THE APOSTOLIC AND PROPHETIC MOVEMENT

Truth Matters Newsletters – January 2012 – Vol. 17 Issue 1 – THE APOSTOLIC AND PROPHETIC MOVEMENT – Keith Gibson

http://discernmentministriesinternational.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/the-apostolic-and-prophetic-movement/

 Discernment Ministries International

 THE APOSTOLIC AND PROPHETIC MOVEMENT

By Keith Gibson

 “I heard what I call the internal audible voice of the Lord…It was as clear as crystal. I heard the actual words. There was no guess-work. It was not impressions. It was the word of the Lord came to me. And the Lord said this, ‘I am going to change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the whole world in one generation.” (1)

 I was first drawn to begin looking into the new apostles and prophets by a question from some of the youth in our church back in 2003. I have been a pastor in the Kansas City area for the last 21 years. Additionally, since 2004, I have been the Director for the Kansas City office of the Apologetics Resource Center. Several of the young men in our church had friends who were becoming involved with a new ministry in town called, The International House of Prayer (IHOP). When I told them I would look into it, I expected to find nothing more than a typical Charismatic ministry. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

 My foray into the doctrines and practices of IHOP introduced me to some of the key leaders within the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement with which I had been completely unfamiliar. To say it was eye-opening would be a gross understatement. What I found was a movement literally intent on redefining the Christian faith.

 The majority of the Church has not taken seriously the claims of the modern apostles and prophets to be introducing a new paradigm into the Body of Christ. These claims are far more than idle boasts. Indeed the paradigm shifts have already begun in many segments of Christianity. To say that the movement has grown rapidly would be a gross understatement. The Identity Network an email list promoting the teachings of the new apostles and prophets boasts a daily readership of over 150,000 people. The Elijah List, a similar network, is read by over 130,000 individuals daily. The issues raised by the new prophets and apostles go far deeper than a mere debate over the cessation or continuation of spiritual gifts. Without intending to be alarmist, it is the contention of this article that many of the statements and teachings of leaders within this movement strike at the very heart of essential Christian doctrine and the nature of Christianity. This is no longer a Charismatic vs. Non-Charismatic issue.

 This article will attempt to evaluate the new apostles and prophets. It is not the intention of this article to insinuate that these teachers are not believers in Christ, but only to bring a corrective to much of their doctrine and a warning to the church at large. It must be noted that space constraints will require the evaluation to be overly general in nature. The movement itself is loosely affiliated and contains great diversity. However there are some common themes that may be noted.

 It is important to understand that the leaders of this movement consider themselves to be absolutely essential in the preparation of thee church for the coming of Jesus Christ. Rick Joyner of Morningstar Ministries arrogantly declares, “No ministry which rejects or avoids what is now happening in the restoration of the prophetic ministry will be able to truly fulfill its own calling and purpose in this hour.” (2) Notice the role that these modern apostles are to play according to the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA), “An apostle is a Christian leader gifted, taught, commissioned, and sent by God with the authority to establish the foundational government of the church within an assigned sphere of ministry by hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches and by setting things in order accordingly for the growth and maturity of the church.” (3) Notice that these leaders are to “establish foundational government within the church”. In other words, the rest of the Body should be submitting to them and indeed will submit to their leadership as the church matures.

 Apostle Bill Hamon is even more direct when he writes, “…apostles and prophets must be restored before the Church can fulfill its predestinated end-time purpose on earth.” (4) He continues later in the same work, “The full restoration of apostles and prophets back into the Church will then bring divine order, unity, purity, and maturity to the corporate Body of Christ…..That will in turn bring about the end of this world system of humanity and Satan’s rule. The fulfillment of all these things will release Christ, who has been seated at the right hand of the thing will release Christ, who has been seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, to return literally and set up His everlasting kingdom over all the earth.” (5)

 With the roots of the current movement planted firmly in the Manifest Sons of God teaching of the Latter Rain Movement, many of these teachers boldly proclaim that the church will conquer the world for Jesus Christ and establish His government by subduing the nations. A few, like Hamon, still teach that the church reaches glorification and immortalization (victory over death) before Jesus returns.

 Issues and Concern

Though many red flags should have already been raised, the remainder of this article will examine the teachings of the new apostles and prophets and the impact of these teachings upon several key doctrinal areas.

 The Scriptures

 Without a doubt the most pervasive assaults by the modern apostles and prophets occur with regard to the inspiration, inerrancy, sufficiency and perspicuity of the Word of God. In order to be fair, it must be noted that the vast majority of these teachers are completely orthodox concerning the Scriptures if one only reads their doctrinal statements. When one examines their actual teachings however, a completely different picture results.

 Inspiration and Inerrancy

 In his extremely popular book, The Final Quest, Rick Joyner postulates four different levels of inspiration ranging from impressions (lowest), to open visions and trance states (highest). In this discussion, Joyner places the epistles of the New Testament at only the second level of inspiration. Concerning this level Joyner writes, “The next level of inspiration is a conscious sense of the presence of the Lord, or the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which gives special illumination to our minds. This often comes when I am writing, or speaking, and it gives much greater confidence in the importance or accuracy of what I am saying. I believe that this was probably experienced by the apostles as they wrote the New Testament epistles. This will give us great confidence, but it is still a level where we can still be influenced by our prejudices, doctrines, etc.” (6) (emphasis added)

 Notice that Joyner, in this alarming statement, has completely undermined the absolute authority of the epistles. While, according to Joyner, we can have greater confidence in them than if they were given by mere impressions, these epistles may still contain information that comes from the apostle’s own prejudices and personal doctrines. This would mean, at least theoretically, that we as believers now have the task of discerning which parts of the apostolic message are actually inspired by God and which are the result of the apostle’s flesh. Technically then, a believer would have the responsibility to set aside those parts of the New Testament that he determines to be from the apostle’s prejudice as opposed to the Word of God. Not only this, but Joyner claims that this level of inspiration frequently occurs for him when he writes and speaks. This would mean that many of Joyner’s words are on parallel with the New Testament itself. But it gets worse, for Joyner will also claim that he receives much of his information including that which is to be found in “The Final Quest, from the two levels of inspiration that are higher than that which the apostles received when penning the epistles. Though Joyner doesn’t draw the obvious conclusion, this would mean that the words of Joyner in works like “The Final Quest” actually possess greater authority than parts of the Bible itself. The result is shocking for if Joyner is correct, we can no longer evaluate his teachings based on the words of scripture but should actually evaluate some of the writings of scripture according to the standard of Joyner’s visions and trances.

 How far are Joyner’s comments from the writings of the true apostles, “Knowing this, that no prophecy is of any private interpretation. For prophecy did not originate with man but holy men of God wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:20)

 Joyner is not alone in placing his words alongside scripture in authority. In her book, Heaven is So Real supposedly based on actual visits to heaven, Choo Thomas claims the following, “Like John, I had been called to write, and my mission was the same as his—to let people know that the marriage supper of the Lamb has already been prepared and blessed are those who are invited to be there on the last day.” (7) Elsewhere in the same book she writes, “Every word in this book is true. The words of Jesus have been transcribed exactly as He said them to me.” (8)

 Sufficiency

In a variety of ways, the modern apostles and prophets attack the sufficiency of scripture. Obviously, if the quotes already given by Joyner and Thomas are ture, then the scriptures are not teachers, doctrines are being invented on an almost weekly basis that have little or no foundation in the Word such as spiritual mapping, heavenly portals, spirit-ties, spiritual inheritances, judicial intercession, soaking and the list goes on and on. Studying the teachings of the new prophets one finds so many doctrines based on personal revelation that one wonders why we even need Bibles anymore.

 In some cases, the attacks are even more direct. For instance, Choo Thomas claims the following, “He wants me to serve as living proof of the Bible and His prophecies, because many people do not believe what they read in the Bible, nor do they believe that He is coming soon for His people.” (9) Elsewhere she writes “He had shown me how desperate many people are to know the truth about heaven, and I realized emphatically that my book would be the means whereby they could really know.” (10) Examine the words of Thomas closely. Her words will do what the Bible is unable to do. Those unconvinced of the truth by the gospel will be convinced by Thomas’s testimony. Those desperate pages of Holy Scripture but in the writings of Thomas.

 In her extremely popular book, “Journal of the Unknown Prophet”, Wendy Alec relates a word supposedly spoken by Jesus Himself concerning the teachers He is raising up in this generation. Jesus allegedly states, “For the Word alone is yesterday’s manna and even they [the prophetic teachers] have seen deep in their hearts that it is no longer enough to feed my people.” (11) Whether intentionally or not, Alec’s word compares the Scriptures to the worm-infested manna that the children of Israel experienced when they gathered more than they needed during the Exodus. Whether Alec’s vision is the result of an over-active imagination or an encounter with a seducing spirit one thing is certain, the Son of God would never speak of the Scriptures in such a manner.

 Perspicuity

The teachings of the modern apostles and prophets are destroying the church’s traditional understanding of the Bible. They have, in large part, rejected the historical-grammatical form of interpretation and have substituted a prophetic hermeneutic which allows the Bible to be manipulated to mean whatever the prophet says it means today. In this way, the Bible is no longer able to fulfill its function as the basis for truth and corrective against error but rather becomes merely the puppet of the apostle/prophet to advance his agenda. Therefore Mike Bickle can find in Micah 2:12,13 justification for the “breaker anointing.” (12) a doctrine completely unknown for the 2,000 year history of the church. Shawn Bolz can read Proverbs 6:31 and find authority to break off a “poverty spirit.” (13) Key doctrines of the new movement such as the restoration of the tabernacle of David, enthroning God through worship, spiritual mapping and countless other examples are all based on a poor approach to interpretation.

 The Decline of Doctrine

 In addition to the undermining of core doctrines, within the apostolic/prophetic movement there is an overall disdain for doctrine in general. Doctrine is unimportant. Doctrine is minimized. Doctrine is seen as that which divides. We simply need to follow Christ. For instance Francis Frangipane writes, “We have instructed the church in nearly everything but becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. We have filled the people with doctrines instead of Deity; we have given them manuals instead of Emmanuel.” (14)

 What the new apostles and prophets fail to appreciate is that doctrine is that which is believed to be true. To say that doctrine is unimportant is tantamount to claiming that truth is unimportant. While it is certain that some doctrines are more central than others and while we should acknowledge that the church has been too quick to divide over non-essentials, the answer cannot be found in minimizing doctrine altogether. Surely this is a case of the cure being worse than the disease.

 Additionally, the Christian faith has content. That is to say that when we affirm, for instance, that believing in Jesus saves, we are also understanding that there is a certain amount of content contained within such a profession. It is the Jesus of the Bible, the virgin-born sinless, Son of God, who died and rose again, who saves as opposed to the Jesus of the cults. Cults and even other world religions may speak of Jesus but the content they attach to the name is different. The minute one begins to answer the question, “Which Jesus?” one is dealing in doctrine. Furthermore, how is the church to be faithful to the command of Christ to teach converts to “observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20) without engaging in doctrinal instruction?

 Sound doctrine is vital to the health of the individual and the church. Our relationship with God must be founded upon truth. It is for this reason that the scriptures place a premium upon doctrine. Paul writes “Take heed to yourselves and to the doctrine for in so doing you will save both yourself and them that hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16)

 Yet today’s teachers consistently downplay the importance of sound doctrine. Consider a couple of examples from Mike Bickle in discussing prophets in general and William Branham in particular. First, Bickle writes, “Yes, prophetic people must be clear about major doctrines like the person and work of Christ and the place of the Scriptures. But on lesser points of doctrine, they might be misinformed.” (15) This statement doesn’t sound too bad, although it should be pointed out that if one were to consistently apply the standard of proper understanding of the place of scriptures to the modern prophets most of them would be rejected out of hand. But notice how Bickle equivocates as he discusses William Branham, “Branham ended up in some doctrinal heresy, although never to the extent of denying Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or doubting the authority of the Scriptures. While affirming the deity of Christ, he denied the Trinity.” (16)

 So apparently to Bickle, the Trinity is one of those lesser doctrines around which a true prophet may be misinformed. Further study of Branham reveals that Branham taught that God gave His Word in three forms, the bible, the zodiac and the pyramids. He taught the serpent-seed doctrine and a host of other heresies. But none of these issues disqualify him as a true prophet in the eyes of Mike Bickle or other prophetic personalities.

 Another example of Bickle’s lack of appreciation for sound doctrine can be seen when he writes, “True Christianity is a dynamic relationship with a living God and it cannot be reduced to formulas and dry orthodoxy. We are called to embrace the mystery of God and not to lust after neatly tying up every doctrinal or philosophical loose end that we encounter.” (17)

 Here Bickle sets up a false dichotomy. It is trure that we do not want a dry orthodoxy but we should still desire orthodoxy. A passionate heresy is not more desirable. It is true that we cannot tie up every loose end but we can know some things for certain because God has clearly revealed them. We are called to a dynamic relationship but this relationship must be based on the truth that God has revealed lest we find ourselves worshipping a God of our own creation. And given the number of strange practices that Bickle has endorsed in the past such as the Toronto Blessing, one can only wonder how many aberrant things may be covered under the “mystery of God”.

 The Nature of God and the Person of Christ

There can be no more fundamental area of doctrine than that of the nature of God in general and the Person of Christ in particular. Even here one finds problems in the teachings of the modern apostles and prophets. We have already examined the willingness of those in this movement to endorse those who deny the Trinity. But sadly this is not all.

 The Weak God

Consistently, the picture of God painted by these new leaders is less than the majestic, sovereign God of the bible. Shawn Bolz for instance, tells of a God who has had some of the inventions He intended for His children stolen out of heaven by those practicing witchcraft. (18) Spiritual mapping advocates imply that God alone is not mighty to save unless the church first clears the spiritual atmosphere. Numerous members of this movement subscribe to the faulty views of E.W. Kenyon that God somehow lost dominion over the earth in the fall.

 A classic example of this weak God can be found in the writings of ICA member Dutch Sheets. Sheets writes, “Recently, I believe the Lord showed me what sometimes happens when we come to Him with a need, asking Him to accomplish what He says in His Word. In answer to our requests, He sends His angels to get our bowls of prayers to mix with the fire of the altar. But there isn’t enough in our bowls to meet the need! We might blame God or think it’s not His will or that His Word must not really mean what it says. The reality of it is that sometimes He cannot do what we’ve asked because we have not given Him enough power in our prayer times to get it done. He has poured our all there was to pour out and it wasn’t enough! it’s not just a faith issue, but also a power issue.” (19)

 Pay close attention. Notice that Sheets indicates that our prayers can line up with what God has already promised in His Word, may be according to His will, and that God may actually attempt to answer our prayer but be unable to do so because we have not given Him enough power through our prayers in order for Him to accomplish His will. So apparently God is not able to keep His own promises without our help. We have to give God the power to act.

 The Nature of Christ

 Modern apostles and prophets show a consistent confusion with regard to the person and work of Christ. For instance Rick Joyner states, “There is a tendency to continue relating ot Him as ‘the Man from Galilee.’ Jesus is not a man. He was and is Spirit. He took the form of a servant and became a man for a brief time.” (20)

 Whether intentional or not, Joyner’s statement is a complete rejection of the hypostatic union. Orthodox Christianity has understood for centuries that when the Second Person of the Trinity took to Himself a human nature, this was permanent union. Jesus is forever the God-man, fully God and fully man. Jesus did not come in some sort of rent-a-body that He discarded after the crucifixion. Either Joyner does not understand this or he is denying it. Further, Joyner’s statements have serious implications for the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of Jesus for if Jesus is no longer man then in what way did He resurrect? Additionally, the scriptures link the ongoing work of Christ as intercessor to his humanity. (see 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 7:23-24 among others)

 Conclusion

In our brief discussion we have seen that current trends within the Apostolic and Prophetic Movement are undermining the historic Christian faith in regard to the place of Scriptures, the importance of doctrine and the nature of God and Person of Christ. If space permitted we could document similar issues with regard to the Person of the Holy Spirit, the atonement and the nature of the church. And we haven’t even mentioned the myriad of false prophecies made in the Name of our Lord.

 These are not incidental issues. The church can no longer be silent. The new Apostles and Prophets were not speaking in hyperbole when they promised to bring a new understanding of the Christian faith. If the Church does not begin to respond, the Christianity that is passed on to our children will bear little resemblance to the faith of our fathers. A.W. Tozer wrote, “The heaviest obligation lying upon the Christian church today is to purify and elevate her concept of God until it is once more worthy of Him. We do the greatest service to the next generation passing on to them undimmed and undiminished that noble concept of God which we received from our Hebrew and Christian Fathers of generations past.” God enable us to “contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. “

Copyright © 2012 Keith Gibson

End Notes
1. “Our Prophetic History” CD series, CD #1. Mike Bickle, 2002 Friends of the Bridegroom.
2. Joyner, Rick “The Prophetic Ministry”, 1997 Morningstar Publications (Charlotte, NC) page 53
3. Ibid, “FAQ” What is an Apostle? http://www.apostlenet.net/index.asp?action+faq
4. Op. Cit. Hamon page 57
5. Ibid page 59
6. Joyner Rick “The Final Quest” 1996 Whitaker House (New Kensington, PA) page 10 on page 133 of this same book, Joyner relates an encounter that he had with the apostle Paul that supposedly took place in heaven where Paul tells Joyner that the words in his epistles do not carry truths as powerful as the words of Jesus in the gospels. Essentially Paul says that his letters are not an inspired as the Gospel.
8. Thomas, Choo, “Heaven is so Real” 2003 Charisma House (Lake Mary, FL) page 129
9. Ibid page 153
10. Ibid page 177
11. Ibid page 124
12. Alec, Wendy “Journal of the Unknown Prophet”, 2002 Warboys Media page 84 Bickle, Mike “Contending for the Power of God” CD #42003 Friends of the Bridegroom
13. Bolz, Shawn “The Keys to Heaven’s Economy” 2005 Streams Publishing House (North Sutton, NH) page 88
14. Frangipane, Francis, “The House of the Lord” 1991 Creation House (Lake Mary, FL) page 36
15. Bickle, Mike “Growing in the Prophetic” 1996 Charisma House (Lake Mary, Fla) page 51
16. Ibid page 63
17. Ibid page 77
18. Op. Cit Bolz page 73
19 Sheets, Dutch “Intercessory Prayer” as quoted in “The Worship Warrior” by Chuck D. Pierce and John Dickson 2002 Regal Books (Ventura, CA) page 211 Joyner, Rick, “There Were Two Trees in the Garden” 1992 Whitaker House,
20. (New Kensington, Pa) page 59 emphasis in the original. It should be noted that Rick Joyner says that many people still consider this to be the best book he has ever written.
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About the Author

 Keith Gibson is a fellow truth-teller, pastor and heresy-hunter. He is recently published a new book titled “Wandering Stars Contending for the Faith with the New apostles and Prophets.” It is published by Solid Ground Christian Books and you can order a copy by visiting their website located at http://www.solid-ground-books.com Their mailing address is

 Solid Ground Christian Books 6749 Remington Circle Pelham, Alabama 35124
DMI is thankful to brother Gibson for his willingness to submit an article for this issue and we pray that his book is well received and mightily used by God to open the eyes of His people.

Forerunner Eschatology

Forerunner Eschatology

http://www.equip.org/articles/forerunner-eschatology/ 

Forerunner Eschatology

Article ID: JAF2324
By: Andrew Jackson

Synopsis

As we enter the turbulent years of the twenty-first century, there seems to be a growing fixation throughout the church with numerous end-time preachers. Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, is positioning himself to become an end-time specialist to thousands of Christian young adults worldwide. He preaches an obscure interpretation of the Book of Revelation and proclaims, with sure conviction, that the world is now entering an “eschatological revolution” that will lead to Jesus’ second coming within the next fifty years. According to Bickle, God is now raising up an elite end-time forerunner prophetic movement within the church to prepare this generation for the soon-coming Great Tribulation and Jesus’ return. Bickle has redefined and repurposed the Book of Revelation by calling it both the church’s “canonized prayer manual” concerning Jesus’ specific end-time battle plan and the “Endtimes Book of Acts.” In the latter function Revelation supposedly foretells a time when Moses’ miracles and the miracles of the Book of Acts will be combined and multiplied on a global level as the praying church releases God’s judgments on the earth. Caution: God alone in His infinite wisdom holds the details of the future within His own sovereign will, and Christians should be on their guard against any Christian leader who predicts the exact season of Jesus’ second coming and claims special understanding of God’s end-time plan that goes beyond the plain teachings of Scripture.

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Mike Bickle, the one-time charismatic leader of the highly controversial¹ Kansas City Prophets in the 1980s and 1990s, 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 Revelation² and proclaims, with sure conviction, that the world is now entering an “eschatological revolution” that will lead to Jesus’ second coming within the next fifty years.³
In 2000, the now fifty-four year-old Bickle resigned his senior pastorate position at Metro Christian Fellowship to launch Kansas City’s International House of Prayer (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 more than 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 the most discredited 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 toward a passion for Jesus and intercessory prayer. In light of Bickle’s escalating eschatological enthusiasm, however, it is very timely and significant for Christians, especially leaders and pastors, to become more informed concerning his personalized brand of “forerunner eschatology” that he is now spreading far and wide.
The purpose of this article is not to critique Bickle’s personal life, wherein there is apparently much to be admired.⁷ Rather, I will explain and critique 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.
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 end-time 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 pretribulation 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 premillennialism¹¹ and incorporates many of the core interpretative and chronological scenarios popularized by Hal Lindsey.¹² These include, 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 reinstituted 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 wholehearted fulfillment 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 reteach 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 vis-a-vis 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 lukewarm 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 nearly ubiquitous. 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 end-time Christian forerunners.²¹ He is praying for thousands of last-days “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 to 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 In other words, 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 marches through Jordan to free Jerusalem while engaging the Antichrist’s army in physical combat.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 refers 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 representative example of John the Baptist and dedicate themselves to live a sacrificial “wilderness lifestyle” of fasting and prayer so that they can emerge one day as “forerunner voices” prior to Jesus’ second coming.³² Bickle claims that “on May 7, 1997, the Lord spoke to me about believing Him to raise up 10,000 forerunners who live in the spirit of John the Baptist as friends of the Bridegroom (Jn 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’ servant lifestyle as lived out by the New Testament apostles (Phil. 2:1–11), 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 “John the Baptist wilderness lifestyle” emphasis and focused totally on the plentiful New Testament teachings concerning living a sanctified, grace-centered, and Spirit-filled lifestyle as people with a mission to advance the gospel of salvation throughout God’s world (Eph. 1:8; 5:18; 1 Pet. 1:15–16; Matt. 28:16–20).
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’ end-time 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? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly” (NIV), to support his assertion that day and night prayer will quicken the second coming of Christ. However, Bickle’s interpretation of Luke 18:7–8, and his unfortunate intention to create the belief that 24/7 prayer will speed up Jesus’ second coming, is unsound. In the parable of Luke 18:1–8, Jesus is simply teaching His disciples to persevere in prayer. There is no clear warrant for applying this teaching only to the second coming rather than to God’s answer of His elect’s prayers in general, and of their prayers for justice in particular, throughout the ages; and there is even less warrant for understanding Jesus to be teaching that 24/7 prayer is a necessary condition for His second coming.
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 teachings promoted by Bickle through the years relates 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 Magazine,³⁸ he makes three interpretative errors. He writes:
1. “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. “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. “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, Bickle engages in a serious misinterpretation of Acts 15:16–17.
I address Bickle’s printed teaching on the tabernacle of David because it originates in wayward Latter-Rain teaching⁴⁰ and continues to be promoted and taught by many Christians. A hopeful development, however, is that Bickle has told me that he no longer believes most of what is contained in his article. He nonetheless still emphasizes the spirit of the tabernacle of David as a worship and prayer ministry style (1 Chron. 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; Isa. 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 appears to be moving in the right direction.
The End-Time Prayer Manual
Throughout church history the Book of Revelation has been perhaps 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.⁴¹
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.⁴² According to Bickle, since the specific sequential 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.⁴³
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 because of this belief that Bickle is now attempting to get the global prayer movement to embrace his exclusive interpretation of the Book of Revelation.⁴⁴ By praying Revelation’s Great Tribulation events into existence, this will result in billions of men, women and children being killed.⁴⁵
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.”⁴⁶
END-TIME ESSENTIALS AND NONESSENTIALS
One of the mottos I try to live by is “In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, 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 is crucially important to the spiritual urgency and health of the church.
From the beginning of the church, unfortunately, sincere Christians have been left confused and alarmed by wayward end-time teaching⁴⁷ and often end up spiritually shipwrecked. There always has been, and there 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 extra biblical 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 Cor. 13:12 NIV). N. T. Wright reminds us that “all Christian language about the future is a set of signposts pointing into a fog.”⁴⁸
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.⁴⁹ The Bible is clear that Christian teachers will give an account to God for whether their handling of the Bible was proper and mature (2 Tim. 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 more than two thousand years. Christians are living in the Messianic age of fulfillment,⁵⁰ and we are called to watch eagerly⁵¹ 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 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 set as a backdrop to the daily news, 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 exercise biblical discernment when influential Christian leaders such as Bickle predict the exact time or season of Jesus’ second coming.⁵² Jesus’ own words in Acts 1:7–8, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority” (TNIV), 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.⁵³
Andrew Jackson, M.Div., Fuller Theological Seminary; D.Min., Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is a seminary professor and an ordained minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. His latest book is Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach and Practice (Crossway, 2008).
notes
1. In many evangelical circles “highly controversial” would be putting it mildly. The Kansas City Prophets are considered disreputable and discredited.
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.asx?ID=1000042100). Bickle believes that Jesus will return within the lifetime of people alive today.
4. http://www.IHOP.org.
5. http://www.bobjones.org. This Jones is not to be confused with the one who founded Bob Jones University.
6. Bickle was twenty-seven years old. Paul Steven Ghiringhelli, “Watch and Pray,” Charisma, September 2007, http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/component/content/article/235-unorganized/15949channel-surfing). 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 Bickle is a man of integrity. However, I cannot personally verify this viewpoint through first-hand experience.
8. This article is my response to Bickle urging Christians to challenge his end-time teaching. See Bickle, Book of Revelation, 5. I would like to provide a detailed response to Bickle’s interpretation of Revelation. I am, however, limited in this article to an introduction of his end-time teaching. See Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (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 (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992); Robert G. Clouse, ed., The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1977). However, some recent writing on eschatology does not fit comfortably into these traditional categories. See Hank Hanegraaff, The Apocalypse Code (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007).
10. Bickle is correct, from my perspective, in rejecting a secret pre-tribulation rapture. See George Eldon 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 and 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 on his faulty interpretations of Daniel 9:20–27 (Seventy Weeks) and Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24); see Sam Storms, ”Daniel’s 70 Weeks,” Nov. 6, 2006, http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/daniels-70-weeks/; Sam Storms, “Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse,” Nov. 7, 2006, http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/matthew24-and-the-olivet-discourse-part-i/. For a refutation, see R. C. Sproul, The Last Days according to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998); John Piper, “Misgivings about Hal Lindsay’s Planet Earth” (Sermon, 1974), http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Articles/ByDate/1974/2671_Misgivings_ About_Hal_Lindsays_Planet_Earth/.
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. Bickle acted surprised when I mentioned to him that IHOP published an online glossary on special terms. In response to the concerns I raised, he told me that he planned to remove this glossary from IHOP’s Web site. However, at publication, the glossary is still live.
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,” IHOP, 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,” Identity Network, 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 twenty-five different worship teams comprised primarily of young adults. Without these worship teams, I question whether IHOP could draw and maintain the large crowds of Christians, especially young 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.
38. Bickle told me that a ghostwriter wrote his initial “Tabernacle of David” article (Charisma, October 2000, http://www.davidic247.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 beginning of was written by Bickle in April 2008. (Mike Bickle, “Enjoyable Prayer,” Charisma, April 2008, http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/ charisma-channels/prayer/ 18744.)
39. John Stott, The Message of Acts the church, (Downers Grove: IVP, 1990), 246–47; Sam Storms, “Acts 15:14–17 and the Rebuilding of David’s Tabernacle,” Enjoying God Ministries, http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/acts-1514-17-and-therebuilding-of-davidstabernacle/.
40. http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Latter_Rain_ Movement.
41. Bickle, Book of Revelation, 4; Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
42. Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
43. Bickle, Book of Revelation, 4.
44. 2008 OneThing Conference Podcast Promo. http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=K5FMsDrNyn4&feature= email. Bickle, Overview of Revelation, Session 1.
45. Bickle projects four billion people will be killed in the last three and one-half years of the Great Tribulation. Bickle, Book of Revelation, 42.
46. Piper.
47. 2 Thessalonians 2:1–2.
48. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 132.
49. 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 an end-time prayer manual. (Bickle, Book of Revelation, 96, and Overview of Revelation, Session 1.)
50. George Eldon Ladd, The Presence of the Future (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974).
51. Ladd, The Blessed Hope, 105–19.
52. Bickle states that he is not predicting Jesus’ second coming but is only discerning the biblical signs of the times. ed.
53 IHOP engages in local evangelism. However, it lacks any intentional recruiting and training program for sending long-term cross-cultural missionaries.

http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/prayerandcounseling/Strand_IHOP.aspx  christian walk

The 24/7 Prayer Movement

By Paul Strand
CBN News

CBN.com – KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Groups of Christians praying and worshipping 24 hours a day, seven days a week sure sounds spiritual. But exactly why would God lead them to do such a thing?
Mike Bickle heads up a ministry where 24/7 prayer's already happening, and he says it's absolutely necessary if Christians ever want to see Jesus return.
Watch the video of this story on CBN.com's Media Center
"God is not sending His Son to the earth in a vacuum. He's sending His Son to the earth in answer to the cry: the persistent, global cry of His covenant people on the earth," Bickle said.
Bickle says Revelation 22:17 prophesies of a day when God's people in their identity as the Bride of Christ will work in unison with the Holy Spirit, beckoning Christ the Bridegroom.
"So the Church worldwide will be in synch with the Holy Spirt, crying out 'Come, Lord Jesus, break in! Break in!' And He's going to come at the Second Coming, and before that He's going to release a break-in of revival," Bickle said.
Bickle, just 27-years-old in 1983, had no idea he'd have a role in raising this non-stop cry to Christ. But then an elder prophet named Bob Jones told Bickle: "The Lord is going to raise up a young adult prayer and worship movement in Kansas City. He would bring thousands of young adults that were singers and musicians to Kansas City."
In 1983, there was no thought of that actually happening. But then over the years Bickle and his co-pastors began to open up short-term schools of ministry and worship. Those schools began luring thousands of young people, who also signed up to join the prayer movement. By 1999 there were so many of them, they made unending prayer by large groups a reality.
Imagine this: non-stop worship and prayer have been going up to the heavens everyday and every night at the International House of Prayer for seven solid years.
But what's exciting to Bickle and his co-laborers is that now the movement is taking off worldwide, with 100 to 200 groups feeling the call to do what IHOP is doing.
"The numbers are increasing so rapidly in the last decade, I believe it's a sign of the times," Bickle said.
And one of the biggest signs will be a major move of God in the Holy Land, something that same prophet told Bickle in 1983 he'd have a role in.
Oddly enough, he said Bickle would be to Israel spiritually what Harry Truman was to Israel politically -- by prodding and pushing the U.N. into giving the Jewish people a sovereign nation in 1948.
"He said as Harry S. Truman was an intercessor for Israel in a political way, so the Lord's going to use you in a spiritual way to mobilize intercessors from around the world for Israel," Bickle explained.
And he added, as a sign, God would sovereignly move Bickle and his people to near Harry Truman's childhood home.
"And about a couple of years later, we had the property right next to Harry S. Truman given to us in such a grand way," Bickle said. "It was amazing. And we just looked in wonder and said, 'Could this really be true? Here we are next to Harry S. Truman.'"
So Bickle is very interested to see that 24/7 prayer has now started up in several places in Jerusalem, such as Succat Hallel.
"Over two years we've had 24/7 worship and prayer from this location overlooking Mount Zion," said Rick Ridings, Succat Hallel 24/7 prayer founder.
Could this be a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy like Isaiah 62:6-7?
Ridings said, "I appointed watchmen on your walls O Jerusalem who will never hold their peace, but they will cry out day and night until I make Jerusalem a praise in the midst of the earth."
Ridings is personally excited because he's seeing a vision the Lord gave him a few years back being fulfilled right now before his eyes, a vision that involved four arms of worship lifting up from the north, south, west and east corners of the Old City of Jerusalem.
"And as they were worshipping and praying, I saw as it were like lion paw feet of the throne of God coming down, one foot of the throne on each of those four hands that were raised to Him," Ridings said. "And then it was like a flood of glory, of liquid gold coming over this city."
Without any coordinating, in recent months 24/7 prayer and worship groups have moved into place in the north, south, west and east of the old city.
"So there definitely is something where God is surrounding this city with prayer and with worship in order to prepare the way for His throne, for His kingdom, His government to be established more fully here," Ridings said.
Ridings believes as the 24/7 prayer houses of Jerusalem link up with others such as the IHOP in Kansas City, it's all part of an unprecedented move of God.
"There's never been prayer worldwide like there is today," Ridings said.
And much of it the Bride crying out "Come, Lord Jesus, come."
Bickle said, "The Spirit and the Church will be interceding together just before the Lord returns -- that is one of the great signs in the Book of Revelations of the Second Coming of Christ.'"
Watch the video of this story on CBN.com's Media Center
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Jesus Camp: Despise Not Thy Youth

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Jesus Camp: Despise Not Thy Youth