I don’t use this title to be sensational or to get everyone’s attention. I use it because this is what Scripture commands us to do with Mike Bickle and men like him.
Mike Bickle - Founder of the International House of Prayer (IHOP)
It comes from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. In that case, a son was having sex with his step-mother. The Corinthians were indifferent (like churches are today with immoral members). Paul exhorted them to take action.
They were to judge “the wicked man,” turn him over to Satan in the power of Jesus, and remove him from the fellowship like you removed leaven during the Passover Feast. This was to be done when the church assembled. When a church refuses to discipline notorious sinners, the leaven of “malice and wickedness” spreads.
The action commanded by Paul was both punitive (“the destruction of his flesh”) and redemptive (“that his spirit may be saved”). That is my prayer for Mike Bickle. I hope he will be buffeted by Satan and return to Jesus Christ.
I quote from the New American Standard Bible (1995 Edition). Read carefully.
1 Corinthians 5:1-13
[1] It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. [2] You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
[3] For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. [4] In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, [5] I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
[6] Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? [7] Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. [8] Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
[9] I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; [10] I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. [11] But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. [12] For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? [13] But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.
Some commentators believe “destruction of the flesh” means destruction of the sinner’s sin nature. That does not fit the context. Most commentators believe it refers to physical death or physical affliction. That is my position.
Verse 13 says, “Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” When the NASB uses small capitals it is quoting from the Old Testament. This phrase is used nine times in the book of Deuteronomy. It means “put to death.” It applies to the following wicked individuals.
- Deut. 13:5 – false prophets (13:1-5)
- Deut. 17:7 – idolators (17:2-7)
- Deut. 17:12 – persons showing contempt for judge or priest
- Deut. 19:19 – malicious witnesses (death implied) (19:15-21)
- Deut. 21:21 – rebellious sons (22:18-21)
- Deut. 22:21 – immoral daughters (22:20-21)
- Deut. 22:22 – adulterers (married)
- Deut. 22:24 – adulterers (betrothed) (22:23-24)
- Deut. 24:7 – kidnappers
When it says, “So you shall pure the evil from among you” it means you should put the person to death. This was done by stoning. In so doing they removed the evildoer and the evil.
This was not cruel and unusual punishment. This was retributive justice. Such persons were put to death for their transgression of God’s law because He is holy.
In the New Testament, Jesus instituted church discipline for unrepentant sinners who professed his name. This included putting them outside the protection of Christ and inside the pummeling of Satan.
Paul uses these passages as proof texts to support his action that the incestuous son should be put to death or afflicted. This is much like his observations of the Corinthians who drank judgement on themselves during the Lord’s supper.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32
[27] Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. [28] But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. [30] For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. [31] But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. [32] But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
Or like the followers of Jezebel in the church in Thyatira.
Revelation 2:20-23
[20] But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. [21] I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. [22] Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. [23] And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.
Mike Bickle is like Jezebel. He is a false prophet. He leads others into immorality and adultery. They too come under God’s judgement. “I will kill her children with pestilence” and bring them “into great tribulation.” “I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.” There are no excuses. God is holy.
Most importantly Bickle does not want to repent of his immorality. That is evident. He has audaciously covered it up for 50 years involving some 20 women according to credible sources. He has still not repented. Therefore, “I will throw [him] on a bed of sickness.”
Moreover, he has repeatedly violated his marriage covenant, covered up his sin and the sin of others including his son’s adultery, deceitfully made up grandiose visions and prophecies, used them to build an empire and manipulate people into sex, put himself forward as the consummate man of God (when he was a total con artist) so people would “worship” him, and caused tens of thousands to stumble in their walk with Christ. Paul’s command must be obeyed. “Purge the evil man from you.”
Bickle is a man characterized by the leavened bread of malice and wickedness, not the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. His life and ministry have been full of lies and deception from the beginning. He is a “so-called brother” as it says in the passage.
Therefore, I pray the afflictions of Satan on his body and soul bring him to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Not mere knowledge or mental assent (which he has) but whole hearted devotion which is genuine and not for show like the pretentious scribes and Pharisees. “They do all their deeds to be seen by others.”
Bickle, like them, is so impressive on the outside and yet so corrupt on the inside! Jesus pronounced seven woes of judgement (or eight depending on the inclusion of verse 14) in Matthew 23. This is an apt description of him.
Matthew 23:27-28
[27] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. [28] In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
IHOPKC needs to address and reprove all his sins and publicly turn him over to Satan. Not just fire him and separate from him. So should men like Sam Storms, Jacke Deere, Joel Richardson, Michael Brown, Michael Sullivant and believers everywhere associated with the movement worldwide. That is biblical Christianity.
People no longer tremble before the Lord God Almighty. They presume upon his kindness. They are offended at his holiness. There is no fear of God in their eyes. They think, “God would never hurt me.” They believe there is no wrath in God, only love. Yet you will never appreciate the love of God until you encounter the holiness of God.
For certain, there is love beyond degree in the heart of God. That is why Christ took our sin and suffered our punishment in our place. I hope the torments of Satan drive Mike Bickle to the Savior for salvation so he not be lost in hell forever.
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Post Script
I had hoped to finish this article in March but another major story came up regarding a lead pastor in Sovereign Grace Churches who was arrested for molesting his daughter. He was just indicted. This is my fifth article regarding him.
Sovereign Grace Pastor Russell Tusing Indicted for Sexual Molestation of Daughter
Saturday, June 1, 2024 at 5:14PM