalized brand of “Forerunner Eschatology” he is now spreading far and
wide.
The purpose of this article is not to critique Bickle’s lifestyle and
ministry, wherein there is apparently much to be admired.7 Rather, I will
explain, and interact with, Bickle’s teaching that is embedded in his eclectic
interpretation of the book of Revelation.8 It is my prayerful desire that this
introductory article will encourage a broader, and more in-depth,
conversation and evaluation of Bickle’s eschatology among those inside and
outside the IHOP movement.
MIKE BICKLE’S END-TIME TEACHING
Today, the primary interpretative systems of biblical eschatology are known
as premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism,9 and within these
distinct systems there are varying perspectives. Bickle identifies his endtime
teaching as an exclusive brand of premillennialism that he calls
“Apostolic Premillennialism.”
Apostolic Premillennialism
Bickle distinguishes his Apostolic Premillennialism from Dispensational
Premillennialism by rejecting a pre-tribulation rapture10 for a conquering
church that prays and ministers through Revelation’s Great Tribulation,
resulting in the salvation of Israel and the largest mission harvest in history.
Otherwise, Bickle’s Apostolic Premillennialism differs little from
Dispensational Premillennialism,11 and incorporates many of the core
interpretative and chronological scenarios popularized by Hal Lindsey.12
These are, for example, a literalist hermeneutic13 of the book of Revelation,
separate redemptive plans for Israel and the Church, a personal Antichrist
leading a revived Roman empire and one-world government, a rebuilt
Jerusalem temple and re-instituted sacrificial system, the mark of the beast
as a microchip implanted in the hand or forehead,14 a seven-year Great
Tribulation, and the earthly millennial reign of Jesus following his second
coming.15
Bickle uses the adjective “Apostolic” in describing his premillennialism
in an effort to emphasize the kind of church he is laboring to build. He
believes he is preparing an army of Christians who will triumph during the
soon-coming crisis of the Antichrist’s global rule and the Great Tribulation.
He preaches a self-identified “Apostolic Christianity” characterized by
intimacy with Jesus as bridegroom,16 wholeheartedness of the Great
Commandment, self-denial holiness, Sermon on the Mount living, Holy Spirit
empowerment, justice, fasting, prayer, and worship. Whereas Bickle has
taught many of these worthy topics since the 1980s, my primary concern is
that in the last couple of years he has begun to re-teach them, wrapping
them tightly in his exclusive end-time teaching and his distinct interpretation
of the book of Revelation.
Forerunner Eschatology
You don’t have to be around the IHOP movement very long17 before you are
exposed to a large glossary of insider terms and phrases, such as,
wilderness lifestyle, friend of the Bridegroom, Daniel anointing, eating the
scroll, fasted lifestyle, burning and shining lamps, wholehearted lovers,
zones of glory, corridor of glory, and many more that could be added.18
A cautionary red light should go on whenever we discover any church
or Christian movement creating, and extensively using, their own exclusive
language. The habitual use of insider language by a Christian movement
can develop a “we-are-different culture” within the greater church. Soon a
person’s use of prescribed terms and phrases is the way to determine
whether they are true “insiders.” It can also easily create a “us” and “them”
attitude within the Body of Christ. Many Christians living within such a
cloistered culture can often find it difficult to leave or relate with other
Christians, who do not speak “their language,” and who are frequently seen
as spiritually luke-warm or compromising.
This becomes especially disconcerting when most inside a Christian
movement begin to “talk alike,” and parrot the same terms and phrases in
their prayers and songs. This emerging reality at IHOP can be demonstrated
by listening to the rapid prayer times in their “Prayer Room,” or to the lyrics
of the songs of IHOP’s quality worship musicians and singers.
More than all of IHOP’s inside terms, however, it is the word
“Forerunner” that is most omnipresent. It is everywhere. Among IHOP’s
ministries, there is the Forerunner Christian Fellowship, Forerunner Music
Academy, Forerunner School of Ministry, Forerunner Media School,
Forerunner Evangelism, and Forerunner Books. It is safe to say that
“Forerunner” is the brand name of Bickle’s IHOP ministry. The use of the
word “Forerunner” is no accident. In fact, “Forerunner Eschatology”
provides the greatest insight into the inner ethos and ministry thrust of
Bickle and IHOP.
Although Bickle admits that Christians can’t predict the exact “day or
hour” of Jesus’ second coming, he firmly claims that we can know the
specific “season” of his return, and boldly tells his followers that he believes
the end of the world will unfold in this generation.19
In light of Bickle’s conviction that we are living in the generation of
Jesus’ second coming, he preaches that as God raised up John the Baptist to
be a forerunner preparing his generation for Jesus’ first coming, God is now
raising up an elite end-time forerunner movement within the church.20 This
movement will prepare this generation for the soon-coming Great Tribulation
and Jesus’ return.
Bickle believes God has anointed him to call forth and train these endtime
Christian forerunners.21 He is praying for thousands of last-day
“forerunner Christians” to be raised up within this generation as special
prophetic voices that will emerge in the spirit and power of Elijah, and defeat
the Antichrist’s soon-coming one-world government and religion by praying
the “battle plan” of the book of Revelation.
The End-Time Forerunner Church
Bickle teaches that Jesus’ second coming can be delayed or sped up
according to the degree of the church’s spiritual maturity and readiness. He
declares that most Christians are waiting passively for Jesus to return, when
in actuality, Jesus is waiting for the church to prepare itself as the pure Bride
of Christ, and ready itself to launch the last-day divine war to drive evil from
the earth, and cleanse it so that it can be filled with God’s love and glory.22
Bickle does not simply preach that the church will go through the
Great Tribulation sealed by God’s sovereign power, but that the end-time
church will actually cause God’s judgments to be released on the earth
through prophetic prayer.23 The end-time praying church will not simply be
helpless martyrs during the Great Tribulation; it will victoriously establish
justice on the earth by releasing the devastating Great Tribulation judgments
on the Antichrist’s global evil empire.24
At the end of December 2008, Bickle ratcheted up his end-time
enthusiasm by passionately announcing that IHOP’s OneThing Conference
would mark a major defining moment within the IHOP prayer movement,
and would primarily center around his interpretation and implementation of
the book of Revelation.25 Bickle declared that it was time for the prayer
movement to realize that it will be the primary agent to transition human
history to the age to come through “prayers of faith that not only heal, but
also kill,” releasing the heavenly arsenals through intercession that will strike
the Antichrist’s political, military, and economic power bases across the
earth.26 The end-times will reveal a “killing Jesus” who is covered with blood
as he does physical combat against the Antichrist’s army as he marches
through Jordan to free Jerusalem.27
Based on Bickle’s end-time teaching, Jesus’ second coming has
preconditions. He teaches that Jesus will not return until the global church
is crying out “Come Lord Jesus” with a full understanding of her identity as
the Bride of Christ. Jesus will only return when the church is functioning in
the unity of the Spirit, and is anointed in prayer to release the destructive
end-time tribulation judgments.
Bickle envisions that the end-time forerunner church will be an
advanced “Apostolic” movement. They will experience “greater things” than
the Apostles themselves. They will function as the last day Moses who
through prayer releases God’s plagues on the Antichrist, the end-time
Pharaoh. Bickle emphasizes that during the end-times, Moses’ miracles and
the miracles of the book of Acts will be combined and multiplied on a global
level as the praying church looses God’s judgments on the earth.28 This is
why Bickle calls the book of Revelation the “End-Times Book of Acts,”
meaning that the book of Revelation reveals the acts of the Holy Spirit that
will be demonstrated through the end-time praying church.29
Bickle goes even further to add another eschatological interpretive
twist to Matthew 16:18-19, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will
not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 30 He claims that Jesus’ statement refer
to the end-time church’s possession of the keys of the kingdom through
prayer that will drive hell off the planet during the Great Tribulation. The
church will exercise binding and loosing end-time authority over God’s
judgments assuring that the gates of hell - the Antichrist’s evil empire - will
not prevail.31
Forerunner “Wilderness Lifestyle”
Bickle engages in another eschatological twist of the Bible when he exhorts
Christians to follow the example of John the Baptist, and dedicate
themselves to live a “wilderness lifestyle” of fasting and prayer so that they
can emerge one-day as “forerunner voices” prior to Jesus’ second coming.32
In May 1997, Bickle claims that the Lord spoke to him to believe Him to raise
up 10,000 forerunners who live in the spirit of John the Baptist as friends of
the Bridegroom (John 3:29).33
The primary problem with Bickle’s “wilderness lifestyle” exhortation is
that the Bible is basically silent about the specifics of how John the Baptist
lived his life. Simply because he lived in the unpopulated Judean region
near the Jordan River, and dressed and ate like the Old Testament prophet
Elijah34 does not mean that John the Baptist lived a heroic sacrificial lifestyle
that is to be elevated and emulated by New Testament Christians.
John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and
functioned as a transitional figure between the eras of the Old and New
Covenants. This is why Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 11:11 that
anyone who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the
Baptist.
Bickle’s elevation of John the Baptist’s lifestyle seems motivated more
by his effort to substantiate his Forerunner Eschatology than by solid biblical
interpretation. The use of an Old Testament prophet like John the Baptist as
a stellar model of Christian living can easily result in an unhealthy ascetic
form of Christianity. For example, IHOP leader Lou Engle encourages young
Christians to take Old Testament Nazarite vows based on Numbers 6:1-21, a
practice not taught in the New Testament.35
To undergird his Forerunner Eschatology, Bickle exhorts Christians to
follow the “wilderness lifestyle” of an Old Testament prophet, instead of
modeling their lives completely on Jesus’ incarnational lifestyle as lived-out
by the New Testament Apostles none of whom mention John the Baptist as a
life example for Christians to follow. John the Baptist declared that Jesus
must increase, and he should decrease (John 3:30). Bickle could return to
biblical soundness if he abandoned his eschatological “wilderness lifestyle”
emphasis, and focus totally on the plentiful New Testament teachings
concerning living a sacrificial and consecrated lifestyle as mission people for
the salvation of God’s world.
The End-Time Prayer Movement
There is nothing more central to Bickle’s eschatology than his teaching
concerning the end-time prayer and prophetic movement. Building on the
24/7 prayer example of the historic Moravians, and the contemporary South
Korean practice of fervent prayer and consecrated prayer mountains, IHOP is
spreading a passion for intercessory prayer and worship throughout the
church.
Bickle’s primary vision is to promote the escalation of the Harp (worship
music) and Bowl (intercession) prayer style derived from Revelation 5:8,
which is implemented in the night and day model of IHOP.36 IHOP claims
that it has been practicing this kind of prophetic prayer and worship without
ceasing since September 19, 1999.
Bickle’s mission is to multiply 24/7 prayer rooms throughout the world
that use the book of Revelation as their prayer guide concerning Jesus’ endtime
battle plan. He often quotes Jesus’ statement in Luke 18:7-8, “Will not
God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and
night? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly,” to support his
assertion that day and night prayer will quicken the second coming of Christ.
God is indeed stirring up a fresh intercessory prayer movement around
the world of Christians who will consecrate themselves to worshiping Him in
Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). The multiplication of 24/7 prayer rooms
filled with mature intercessors and worshipers would certainly be a blessing
to the church today. However, prayer and worship primarily increases
worldwide through the extensive growth of the global church among all the
ethnic peoples of the earth. Through a basic understanding of cosmology,
the church is praying night and day at all times right now. When it is night
in one geographical location, it is day in another. The swelling increase of
prayer over the last few decades can be significantly attributed to the
growing church, especially in places like China, South Korea, Southern
Africa, and Latin America.
One of the more troubling teaching promoted by Bickle through the years related to
the relationship of the Old Testament tabernacle of David and the end-time prayer
movement.37 In his Tabernacle of David article published in Charisma Magazine38 he makes
three interpretative errors, (1) He writes: I believe I have found the secret to a vital prayer
life. I came across this secret when I was studying the tabernacle of David in Acts
15:16-17, the effective model of a 24-hour-a-day prayer and worship ministry. In Acts
15:16-17, however, James is speaking about the restoration of the fulfillment of the line of
David in the first coming of Jesus as Messiah.39 (2) He writes: In Moses' time, the glory on
the ark was hidden in the holy of holies behind a thick veil. But in David's tabernacle, there
was no veil to keep the people from seeing the glory of God. It was unprecedented: David
set the ark of the covenant in open view! Instead of the thick veil Moses used, David made
musicians and singers into a human veil around the ark. This statement has no biblical
basis, and would have been a complete violation of Mosaic Law. (3) He writes: I believe
God will fully restore the tabernacle of David--which is the very embodiment of intercessory
worship before the beauty, holiness and glory of God--in the generation in which the Lord
returns according to Acts 15:16-17. I believe it will be the means of releasing the fullness of
salvation and revival for all the nations. Through this model of intercessory worship, the
Great Commission will be fulfilled so that every tribe, tongue and nation will be present on
the last day. Again, a misinterpretation of Acts 15:16-17.
I address Bickle’s printed teaching on the tabernacle of David because it is now being
promoted and taught by many Christians. However, a very encouraging development is that
Bickle has told me that he no longer believes most of what is contained in his article.
However, he still emphasizes the spirit of the tabernacle of David as a worship and prayer
ministry style (1 Chronicles 15:1), and emphasizes that the restoration of the tabernacle of
David refers to Jesus establishing His Jerusalem millennium throne and ruling the earth in
the context of prayer and worship (Amos 9:11–15; Isaiah 56:7). Although the New
Testament does not teach that Christians should model any Old Testament worship style and
Acts 15:16-17 is primarily the fulfillment of the first coming of Jesus as Messiah, Bickle’s
teaching concerning the tabernacle of David is moving in the right direction.
DALEJ >>
Mike Bickle’s End-Time Teaching
& the International House of Prayer
Mike Bickle, the one-time charismatic leader of the controversial Kansas City
Prophets in the 1980s and 1990s,1 is now positioning himself to become an
end-time specialist to thousands of Christian young adults around the world.
He preaches an obscure interpretation of the book of Revelation,2 and
proclaims, with a conviction of certainty, that the world is now entering an
“eschatological revolution” that will lead to Jesus’ second coming within the
next fifty years.3
In A.D. 2000, the now 54-year-old Bickle resigned his senior pastorate
position at Metro Christian Fellowship to launch Kansas City’s International
House of Prayer, identified by the acronym IHOP.4 Today, Bickle is the
executive director of the multiple ministries of IHOP, and is the senior pastor
of Forerunner Christian Fellowship. IHOP boasts over four hundred full-time
staff that identify themselves as “Intercessory Missionaries,” and raise their
own financial support.
According to Bickle, the launching of IHOP was a direct fulfillment of a
prophecy he received in 1983 from Bob Jones, one of more disputed of the
so-called Kansas City Prophets.5 Jones predicted that God would raise up a
Kansas City prayer and worship movement “in the spirit of the Tabernacle of
David” that would be made-up of thousands of Christian young adults.6
The IHOP movement has motivated many Christians towards a passion
for Jesus and intercessory prayer. However, in light of Bickle’s escalating
eschatological enthusiasm, it is very timely and significant for Christians,
especially leaders and pastors, to become more informed concerning his
personalized brand of “Forerunner Eschatology” he is now spreading far and
wide.
The purpose of this article is not to critique Bickle’s lifestyle and
ministry, wherein there is apparently much to be admired.7 Rather, I will
explain, and interact with, Bickle’s teaching that is embedded in his eclectic
interpretation of the book of Revelation.8 It is my prayerful desire that this
introductory article will encourage a broader, and more in-depth,
conversation and evaluation of Bickle’s eschatology among those inside and
outside the IHOP movement.
MIKE BICKLE’S END-TIME TEACHING
Today, the primary interpretative systems of biblical eschatology are known
as premillennialism, postmillennialism and amillennialism,9 and within these
distinct systems there are varying perspectives. Bickle identifies his endtime
teaching as an exclusive brand of premillennialism that he calls
“Apostolic Premillennialism.”
Apostolic Premillennialism
Bickle distinguishes his Apostolic Premillennialism from Dispensational
Premillennialism by rejecting a pre-tribulation rapture10 for a conquering
church that prays and ministers through Revelation’s Great Tribulation,
resulting in the salvation of Israel and the largest mission harvest in history.
Otherwise, Bickle’s Apostolic Premillennialism differs little from
Dispensational Premillennialism,11 and incorporates many of the core
interpretative and chronological scenarios popularized by Hal Lindsey.12
These are, for example, a literalist hermeneutic13 of the book of Revelation,
separate redemptive plans for Israel and the Church, a personal Antichrist
leading a revived Roman empire and one-world government, a rebuilt
Jerusalem temple and re-instituted sacrificial system, the mark of the beast
as a microchip implanted in the hand or forehead,14 a seven-year Great
Tribulation, and the earthly millennial reign of Jesus following his second
coming.15
Bickle uses the adjective “Apostolic” in describing his premillennialism
in an effort to emphasize the kind of church he is laboring to build. He
believes he is preparing an army of Christians who will triumph during the
soon-coming crisis of the Antichrist’s global rule and the Great Tribulation.
He preaches a self-identified “Apostolic Christianity” characterized by
intimacy with Jesus as bridegroom,16 wholeheartedness of the Great
Commandment, self-denial holiness, Sermon on the Mount living, Holy Spirit
empowerment, justice, fasting, prayer, and worship. Whereas Bickle has
taught many of these worthy topics since the 1980s, my primary concern is
that in the last couple of years he has begun to re-teach them, wrapping
them tightly in his exclusive end-time teaching and his distinct interpretation
of the book of Revelation.
Forerunner Eschatology
You don’t have to be around the IHOP movement very long17 before you are
exposed to a large glossary of insider terms and phrases, such as,
wilderness lifestyle, friend of the Bridegroom, Daniel anointing, eating the
scroll, fasted lifestyle, burning and shining lamps, wholehearted lovers,
zones of glory, corridor of glory, and many more that could be added.18
A cautionary red light should go on whenever we discover any church
or Christian movement creating, and extensively using, their own exclusive
language. The habitual use of insider language by a Christian movement
can develop a “we-are-different culture” within the greater church. Soon a
person’s use of prescribed terms and phrases is the way to determine
whether they are true “insiders.” It can also easily create a “us” and “them”
attitude within the Body of Christ. Many Christians living within such a
cloistered culture can often find it difficult to leave or relate with other
Christians, who do not speak “their language,” and who are frequently seen
as spiritually luke-warm or compromising.
This becomes especially disconcerting when most inside a Christian
movement begin to “talk alike,” and parrot the same terms and phrases in
their prayers and songs. This emerging reality at IHOP can be demonstrated
by listening to the rapid prayer times in their “Prayer Room,” or to the lyrics
of the songs of IHOP’s quality worship musicians and singers.
More than all of IHOP’s inside terms, however, it is the word
“Forerunner” that is most omnipresent. It is everywhere. Among IHOP’s
ministries, there is the Forerunner Christian Fellowship, Forerunner Music
Academy, Forerunner School of Ministry, Forerunner Media School,
Forerunner Evangelism, and Forerunner Books. It is safe to say that
“Forerunner” is the brand name of Bickle’s IHOP ministry. The use of the
word “Forerunner” is no accident. In fact, “Forerunner Eschatology”
provides the greatest insight into the inner ethos and ministry thrust of
Bickle and IHOP.
Although Bickle admits that Christians can’t predict the exact “day or
hour” of Jesus’ second coming, he firmly claims that we can know the
specific “season” of his return, and boldly tells his followers that he believes
the end of the world will unfold in this generation.19
In light of Bickle’s conviction that we are living in the generation of
Jesus’ second coming, he preaches that as God raised up John the Baptist to
be a forerunner preparing his generation for Jesus’ first coming, God is now
raising up an elite end-time forerunner movement within the church.20 This
movement will prepare this generation for the soon-coming Great Tribulation
and Jesus’ return.
Bickle believes God has anointed him to call forth and train these endtime
Christian forerunners.21 He is praying for thousands of last-day
“forerunner Christians” to be raised up within this generation as special
prophetic voices that will emerge in the spirit and power of Elijah, and defeat
the Antichrist’s soon-coming one-world government and religion by praying
the “battle plan” of the book of Revelation.
The End-Time Forerunner Church
Bickle teaches that Jesus’ second coming can be delayed or sped up
according to the degree of the church’s spiritual maturity and readiness. He
declares that most Christians are waiting passively for Jesus to return, when
in actuality, Jesus is waiting for the church to prepare itself as the pure Bride
of Christ, and ready itself to launch the last-day divine war to drive evil from
the earth, and cleanse it so that it can be filled with God’s love and glory.22
Bickle does not simply preach that the church will go through the
Great Tribulation sealed by God’s sovereign power, but that the end-time
church will actually cause God’s judgments to be released on the earth
through prophetic prayer.23 The end-time praying church will not simply be
helpless martyrs during the Great Tribulation; it will victoriously establish
justice on the earth by releasing the devastating Great Tribulation judgments
on the Antichrist’s global evil empire.24
At the end of December 2008, Bickle ratcheted up his end-time
enthusiasm by passionately announcing that IHOP’s OneThing Conference
would mark a major defining moment within the IHOP prayer movement,
and would primarily center around his interpretation and implementation of
the book of Revelation.25 Bickle declared that it was time for the prayer
movement to realize that it will be the primary agent to transition human
history to the age to come through “prayers of faith that not only heal, but
also kill,” releasing the heavenly arsenals through intercession that will strike
the Antichrist’s political, military, and economic power bases across the
earth.26 The end-times will reveal a “killing Jesus” who is covered with blood
as he does physical combat against the Antichrist’s army as he marches
through Jordan to free Jerusalem.27
Based on Bickle’s end-time teaching, Jesus’ second coming has
preconditions. He teaches that Jesus will not return until the global church
is crying out “Come Lord Jesus” with a full understanding of her identity as
the Bride of Christ. Jesus will only return when the church is functioning in
the unity of the Spirit, and is anointed in prayer to release the destructive
end-time tribulation judgments.
Bickle envisions that the end-time forerunner church will be an
advanced “Apostolic” movement. They will experience “greater things” than
the Apostles themselves. They will function as the last day Moses who
through prayer releases God’s plagues on the Antichrist, the end-time
Pharaoh. Bickle emphasizes that during the end-times, Moses’ miracles and
the miracles of the book of Acts will be combined and multiplied on a global
level as the praying church looses God’s judgments on the earth.28 This is
why Bickle calls the book of Revelation the “End-Times Book of Acts,”
meaning that the book of Revelation reveals the acts of the Holy Spirit that
will be demonstrated through the end-time praying church.29
Bickle goes even further to add another eschatological interpretive
twist to Matthew 16:18-19, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will
not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose
on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 30 He claims that Jesus’ statement refer
to the end-time church’s possession of the keys of the kingdom through
prayer that will drive hell off the planet during the Great Tribulation. The
church will exercise binding and loosing end-time authority over God’s
judgments assuring that the gates of hell - the Antichrist’s evil empire - will
not prevail.31
Forerunner “Wilderness Lifestyle”
Bickle engages in another eschatological twist of the Bible when he exhorts
Christians to follow the example of John the Baptist, and dedicate
themselves to live a “wilderness lifestyle” of fasting and prayer so that they
can emerge one-day as “forerunner voices” prior to Jesus’ second coming.32
In May 1997, Bickle claims that the Lord spoke to him to believe Him to raise
up 10,000 forerunners who live in the spirit of John the Baptist as friends of
the Bridegroom (John 3:29).33
The primary problem with Bickle’s “wilderness lifestyle” exhortation is
that the Bible is basically silent about the specifics of how John the Baptist
lived his life. Simply because he lived in the unpopulated Judean region
near the Jordan River, and dressed and ate like the Old Testament prophet
Elijah34 does not mean that John the Baptist lived a heroic sacrificial lifestyle
that is to be elevated and emulated by New Testament Christians.
John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and
functioned as a transitional figure between the eras of the Old and New
Covenants. This is why Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 11:11 that
anyone who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the
Baptist.
Bickle’s elevation of John the Baptist’s lifestyle seems motivated more
by his effort to substantiate his Forerunner Eschatology than by solid biblical
interpretation. The use of an Old Testament prophet like John the Baptist as
a stellar model of Christian living can easily result in an unhealthy ascetic
form of Christianity. For example, IHOP leader Lou Engle encourages young
Christians to take Old Testament Nazarite vows based on Numbers 6:1-21, a
practice not taught in the New Testament.35
To undergird his Forerunner Eschatology, Bickle exhorts Christians to
follow the “wilderness lifestyle” of an Old Testament prophet, instead of
modeling their lives completely on Jesus’ incarnational lifestyle as lived-out
by the New Testament Apostles none of whom mention John the Baptist as a
life example for Christians to follow. John the Baptist declared that Jesus
must increase, and he should decrease (John 3:30). Bickle could return to
biblical soundness if he abandoned his eschatological “wilderness lifestyle”
emphasis, and focus totally on the plentiful New Testament teachings
concerning living a sacrificial and consecrated lifestyle as mission people for
the salvation of God’s world.
The End-Time Prayer Movement
There is nothing more central to Bickle’s eschatology than his teaching
concerning the end-time prayer and prophetic movement. Building on the
24/7 prayer example of the historic Moravians, and the contemporary South
Korean practice of fervent prayer and consecrated prayer mountains, IHOP is
spreading a passion for intercessory prayer and worship throughout the
church.
Bickle’s primary vision is to promote the escalation of the Harp (worship
music) and Bowl (intercession) prayer style derived from Revelation 5:8,
which is implemented in the night and day model of IHOP.36 IHOP claims
that it has been practicing this kind of prophetic prayer and worship without
ceasing since September 19, 1999.
Bickle’s mission is to multiply 24/7 prayer rooms throughout the world
that use the book of Revelation as their prayer guide concerning Jesus’ endtime
battle plan. He often quotes Jesus’ statement in Luke 18:7-8, “Will not
God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and
night? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly,” to support his
assertion that day and night prayer will quicken the second coming of Christ.
God is indeed stirring up a fresh intercessory prayer movement around
the world of Christians who will consecrate themselves to worshiping Him in
Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24). The multiplication of 24/7 prayer rooms
filled with mature intercessors and worshipers would certainly be a blessing
to the church today. However, prayer and worship primarily increases
worldwide through the extensive growth of the global church among all the
ethnic peoples of the earth. Through a basic understanding of cosmology,
the church is praying night and day at all times right now. When it is night
in one geographical location, it is day in another. The swelling increase of
prayer over the last few decades can be significantly attributed to the
growing church, especially in places like China, South Korea, Southern
Africa, and Latin America.
One of the more troubling teaching promoted by Bickle through the years related to
the relationship of the Old Testament tabernacle of David and the end-time prayer
movement.37 In his Tabernacle of David article published in Charisma Magazine38 he makes
three interpretative errors, (1) He writes: I believe I have found the secret to a vital prayer
life. I came across this secret when I was studying the tabernacle of David in Acts
15:16-17, the effective model of a 24-hour-a-day prayer and worship ministry. In Acts
15:16-17, however, James is speaking about the restoration of the fulfillment of the line of
David in the first coming of Jesus as Messiah.39 (2) He writes: In Moses' time, the glory on
the ark was hidden in the holy of holies behind a thick veil. But in David's tabernacle, there
was no veil to keep the people from seeing the glory of God. It was unprecedented: David
set the ark of the covenant in open view! Instead of the thick veil Moses used, David made
musicians and singers into a human veil around the ark. This statement has no biblical
basis, and would have been a complete violation of Mosaic Law. (3) He writes: I believe
God will fully restore the tabernacle of David--which is the very embodiment of intercessory
worship before the beauty, holiness and glory of God--in the generation in which the Lord
returns according to Acts 15:16-17. I believe it will be the means of releasing the fullness of
salvation and revival for all the nations. Through this model of intercessory worship, the
Great Commission will be fulfilled so that every tribe, tongue and nation will be present on
the last day. Again, a misinterpretation of Acts 15:16-17.
I address Bickle’s printed teaching on the tabernacle of David because it is now being
promoted and taught by many Christians. However, a very encouraging development is that
Bickle has told me that he no longer believes most of what is contained in his article.
However, he still emphasizes the spirit of the tabernacle of David as a worship and prayer
ministry style (1 Chronicles 15:1), and emphasizes that the restoration of the tabernacle of
David refers to Jesus establishing His Jerusalem millennium throne and ruling the earth in
the context of prayer and worship (Amos 9:11–15; Isaiah 56:7). Although the New
Testament does not teach that Christians should model any Old Testament worship style and
Acts 15:16-17 is primarily the fulfillment of the first coming of Jesus as Messiah, Bickle’s
teaching concerning the tabernacle of David is moving in the right direction.
DALEJ >>
Subskrybuj:
Posty (Atom)