Is Redemption Possible? Perspectives on the IHOP-KC Investigation

0:00 Hello everyone, this is Stephen Strang and welcome to this edition of the Strangler Port for Tuesday, January 30th, 2024. I'm continuing to discuss the investigation at International House of Prayer in Kansas City having to do with its founder, Mike Pickle, who is a longtime friend of mine. I've known Mike Pickle since around 1990, had many interactions with him, persuaded him to write his first book, which I think is his best book called Passion for Jesus.

0:42 I was aware of when he had a vision to start 24-7 Prayer, was involved. Charisma Magazine is likely the first national media to cover what was happening in Kansas City, no one had ever heard of such a thing. And over the years, we've continued to cover it. I am a journalist. I seek for the truth. I want the truth. I love the body of Christ. And for me, the pain of all this is what it's doing to the body of Christ. There are good people on all sides. There has been wrongdoing by many. I'm going to talk about some of that today.

1:25 I have weighed in on this. In fact, you can check out my Strang Report on YouTube to see some of the things. When it first happened, I just opined that we needed to be careful. I've been very careful in what I said. In my last podcast with General Kirk Fuller, who is now the chairman of the board of International House of Prayer in Kansas City, I did kind of an exclusive with him. He had issued a statement. I found out that he was willing to be on my podcast. We set it up kind of impromptu about an hour or so before we went live. I think what he had to say was very important.

2:05 I have no personal criticism of what he's done. But I also have not had a real chance or hadn't at that time to investigate everything that's been done. I've tried to stay a little bit arm's length. I am not adjudicating this. It is not important to me to do investigative journalism. That's for others to do. I'm more interested in the outcome for that ministry and for the larger body of Christ. As I said in previous podcasts, I believe that the spirit of the world is invading the church. I believe that what has been done to Mike Bickel is a type of cancel culture.

2:48 The attitude of various people is almost like cancel culture. We think you're wrong. We're going to cancel you no matter what. When I first heard about it, I couldn't believe that my friend Mike Bickel was being accused of this. I have only known him to be good and righteous above reproach in his financial dealings. This is publisher, of course, we deal with him financially and never had a problem, never had a question. I believe enough in him and his ministry. As I said before, that I've supported his ministry to my knowledge every single month since he started in 1999.

3:32 That was personally. So I want you to know that I believe in him. He is my friend. I do not hide that. I don't think it's ever wrong to stand for your friends. And no matter how this comes out, Mike Bickel is my friend and I will still be his friend. That doesn't mean that I excuse anything that Mike Bickel does or has done. He issued a statement. We reported on that. It's all over the internet with some wrongdoing a number of years ago. My initial reaction was most people have done something years ago that they regret. And how long do you hold that against them?

4:14 That was my personal feeling. I believe that without knowing the severity of it. I have watched some of the videos recently and this is very complicated. There's really what it is, is a very nasty church fight in front of the whole world. Sadly, some of the nastiest fights are church fights. And unless you've been in a church split, you don't know how nasty it can get. And the thing is that most people on both sides of a church fight maintain that they're righteous and the other people are unrighteous. And that's exactly what's happening here. The one exception is Mike.

4:55 He has had a stance for a number of years of not defending himself. He did issue that statement. I did talk to him one time on the telephone to tell him that I was his friend and to kind of find out what was happening with his ministry. We did not discuss my podcast per se today. I'm expressing my own personal opinion. There are some bigger issues that I think we have to deal with and one of them is should Mike Bickel be restored or not. And let me just give you my perspective. First of all, we want our perspective to be the word of God. In Galatians 6,1 it says, Brothers, if a man is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness.

5:48 Being yourselves, lest also you be tempted. And so I believe that the apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians, said very clearly that people can be restored. I come from a denominational background that has a path for restoration for ministers who are repentant. I grew up in the assemblies of God and the assemblies of God to their credit have always stood for righteousness and they're very quick if somebody messes up to deal with it unlike some groups where it seems they just become more and more liberal and it's almost anything goes. But they also have a way that people can be restored.

6:32 And I've known a number of people who've been restored. Some of them publicly. Jim Baker went through a period of restoration after he lost everything and even went to prison. They were exonerated. There's other examples as well. Ted Haggard, who went through a very public humiliation. He'll never again have the same position of leadership, but he has been restored to ministry. He passes a church now in Colorado Springs. There's other examples that I could cite, including my own mentor and longtime friend Jamie Buckingham, who died in 1992. Jamie had two kind of crash and burns, both of them affairs.

7:17 In two different churches, he was run out of town both times. He's written about this in several of his books. And all this happened before I knew him. It was a real crushing for him. He described himself as being a very prideful Baptist preacher and he was totally humiliated. And it was through that crushing that he became open to the Holy Spirit. And in 1967, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And for the next 25 years, in many ways, it was really the conscience of the charismatic movement. I have never had that role. I've never seen that I have that role.

7:57 I'm a journalist, which means I seek for the truth. I'm interested in stories. I'm interested in explaining what happens and so forth. I'm also a networker and I try to bring people together and bridge things. I want to make clear that I stand with my friend, Mike Pickle, as a friend. I do not excuse anything that he may or may not have done. And I'm deeply, deeply pained by some of the things that I am learning. But I think that the, well, I don't think, I know the Bible says that you tend to believe one side until you hear the other side. And I've watched some of the videos and they sound very, very legitimate, but I know there's another side.

8:43 And with the advocate group, I actually have met a number of those leaders at different times when I was in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer. I have no criticisms of any of them personally. They all seem to be fine men and I'm sure they are doing what they believe is right. But as this thing has unfolded, there have been a number of women called Jane Doze. At first it said that there were eight Jane Doze and a number of them fairly early. Vistie Edwards being one, another, if I remember her name was April.

9:28 They very, very clearly said that while we've not been named, our names have been kind of, we're in that group of eight and we want to say it's not true. And then on January 16th, just a little over a week ago, they issued a statement which you can see online and I'm going to read some of it because I have not seen that this is widely reported and I think it's something we have to consider because what happens is if I'm correct, most of the eight women have come forward to say it's not true. One of the women said that she was actually solicited to add her name to the group and she said, I won't do it.

10:12 Don't use my name. She was probably the most outspoken and it says, well, the narrative has been presented of many females of whom the advocate group is representing the true story that has not come out is how many of these victims were involuntarily labeled and had narratives constructed by others forced on our lives that we've been forced to defend ourselves from. This has been painful, humiliating and traumatizing to all of us. Some in the advocate group have stated that victims have been intimidated to come forward to talk to legal investigators. This is untrue. We have engaged in three investigative legal teams that IHOP has brought in.

10:56 Though all these legal teams have been professional and respectful, the nature and circumstances and the necessary questions have caused us to endure recurring humiliation, distress, trauma and pain as we have had to have repeated conversations about humiliating topics concerning the insinuations and suggestions that others have projected onto our lives and workplace dynamics. There's more. I'm not going to read every word because it's quite long. It's called the Jane Doe Appeal and Protest Statement. You can Google it, January 16th, 2024, goes on to say, we are exhausted, humiliated and done.

11:43 We appreciate the concern for others who have expressed victimhood, but frankly, there is another group of victimized women here, women and former women of this house, I guess meaning International House of Prayer, who have been forced and engaged in this horror show against our will for the sake of someone else's agenda against Mike Bickel and IHOP KC. There's also more, but they kind of closed with this. As a result, our names, our live narratives and our spiritual family have been forcibly smeared. The damage done has been devastating and cruel. We are simple, quiet people who just wanted to worship Jesus and pray for the nations.

12:28 We wait for the throne room judgment of Jesus Christ when all true things will be laid bare and vindication will be eternal. And there were at least five Jane Does who signed this. My question is this, why believe some Jane Does and not other Jane Does? And why hasn't the advocate group, when these women say we're not a part of it, why don't they at least apologize even if it's just to say that they misunderstood and we're trying to get to the bottom of it and God overzealous. I don't know what their excuse would be.

13:08 There's different ways to be unrighteous. Sexual immorality is one of the main ones in its top of the list, especially in our church culture. It is not the only way to be unrighteous. Dragging these other victims through the mud like this is unrighteous. And who's who's going to deal with it? There are no denominational structures. Thankfully the government's not really involved. Some people have said there are things such as, well, the investigations, the people being investigated have to agree to it. I don't agree with that. You know, if, if it's a criminal investigation, like say a murder or some kind of drug investigation, for example, if my neighbor said we saw, we believe that Steve Strang is dealing drugs out of his house, the police in my area would be duty bound to investigate whether I agreed to it or not.

14:09 Now I would want them to investigate because it's absolutely not true. Not one iota and a simple investigation would show that that was not true and somebody must have had a vendetta or was trying to hurt me. If that happened, according to our civil laws, I would have a case to sue them for defamation. I don't think those dynamics are at play here, but the idea that, that the accused can pick who's investigating isn't necessarily true in our system of jurisprudence. And I don't even think it's true in the scripture. The thing is, we must be meek as a scripture in Galatians said, we must work to restore, not only my pickle, but other, there's other leaders who have been hurt in this, as well as these victims that I just named.

15:01 I want to be very careful in what I say. I hope that my heart of compassion comes through. I am trying on a personal basis not to be judgmental and I'm just trying to identify some of the things that have come up. There's been quite a bit on social media as a result of my last podcast. I stand by the podcast. I was attacked for saying that he could be restored, but I've answered that with that scripture from Galatians and explained that my perspective is that ministers being restored is something admirable. As far as Mike Bickle is concerned, he will survive this.

15:45 His name and reputation in some ways will always be tarnished. There are those who despise what the International House of Prayer, Kansas City is doing, who even despise what all of us in the Pentecostal Charismatic movement are doing. And some of the people who've been most vicious are people who already had some kind of vendetta and was just looking for something. But I think that all of us must take this scripture to heart, that if any man is caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. We all have to do that. We have to also ask, what does Jesus want for IHOPKC and more importantly, the body of Christ?

16:32 If, I believe that this is true, if the one world government, the Antichrist, the end of times, which interestingly, Mike Bickle spent a lot of his time teaching about, if it's going to happen, the one world government type of people, and I don't have time to go into it, most of you who are watching this sort of understand what I'm saying, they have to get rid of the United States because the United States stands against that. To get rid of the United States, they have got to get rid of the Christian community that is kind of holding things together in a spiritual kind of sense, interceding, praying, praying for Israel, praying for our nation, praying for righteousness in a culture that's anything but righteous.

17:27 And IHOPKC is only one of many ministries to do this, but they're one of the most prominent. I mean, I said this in my last podcast, Mike Bickle was able to rally five million people to fast and pray for Israel, and I was one of them. I participated on a personal basis, not in my role as the founder of Charisma Magazine or the CEO of Charisma Media, although we did report on it and editorially we backed all of those kind of things. But I think that we have to realize that this is spiritual warfare. In fact, I was criticized on social media for saying it's spiritual warfare.

18:08 On the face of it, there's spiritual warfare. The fact that this happened 24 years ago was horrendous spiritual warfare against Mike and the different people that were involved in all the things that happened. That was spiritual warfare. When brother is against brother, it's spiritual warfare. I'm not saying that it's spiritual warfare one-size-right, one-side isn't right, but we wrestle not against flesh and blood. This is not about people. It's not about lawyers. It's not about the advocacy guru. It's not even really about the victims. It's about what God's plan is and how the body of Christ fits into that.

18:50 I'm personally concerned that if a big ministry like this is able to be pulled down, that all ministries are vulnerable. I believe that we need to pray. We need to stand against the attacks of the enemy. The Bible says greater is he that's within us than he that's within the world. The Bible says Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus has come to give life and to give life more abundantly. Because of that, I believe that we can be optimistic and believe that somehow, someway, the truth is going to finally come out and that Jesus will be glorified and that the body of Christ will somehow be strengthened.

19:34 That's my perspective. I hope you'll respect it enough to allow me to express my opinion without trying to make me out like I'm some terrible person. I've tried to be very clear in what I've said. I stand with my friend, Mike Bickle, but this is not to say that I want to give him a free pass on anything he did wrong. But most people, even most leaders, have done something they would not want to bring out and the enemy would want to destroy all the different ministries. So let's forgive.

20:14 Let's stand together. Let's be supportive of the leadership. The general Kurt Fuller and the other leaders that are at IHOPKC, they have a very great responsibility. They're under enormous amount of pressure. By the way, one of the comments that I'll address is that Charisma Media does take advertising as we have off and on for many years from International House of Prayer, Kansas City. Only they're buying advertising from us. I don't follow the details enough to really know that. It had absolutely, positively nothing to do with my podcast.

20:56 Mike Bickle is no longer affiliated with International House of Prayer, Kansas City. He's got a separate ministry. He stepped down from that role. So I don't see any kind of conflict of interest. We do have a couple of books with Mike Bickle. We have chosen to leave them in print because the books and what they say is sound doctrine and I believe will stand the test of time after the truth finally does come out. I don't intend to answer everything. In fact, there are a lot of comments that were, in my opinion, kind of silly. And of course, I'm not going to address those. But I do want to be humble enough that when somebody has a criticism and feel free to write the comments below, feel free to share this with friends.

21:48 If you don't subscribe to the Strang Report, please do so. Hit the little bell and you'll be notified when we're live every Tuesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. Eastern time. Thank you for watching. My podcast today is a little shorter than normal, but I was able to share what I had to share today and I thank you for watching. Tune in again next time on the Strang Report. God bless you. Do you ever feel discouraged? Do you need hope? The world is so upside down that even if you believe there is power in the Holy Spirit, sometimes you need to be reminded that greater is He that is within us than He is in the world.

22:39 My new book, Spirit-led Living in an Upside Down World, was written to give you hope, to remind you of things you know, to explain spiritual truths that you didn't understand or maybe have forgotten. I draw in my decades of covering the worldwide move of the Holy Spirit to give you examples and stories of great men and women of God from Jack Hayford to Catherine Kuhlman and many others explaining spiritual gifts and telling stories of victory in the face of trials and temptations. I wrote this book for you and I want you to read it. It's easy to read with lots of practical stories to help you.

23:22 It is not a theological treatise on the Holy Spirit. In a way, it's a self-help book looking at the spiritual side of life. So if you long for more of God and to experience the power of the Holy Spirit and the power to rebuke the spiritual attacks in your life and boldness to stand for God, when the cancel culture wants you to sit down and shut up, then my book, Spirit-led Living in an Upside Down World, is for you. You can find the book wherever Christian books are sold, including Amazon.com or MyCorismaShop.com. Remember, the Holy Spirit is here to help us now and for all the days ahead, no matter how upside down the world gets.

24:10 Enjoy the book and God bless you.