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p.1 Mike Bickle's Quixotic Spiritual Quest In 1982, Mike Bickle claimed to receive a prophecy while he was in Cairo, Egypt. Bickle heard an audible voice from the Lord say, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.” (Mike Bickle, Growing in the Prophetic. Lake Mary, Fla.: Creation House, 1996, p. 30). “God” (or the voice) then told Bickle to move to Kansas City and begin a global work. Which produced the Kansas City Fellowship in the 80’s. To understand what Bickle is doing today we first must know his roots. I have yet to hear Bickel say they were wrong on these matter that will be presented in this series of articles. So with this background it’s hard to accept that he would not be operating under the same auspices today. Since he is enjoined with Wagner’s new apostolic prophetic group which is made up of nearly all Latter Rain adherents. The new prophetic movement finds its justification in the Latter Rain movement of the 40’s. They believed in apostles and prophets restored to the church. This movement has become known as the modern restoration movement and various other names, depending on the aspect one is focused on. In 1986, Bickle and others who joined him formed a ministry called Grace Ministries "committed to seeing the church restored to the glory described in God's word - this team is composed of mature and proven men with apostolic and prophetic ministries..." They began a resurgence of the failed Latter Rain of the 40’s. Mike Bickle has said “I believe that God is going to renovate the entire understanding of what Christianity is in the nations of the Earth…in 20 years there will be a totally different understanding of what Chrisianity is from what it is right now. I believe the understanding of it, the standard of life and the expression of Christianity as we know it, I believe God is going to restore it and change it in the Earth in this generation.” (Kansas City tape “Overview of Corporate Long Term Vision, 1/5/86) This is often heard in others statements, like Rick Joyner who was also with Bickle. Others involved with the Kansas City Fellowship were Francis Frangipane, Ruevan Doran, Larry Randolph, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson, Jack Deere who Latter joined the Vineyard. Bickle was already convinced early on then, that this was a special movement and the beginning of a “new order” of things. He believed that this “worldwide movement” would see over a billion conversions, headed up by 12 different key churches in America. Kansas City would “cross-pollinate” with Vineyard and become a training center for end-time prophets and apostles. He believed that the KC movement had been established by the “two resurrection angels” which were present at Jesus’ tomb. (quoted The Perfect Storm of Apostasy – An Introduction to The Kansas City Prophets and Other Latter-Day Prognosticators by Mary Danielsen https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=17478 reference Pastor Ernest Gruen and staff, “Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship,” Section II: The Movement). This cross pollination lasted but a few years. In 1988, John Wimber and the Vineyard movement created an association with Bickle and his church and the damage by the Latter Rain teachings were underway. By 1990, Bickles Kansas City Fellowship officially became linked to the Association of Vineyard Churches, renamed Metro Vineyard Fellowship. “[Wimber] said that Bickle and his associates had agreed to submit themselves to his oversight and become part of Wimber's Vineyard Ministries. The KCF network of fellowships would become Vineyard churches." ("Resolving the Kansas City Prophecy Controversy," Lee Grady, Ministries Today, Sept.-Oct., 1990, p. 51). Years ago Paul Cain said the Lord promised that he would stand before a new breed of men. He had gone underground in the 1950's for a wilderness period of 40 years. Mike Bickle met Paul Cain in the mid 1980’s, an elderly man who had been directly involved in the Latter Rain "revival" of the 1940's and William Branham. Cain after a long sabbatical stepped back into ministry was in search for the new breed of men (a Latter rain teaching). Kansas City prophet Mike Bickle described this as “a Samuel looking for a David.” Mike Bickle has stated that he does not recognize the current leaders as full-fledged prophets: "There's no one in our midst that we give the title "prophet." The only one I would feel comfortable of giving that office would be Paul Cain, but he refuses to accept it. The reason they are not accepted as full fledged is because of their own criteria that they are not near 100% accuracy. Present accuracy is not much better than 10-30% (Which I don’t think is even that high), so we are looking at 70% that is flat out wrong and false. Paul Cain who subbed for Branham numerous times Cain has gone on record as saying that William Branham was the greatest prophet of his age (the 20th century). Mike Bickle wrote in Growing in the Prophetic published in 1996 that William Branham was a TRUE prophet of God. Bickle appointed Paul Cain as their head prophet of their non - prophet group. Here he 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.” (Bickle, Mike “Growing in the Prophetic” 1996 Charisma House (Lake Mary, Fla) p. 63) Branham spoke against the Trinity all though his ministry, and had some of the strangest interpretations and beliefs in church history. Bickle was wrong on Paul Cain and he was wrong Branham. In 1983, Mike Bickle met Bob Jones, who was in his late 50's at the time. Jones confirmed Bickle’s vision of a major worldwide move of God from Kansas City. Jones told Bickle God was going to raise up from Kansas City a worldwide a young adult prayer movement led by prophetic singers and musicians. Jones claimed to have had a hundred “open visions” giving him revelation about this movement. "In May 1983, the Lord gave a promise to the church at Metro Christian Fellowship that they would have a 24-hour a day, citywide ministry. The spirit of the Tabernacle of David (Acts 15:14-18). This prayer ministry now includes continuous worship, intercession and warfare." What didn’t happen then is being established today through IHOP. Jones and Bickle became spiritual buddies, Bickle would often interject with Jones speaking to help people accept and understand what he was conveying. Bob Jones and Bickle of the Kansas City prophets were the dynamic duo, like Batman and Robin. Jones was a man who had visions of angels, heard voices, claimed to meet and talk with God almost every night, had out of the body experiences and going to heaven. And like another prophet, his hands turned purple in the presence of sin (which meant they were always purple). Bickle was a constant validator of Jones’ nightly spiritual escapades: “You know, I'm going to tell you something about Bob. Ever since that time in '74 when he was filled with the Holy Spirit he began to see the technicolor visions and the Lord began to visit him. Since that time he has seen many, many times, five, ten visions and dreams a night. And when I first met him, I couldn't hardly comprehend that. I said, “Five or ten a night!” He said, “Oh, yes, all the time. Sometimes more, sometimes three or four” (Mike Bickle, Visions and Revelations, 1988) Bickle was a Bob Jones enabler, as went along with his spiritual encounters of the occult kind, Bob Jones recalling when he was 13: “The first time I ever seen the white horse was when an angel called Gabriel was riding. I saw him a couple of times in the '70's, I didn't understand what it meant, I would just see the white horse...(Mike Bickle interjects) “The white horse always speaks in Bob's visions...In his vision it speaks of the corporate purpose that God is bringing to pass...” (Visions and Revelations. https://archive.org/details/VisionsAndRevelations-MikeBickleWithBobJones1988/1-visionAndRevelations-1988.mp3) Jones otherwise stated he met the angel on the white horse at 9 years old. The only white horse the Bible speaks of with Jesus, so this is a mystical experience. –the first rider of a white horse is the counterfeit who conquers during the tribulation (Rev.6:2), Jesus comes on a white horse to end the tribulation (Rev.19:11). On disc 7 of The Prophetic History, Bickle describes a visitation to the throne room of God as he is told that God will be restoring the apostles to the church. Bickle describes the experience as being on par with the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 12 as well as John’s visions. Bickle: “I stood there and I was at the Lord’s left hand, and it was not a dream--this was as real as life here and like I said, I don’t know that realm... He (God) was speaking so sternly to me, He said, ‘If you are impatient...you will cause great turmoil and much trouble for many people.’ I was ashamed and I was broken with sorrow that He said that so harshly to me. And then what happened is that I start falling so rapidly--I mean like--S-H-O-O-O-M, it takes about five or six seconds, and fall down to my bed, right through the ceiling--I mean it was right through the walls and things--S-H-O-O-O-M, I hit my bed and it wasn’t like an instant I was there--I had knowledge of travel for five or six seconds. Have you had that?” Bon Jones: “Yes.” Mike Bickle: “And I was falling so rapidly and I was going like ‘A-H-H-H-H.’ I was coming right down through the black sky...And I come right through the ceiling and I hit my bed and I looked for like a half a second, I goes S-H-O-O-O-M right back up again, I go. . . right through the ceiling again! And I understood immediately the impatience was of setting in leadership premature without permission. He said...‘You cannot put leadership in that I do not say, because the leadership will divide and cause much division and many people will suffer great harm and I will hold you accountable for it. ‘...So what happens is this golden chariot, it appears--S-W-O-O-O-P-and it comes right there. . . and I under--I knew intuitively, instantly--it was an apostolic ministry, though it’s only the invitation. It was not a commission. The Lord was not calling me an apostle. He said He was thinking, ‘The days to come, if you’re faithful, you have an opportunity in the grace of God to fill an apostolic calling if you’re faithful to the full measure.’ And I set in the chariot and I went shooting right into a blue sky and I knew as I was going up that it was revelation. He said, ‘I’m going to bring you to divine revelation in the days to come.’...There would be an end-time measure of apostolic ministry that would come out of the fruit of the intercession...so like it’s a number of years down the road. But the Lord said that I’m going to bring forth apostles—champions--if the people will live in intercession and ask for them to come...And so that was no small visitation in terms of the promise of what God said to this movement...And the Lord says, ‘Now you have the word in yourself now and you will not go running after other movements and other places because I have spoken to you face-to-face. ‘...But I know that at that time I owned,..from the voice of God--face-to-face (but I never saw His face), but I mean standing next to Him, I owned the word myself and it was not just a matter of me believing Him. It was amazing how the revelation turned after that time.” (F88, p. 81 - 84) [3] So we find Bickle and Jones were some of the first to travel to heaven and get commissions. Bickle and Jones relate the story of an angel revealing that God would appear to Bickle in the form of another person named "Don" in a vision or in a dream. Bickle said the vision eventually took place, and part of its message was to show him that "Jesus appears in thousands of different faces to portray something," Bickle said. "He was trying to say, 'I'm your friend, I am your familiar friend and I'm going to show you all things so you can move in the power of the Spirit'". (Mike Bickle with Bob Jones, Visions and Revelations, transcript, series of five tapes from the fall of 1988, p.53-60) Familiar may be the key, as a familiar spirit would act like this. His Jesus is ever changing, or maybe a better way is to say it, he disguises himself. This also fits well with the New Age movements Jesus who is constantly changing manifesting by various light bearers. Bickle relates that during his trip to heaven Jesus commissioned him to be one of God's new generals to lead his end time army. Although Bickle claims he met with "the Lord" face-to-face, it was an out-of-body experience. It was 2:16 A.M. he said, and in a flash he was there, but it wasn't the cave where Jones earlier related he had been. Instead he was standing in a 20-by 30-foot room that "had clouds on the bottom, on the top and the walls". It was the courtroom of God. God was in the room, Bickle said, but rather than appearing as a being of light, he was a presence that Bickle wouldn't look at. (Mike Bickle with Bob Jones, Visions and Revelations, transcript, series of five tapes from the fall of 1988 p.80-82) God rebuked him for not being patient enough in choosing leaders for his movement. Later the being ordered Bickle to ride in a golden chariot-one of about thirty-five-in a procession of leaders, apostles, and prophets, who would be joining the movement that would someday be worldwide. Bickle said that during the trip God did not commission him as an apostle. But he said he understood the experience to mean that if he was faithful he would "have an opportunity in the grace of God to fill an apostolic calling." (Mike Bickle with Bob Jones, ibid) This mythology of Bickle and Jones started a movement of heavenly travelers. Jones was one of the greatest offenders inside the church, who thought he can travel to heaven any time he wants - he also taught this to Todd Bentley. (For more on Jones see http://letusreason.org/Latrain52.htm) Todd Bentley in conversation with Bob Jones “Now let me talk about an angelic experience with Emma. Twice Bob Jones asked me about this angel that was in Kansas City in 1980: “Todd, have you ever seen the angel by the name of Emma?” He asked me as if he expected that this angel was appearing to me. Surprised, I said, “Bob, who is Emma?” He told me that Emma was the angel that helped birth and start the whole prophetic movement in Kansas City in the 1980s.” We find that Bob Jones who told Todd Bentley this prophetic movement was started by the angel Emma, which is apparently the same one at Jesus tomb when He resurrected. One can’t be more off than this, for there are no women angels. This is especially important when it was Jones that prophesied to Bickle of his movement. Here on display is the Latter Rain message that came From Bickle and the Kansas City Prophets, "The saints in the New Testament would wait in line to greet the Apostles coming from this generation." The Apostle Paul was more anxious to talk to the end-time Apostles and Prophets than they were to talk to him. What they would do would "go far greater in the glory of God." (Bickle 1988 Visions and Revelations) "There's Apostles, there's Imminent Apostles and there's MOST IMMINENT APOSTLES... There's various levels of Apostles and the Lord was showing that.... out of This Movement there would be 35 apostles ... that will be of the highest level of apostolic ministry. . . the whole government of this movement in it's highest level in all places it goes.” (Mike Bickle, Visions & Revelations, Kansas City Fellowship Audio Cassette) Charisma mag wrote that--Mike Bickle, who was pastor of Kansas City Fellowship in Kansas City, Mo., in 1990 the ministry of several prophets in his church brought criticism from a group of charismatic pastors in the city, cautions labeling prophets as “false,” even when their predictions do not come to pass.” The pressure was on, and it was shortly after Wimber put a stop to it. However, Years later after leaving the Vineyard we read The “Catch the Fire – The Release of the Apostolic and Prophetic” conference held at Harvest Rock Church with Mike Bickle, Paul Cain, and Rick Joyner of the “Kansas City Prophets” and John Arnott of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship. The advertisement for this conference promises: “God has spoken and a manifestation of true prophets and apostles will come forth to cause His church to reveal Christ in fullness to the world. This present revival must lead to a restoration of the Ephesians 4 mandate,” thus showing the latter rain, Manifest Sons of God emphasis in this conference and Harvest Rock Church (notice the reference to Ephesians 4:11 - the restoration of the five-fold ministry which is the basis for the Latter Rain movement). Bringing the Latter Rain message through the Vineyard, Bob Jones said "first he will bring the Five[Fold Ministries]..but there is a ministry after the fivefold called the ministry of PERFECTION, the Melchizedek priesthood. You that are children will be moving into the ministries of perfection...coming into the divine nature of Christ...." ("Visions and Revelations" audio tape Mike Bickle/Bob Jones, Autumn 1989 KCMO) This would come to only certain people called “A New Breed” “The children are the best of all the generations that have ever been upon the face of the earth. . . those ELECTED SEEDS that will glorify Christ in the last days. . . they will move into the things of the supernatural that no one has ever been in the Bible – they’ll move in it consistently….they themselves will be that generation that’s raised up to put death itself underneath their feet. . . a church that has reached the full maturity of the god-man!” (Kansas City Fellowship 1988 interview Bob Jones with Mike Bickle) Bob Jones said of Jesus “… He's going to come for a church that is mature in righteousness… progressively going in this righteousness until you take on the very divine nature of Christ Himself and you begin to see Christ in the Church. Christ won't come forThe Church until you see Christ in The Church. Until the Church looks like Jesus. Papa planted Jesus, He sowed Him down here in this earth to have a whole nation of brothers and sisters that looked just like Jesus and he will have it. His Son was Alpha Son, your children are the Omega sons and daughters.” Mike Bickle then interjects here, “Jesus was the beginning, but our children and us, we're included in this… we're the end of this thing. (“School of Prophecy,” ibid.) [emphasis added] Mike Bickle speaking at a Vineyard Conference in 1989 said, "Christ is the Alpha and we are the Omega." Of course this is not accurate bible teaching – as only Christ is the Alpha and the Omega. What is meant is Manifest Sons of God. . . we are Christ corporately. He further stated “God intends us to be like gods, he intends us to be like the Son of God. … God has conceived in His heart of a plan to make a race of men that would live like gods on the Earth. He has conceived in His heart to have Sons that would live like His Son, the Lord Jesus lived… That we were to be on earth the extension and manifestation of God’s life in heaven. …When a person comes up and declares what Sonship is about, the religious community comes up and says “blasphemy!” That’s what they did to Jesus. The religious mind will always call this heresy. When the religious mind comes in contact with the revelation of what a Son of God is they will always say it is not right because it’s too high.”(Mike Bickle, Glory and Dominion of Sonship, Part 2, cassette tape, as cited by Bob Hunter, The Toronto Blessing.) "My conviction is that one of the greatest transformations is when you begin to get the revelation that you are a Son of God . . . Son of God . . . God has conceived in His heart of a plan to make a race of men that would live like gods on the Earth. He has conceived in His heart to have Sons that would live like His Son, the Lord Jesus lived ... That we were to be on earth the extension and manifestation of God's life in heaven. (part 2 of Bickle, The Glory and Dominion of Sonship: Reference Cannon, "Old Wine in Old Wineskins"- undated tape ). Here is the new Breed teaching of the Latter Rain heresy. Bickle clearly uses unscriptural terminology and logic to teach Manifest Sons doctrine yet he at the same time says he does not teach this. IHOP Affirmations and Denials The Manifest Sons of God Theology (source: website) WE AFFIRM all born-again believers will be ‘manifest’ as sons of God after the Second Coming of Christ. WE DENY that we will experience the fullness of our inheritance as sons of God before Jesus returns. Explanation: Some uphold the false teaching that in this age believers can have faith that will enable them to attain to qualities of life that are reserved only for believers in the resurrection. The Latter Rain WE AFFIRM the Church will experience the greatest outpouring of the Spirit in history before Jesus returns (Joel 2:28–32). This outpouring will result in a great ingathering of souls and a renewing of the Church so that it walks in godliness as declared in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). We affirm the presence of the 5–fold ministry for the equipping of the saints (Ephesians 4:11–13). WE DENY the distinctive doctrines that go beyond Scripture that are often associated with the Latter Rain theology that was popularized in the 1950s. Explanation: Some have wrongly identified our ministry today with the false teachings that were popularized by some in the Latter Rain movement. We have had no relationship at all to this past movement After reading his own quotes and the associations he continues to have, how can he honestly say they have not had this relationship in the past? With both Bob Jones Paul Cain who were promoters of these teachings and even today his relationship with the NAR/ Latter Rain. Which is really a continuance of Wimber by Wagner. The facts is much of what he is teaching is beyond scripture, then and NOW.
pt.2 Mike bickle
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