Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer, Kansas City

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Is anyone familiar with Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer? They are also called Friends of The Bridegroom (www.fotb.org).

From what I can tell they are inter-denominational and are very forcused on the end times, the Holy Spirit, and the mystical theology of Christ as the Bridegroom of His people. I have met one person who lives and works there and I have to say I was deeply impressed with her devotion to God, her knowledge of the mystic saints, particularly St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and her openness to dialogue with Catholics. We did not get a chance to discuss much theology, sadly.

However, the research I am doing leads me to be pretty wary of this group. They are connected to the “Latter Rain” movement, which I had never heard of until today, and loosely affiliated with Bob Jones (which of the many Bobs from the Jones dynasty I am not sure yet.)

I’d love to hear from anyone with live personal contact with this group, or anyone with a better understanding of “manifest sons of God” and “latter rain” theologies. What I am finding on the internet is pretty confusing.
 
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Makerteacher:
Is anyone familiar with Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer? They are also called Friends of The Bridegroom (www.fotb.org).

From what I can tell they are inter-denominational and are very forcused on the end times, the Holy Spirit, and the mystical theology of Christ as the Bridegroom of His people. I have met one person who lives and works there and I have to say I was deeply impressed with her devotion to God, her knowledge of the mystic saints, particularly St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and her openness to dialogue with Catholics. We did not get a chance to discuss much theology, sadly.

However, the research I am doing leads me to be pretty wary of this group. They are connected to the “Latter Rain” movement, which I had never heard of until today, and loosely affiliated with Bob Jones (which of the many Bobs from the Jones dynasty I am not sure yet.)

I’d love to hear from anyone with live personal contact with this group, or anyone with a better understanding of “manifest sons of God” and “latter rain” theologies. What I am finding on the internet is pretty confusing.
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different Bob Jones.
Bickel is affiliated with the vineyard movement, they are a tongue talking Spirit filled group who believe the spiritual gifts are for today. I love em but can understand why Catholics may be wary.
 
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Makerteacher:
(which of the many Bobs from the Jones dynasty I am not sure yet.)
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Bob Sr. and Jr. are dead. Bob III is president of the university. Bob IV writes for World magazine, and doesn’t work for the university.

So there’s only one Bob Jones to keep up with these days. 😛

(Yeah, yeah, I know…one’s enough, right?)
 
OK, thanks for that info on Bob Jones et al. Anyone know anything about this group or about Mike Bickle? Or the “latter rain” theology movement, or the “manifest sons of God” theology? I’d love to hear from you.

I am considering going up to Kansas City for a visit to see this firsthand. 24/7 prayer sounds real good… but I am wary.
 
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Makerteacher:
OK, thanks for that info on Bob Jones et al. Anyone know anything about this group or about Mike Bickle? Or the “latter rain” theology movement, or the “manifest sons of God” theology? I’d love to hear from you.

I am considering going up to Kansas City for a visit to see this firsthand. 24/7 prayer sounds real good… but I am wary.
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Save yourself a trip. They are a cult. You would not be enriched by their brand of 24/7 prayer. It is abrand of perverted spiritualization and not holy. Satan can quote scripture better than you and I and most people put together. His favorite ploy is just that. Don’t endanger your soul by believing his lie…"follow them. They have a way.

It is similar to the scripture passage of the demonic following the disciples. The disciples had THE way. The demonic used a way in order to confuse the followers of Christ. ole Red legs still trips believers up that way.
 
i wouldn’t go so far as to say they are a cult, they are very focused on the spiritual gifts and i have found that if you focus on one thing too much it can become bad (even focusing constantly on mary or the eucharist can be dangerous because you end up neglecting the other important parts of the faith). mike bickle, if i remember correctly, was asked to leave the vineyard movement because (although they believe in the spiritual gifts) he was focusing too much on them.
 
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Makerteacher:
OK, thanks for that info on Bob Jones et al. Anyone know anything about this group or about Mike Bickle? Or the “latter rain” theology movement, or the “manifest sons of God” theology? I’d love to hear from you.

I am considering going up to Kansas City for a visit to see this firsthand. 24/7 prayer sounds real good… but I am wary.
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I know the Latter Rain movement think they’re the “restoration” of the early church. (Wonder where I’ve heard that before. :rolleyes: )

I think it’s actually an offshoot of the Pentecostal churches/ charismatic movement. They believe in speaking in tongues, laying of hands, prophecy.
 
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Makerteacher:
Is anyone familiar with Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer? They are also called Friends of The Bridegroom (www.fotb.org).
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I don’t know anything about this group, but it’s interesting the group has two names… I guess they had to come up with a second one since IHOP is already taken as an acronym!
 
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1ke:
I don’t know anything about this group, but it’s interesting the group has two names… I guess they had to come up with a second one since IHOP is already taken as an acronym!
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ROFL! Too funny.
Thanks to all who have replied. I do know this group is charismatic, which for me is no problem as I am a practicing Charismatic Catholic involved with a Covenent Community. I know they are Protestant, but since I am both very interested in the reunification of the Church, and very VERY certain of my Catholic Faith, that’s also not a problem for me.

Guess I need to just go SEE! 😉
 
This group is great. And I do not think that they focus too much on spiritual gifts. Their teaching is completely biblical. Although it is radical as far as its teaching on obedience (prayer, fasting, devotion, etc), I feel this is something the western world (America) is really lacking. Here is a link to listen to many of the IHOP teachings… you can also download them free. (Mike Bickle has stated that their copyright is the right to copy because they care more about getting the info out than profit):

ihopkcfreeonlinearchive.ning.com/
 
Makerteacher said:
However, the research I am doing leads me to be pretty wary of this group. They are connected to the “Latter Rain” movement, which I had never heard of until today, and loosely affiliated with Bob Jones (which of the many Bobs from the Jones dynasty I am not sure yet.)

I’d love to hear from anyone with live personal contact with this group, or anyone with a better understanding of “manifest sons of God” and “latter rain” theologies. What I am finding on the internet is pretty confusing.
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Latter Rain theology is BAD NEWS.
Bob Jones, associated with this movement, is NOT the Bob Jones from the university, and is not related to him.

The following resource by Jewel Grewe cuts through the jungle of movements and personalities to the core of the philosophy behind them. Grewe’s background, to the best of my knowledge, was in classical Pentecostalism, which she saw virtually wiped out by a new breed of charismatic movements with roots in Gnosticism. The resource is about 20 years old, but Grewe has written other articles on newer offshoot movements and personalities.

discernment-ministries.org/misc/StrangeFire.pdf

Grewe, being Protestant, includes Catholic doctrines, including the Real Presence in the Eucharist, in her list of bad influences. Actually the Eucharist is the best possible protection against this type of error: Bickle’s movement tries to force the real presence of God to manifest itself in signs and wonders – if people sing and chant long enough something will happen.
 
In a former life, so to speak, I was involved with charismatic evangelicalism as a player in a traveling praise and worship band. I never went to Mike Bickle’s place but I knew a woman that swore by him and was familiar with her theology. It is typical “word of faith” theology–that is, a blend of fundamentalism with the mind science cults of the late 19th century. Faith is a “force” used to enact the promises of God. Your unbelief is the barrier to accessing all of the benfits that Jesus won for you on the cross. These include total physical health (sickness is a demon) total finacial security (poverty is a demon) and happiness in the here and now (suffering is a demon) through accessing your rights as a child of God. God, in this view, amounts to little more than a cosmic bellhop, who we can declare and demand to “move” on our behalf in order to create the life we want, which is always identical to the life Christ died to give you. God is “bound by His word” to deliver on His scriptural promises, here and now. If He does not, it is only because you lack faith. It is a method, not a spirituality, and the 24/7 prayer and praise in hoping to “move God” on one’s behalf is nothing short of self-hypnosis, manufacturing feelings and calling it the “anointing.”

A lot of Christians would be wary of a Slayer concert, and cite the repetitive rhythm’s ability to produce certain bio-rhythms comparable to sleep states; the noise and the message as leading factors.

The “worship” at most of these places is just as dangerous. Music sets a mood, with similar rhythmic patterns inducing an altered state of consciousness (i.e. a sleep state) chants are offered to empty the mind (tongues, in this case, to “focus your spirit on Jesus”) and a counterfeit gospel is insinuated past one’s rational defenses, having been short-circuited by the “show.”

I’ve seen this dynamic at work in a thousand churches from a thousand stages and platforms. Don’t buy into it.

All my best . . .
 
Hi, I just wanted to comment. I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school for 13 years. I am sending my oldest child to The school at the International House of Prayer. I have therefore been there many times. I have walked in and out of many sessions being held in both the prayer room and the school. If it was possible to do the sort of chant mesmerizing mentioned in this thread then it would follow that people who are suddenly entering it would not be immediately affected and they would be able to witness the events actually happening while the others are mesmerized. I have never seen or experienced the sort of things described in the post.
It may be of further help to view the notes just recently published on how to distinguish a cult that you can find listed under the resources at:
ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000036187
Also, I have heard, but not seen yet, there is a video recording of an open forum held at IHOP only a couple weeks ago (August 09) where many members of the public came and there was much informative open discussion. I do not know where to view this (if you find it I would like to know) but I was told a google search could produce it. Beware of Google searches though and what they are capable of producing. I found one that even claims Dr. James Dobson to be a cult leader!
Bless you!
 
IHOP does not believe in the manifest sons of God doctrine. People, when you do research find creditable sources. You can google anything and find whatever you want about it. Try going onto their website and see what they say about themselves. I don’t agree with everything that goes on at the International House of Prayer but I will say that a lot of people there are Jesus loving, Bible reading, street evangelizing, Jesus exalting, sold Christians. A lot, not everyone. I went to school there for 4 years, was on a worship team as a singer and guitar player that whole time, made friends with leaders, worship leaders, students, and people everywhere out here. Most of what I am hearing from people that have a problem with IHOP is uneducated slandering.
 
I personally don’t think IHOP is a cult. I have attended there for about 3 years. I haven’t been brainwashed, in fact I was pretty skeptical at first. IHOP isn’t looking for converts to join our church to get to God our way. We don’t say “be converted into the IHOP church” We say “Come, love, and know Jesus.” The teaching notes always reference the Bible. We don’t make anybody believe in anything we say. We just suggest and if they listen they listen and they don’t they don’t. IHOP wants people to know who Jesus. Not just what books and other people say, but to really know the man Jesus. You should come to a service and see for yourself.
 
i know several people who swear by this establishment and not one of them is “normal”
none of them have any kind of steady lifestyle, they all hop from one place to another, always showing up in a church only when there is a big name evangelist visiting plus , there is a mistical (pagan) element in their activities, i have been there a few times and i can feel a presence and its not a holy one
 
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