GROWING PAINS IN THE PROPHETIC
MIKE BICKLE AS THE "DON KING" OF MODERN DAY PROPHETS
by G. Richard Fisher
"Most pastors I know will let unusual, unprogrammed and even strange
looking things happen as long as they know it is not hype or fake. Pastors are
afraid of things happening beyond what is of the Holy Spirit. They would rather
cut things off a little before the danger zone," writes Mike Bickle. However,
he then confesses, "Prophets are almost always willing to go a little bit
farther than the danger zone to make sure that we do everything that might be
of the Lord."1
Bickle is senior pastor of what now is called the Metro Christian Fellowship
in Kansas City. In 1988, John Wimber and the Vineyard movement began a close
association with Bickle and his church, known then as Kansas City Fellowship.2
In 1990, Kansas City Fellowship became linked to the Association of Vineyard
Churches and was renamed Metro Vineyard Fellowship. On Aug. 8, 1996, it broke
ties with the Vineyard and is now called Metro Christian Fellowship, although
early printings of Bickle's 1996 book, Growing in the Prophetic, identify
the church by the Metro Vineyard Fellowship name.
Bickle is reported as having been a Catholic who became a Presbyterian with a conversion to Christ in 1971. His "calling" began with a man named Augustine, reportedly a prophet but who sounds more like a psychic or fortune teller.3
Don King, though not a boxer himself, is a raucous promoter, manager, and overseer of professional boxing events. In the Charismatic world, Mike Bickle could easily be identified as the "Don King" of modern prophets. Bickle has written a book, Growing in the Prophetic, to oversee, regulate, and direct the prophetic movement. He states that one of the reasons for the book "was to fulfill the need for a unified, systematic teaching on the prophetic that could be available to our church body."4
Yet Bickle himself denies prophetic powers:
"Some people are surprised that I can be the pastor and overseer of prophetic people without being prophetically gifted myself. ... Some pastors are surprised by this, and some are disappointed. They were hoping to see a spectacular manifestation of God's power when I preached at their churches. ... I seldom prophesy, and even then there is no 'thus saith the Lord' tagged on for emphasis. ... I am a pastor/teacher with very limited prophetic giftings."5
Bickle is a bit unclear here and suggests he does a little prophecy — sometimes — in a limited way, though he does not make a big deal of it. While writing as an overseer of prophecy and interested in regulating the prophetic for churches and minimizing his own abilities, he still does boast of incredible spiritual exploits.
Bickle claims that a "voice" spoke to him in September 1982, directing him to a ministry to touch the ends of the earth.6 Bickle's account is as follows:
"The Lord simply said, 'I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the earth in one generation.'"7
Bickle is among a growing number of hyper Charismatics who are involved in a form of supercessionism. The idea behind the word is that of replacement. The new prophets teach that their new movement is the real end times body and is now the way to conduct church. They promote an imminent age of miracles. The manifestations that are about to break out are going to be so great that they will improve upon the prophets and apostles of the Bible. The past ways of doing things are now outmoded, outdated and ineffective. The prophetic supercessionists are where God is really at work today. They deserve your ear and especially your money, and you can "seed" prosperity and miracles as you give to them.
The main concern in this article is with Mike Bickle's book, Growing in the Prophetic. Though his name appears on the cover of the book, he indicates in the acknowledgement that it is his secretary, along with Walter Walker, who actually wrote the book, giving thanks for "a prophetic secretary" and a "prophetic ghostwriter." Indeed, these are new offices introduced, but since Bickle's name appears as the author, along "with Michael Sullivant," it is safe to proceed with the assurance and assumption that Bickle gave the interviews and that he endorses every thought. The book speaks for him.
CHARISMANIA'S MYTHOLOGY
Bickle follows the old party line of the Latter Rain movement and the Charismatic mythology of an imminent miracle age (supercessionism) and lays out what he thinks is ahead for the Church:
"When God sends the wind of the Spirit, we can expect to see great signs and wonders such as the sound of rushing wind and the shaking of buildings as well as extraordinary healings raising the dead and the recovery of paralytics. A great harvest of souls will come as a result of this. ... He will send the wind of the Spirit, which includes a manifestation of the ministry of angels. ... all believers not just prophets will have dreams and see visions. The greatest and fullest manifestation of the kingdom of God the Day of the Lord, the restoration of all things and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is reserved for the consummation of all things at the end of the age. I believe there will be an unprecedented revival in which all believers will experience dreams, visions and everything Joel prophesied just before the second coming of Christ."8
Bickle does not believe that the people in this movement will gain immortality in this life, but he is on track with most of the Manifest Sons of God and Joel's Army teaching.
If Bickle would read Scripture carefully, he might not be calling for the "Day of the Lord." Joel says of that day:
"Alas, for the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. ... Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness" (Joel 1:15, 2:1 2).
Yet Bickle goes on with his incredible fantasy:
"The increase of prophetic ministry in the local church involves more than verbal, inspirational prophecy. In my understanding, it includes angelic visitations, dreams, visions and signs and wonders in the sky, as well as the increase in prophetic revelation, even the kind given through the subtle impressions of the Holy Spirit."9
"HERE AN OMEN, THERE AN OMEN ..."
Bickle is so hard pressed to make some of these things happen or seem to happen that he is even into omens in nature. Omens are the stock in trade for occultist and fortune tellers as they look to something to foretell a future event, either good or evil. Bickle calls his omen a "prophetic revelation" and declares:
"God gave a prophetic revelation that we were to pray and fast for twenty one days with the expectancy of revival in His timing, and then He sent a confirmation of the revelation with a natural sign in the heavens: an unexpected comet sighting on the day that we were to begin the fast. The prophecy by Bob Jones about the comet was reported by the newspaper on the exact day that the fast began."10
Another confirming omen was a snowstorm predicted by prophet Bob Jones.11 Omen detection and interpretation is much like reading tea leaves or coffee grounds!
Earthquakes also have special meaning to Bickle.12 A seven week period of "almost no rain" meant a confirmation of prophetic truth somehow.13 Of course, with any natural phenomenon one can ascribe whatever meaning one wishes and no one is the wiser. In the Old Testament, God may have used natural phenomena to lead His nation or even to judge them, but there were no secret meanings to discern. If natural phenomena were used, the people were told exactly what God was up to. They knew the Egyptian plagues were God's judgment and His direct intervention for their deliverance.
ROOT AND ENTANGLEMENTS
Bickle carries on the tradition of his former colleague, the late faith healer John Wimber. Wimber died of cancer in spite of all his "power evangelism" and purported powers.
Bickle, as noted above, endorses the false prophet Bob Jones.14 He also claims to have "about 250 people" at his church in a prophetic network "who regularly receive dreams, visions and prophetic words from the Lord."15
Bickle boasts connections with other prophets as well:
"At Metro Christian in Kansas City we are associated with several prophetic people of international stature. Some have lived in Kansas City, and others have been related by friendship. We also relate to about a dozen people who have full time traveling prophetic ministries and many people who regularly have prophetic dreams and visions."16
One of the more prominent names is "Paul Cain, whom we regard very highly,
speaks to our church about two to three times a year. However, he gives most
of what he receives for us to our main leadership group either in person or
by telephone."17 Alexander Graham Bell would be amazed to hear of "dial
a prophet."
This "Prophets Club" consists of a group of men who affirm and self
authenticate one another, even making excuses for failed prophecies, occultic
tendencies, and lack of healing power. It is a good ol' boys club or mutual
admiration society more formally referred to as Joel's Army, Manifest Sons,
End Time Prophets, Kansas City Prophets, or several other names. The prophets
pitch their books and make wild claims in a scramble for a constituency that
naively wants to believe the fantasies.
BLUNDERING PROPHETS
Bickle gives another purpose for his book as "someone suggested that I write a follow up book that revealed all our mistakes in the prophetic ministry. He suggested I call it Some Said We Blundered. I almost agreed. Indeed, we've made many mistakes on our journey in the prophetic ministry."18
Bickle correctly argues that prophets may not get absolutely everything in their life right. Even Paul the Apostle was not perfect (Philippians 3:12), though his revelations, prophecies, inspiration and commands were. And one can agree with Bickle when he says, "Confirmation of a man as a valid prophetic person is not a universal endorsement of all he says and does."19 We know from the testimony of Scripture that time and again Peter blundered (Matthew 16:22 23; Galatians 2:11 14). Yet, Peter never blundered in his prophecies or inspiration.
Here, Bickle is doing a little bait and switch and arguing from the general to the specific, which is subtle. If a man says he has a supernatural gift, at least that should be right and function as if it is supernatural. In Bickle's view, not only does the prophet get a pass on parts of his life, but he does not even have to prophesy correctly. He even gets a pass for false prophecy. Even if the professing prophets are wrong on their predictions, they are still supposed to be seen as prophets. So the new prophets only have to get it right some of the time.
Bickle cannot be talking about biblical prophecy or anything like it. He is, in fact, talking about human guesswork and human speculation. He is talking about hunches and hoping to be right at least part of the time. The modern prophets duck behind their humanness to cover their repeated failures. This is not Scriptural prophecy at all, but percentages. This is a guessing game called prophecy. This is simply playing the odds and trying to be right on guesstimates. This is tabloid sensationalism. Tying a prayer meeting into a sunspot or meteor is just wishful thinking and human delusion. Bickle was right in his first impressions of the claims of prophets to "technicolor visions" and audible voices when he concluded:
"At first these men's claims seemed to me to be the stuff of vivid but misguided imaginations and not genuine revelations from God."20
BETTER RIGHT THAN DEAD
The true prophet of God, we are told in the Bible, could not make blunders or mistakes in his predictions. Mistakes would render him a false prophet and a liar. In Deuteronomy, Moses begins to instruct the people regarding witchcraft, soothsaying, and spiritism, calling these an abomination and evil. In that context Moses tells God's people their only stance toward false prophets and then establishes God's test:
"But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?' When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).
Hebrew scholars Keil and Delitzsch give us the import of the Deuteronomy passages:
"On the other hand, the prophet who spoke in the name of the Lord what the Lord had not commanded him, i.e. proclaimed the thoughts of his own heart as divine revelations (cf. Num. xvi. 28), should die, like the prophet who spoke in the name of other gods. ... The false prophet was to be discovered by the fact, that the word proclaimed by him did not follow or come to pass, i.e. that his prophecy was not fulfilled."21
Bickle is being dishonest and misleading by claiming the following:
"For years I had read Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, and some of the Puritan writers, and had adopted their theology of an unprecedented ingathering of souls at the end of the age."22
What he does not say is what he added to their theology. By no stretch of the imagination is Bickle's theology anything like theirs.
First, the above were strongly Calvinistic. Second, they were cessationists who believed the sign gifts were for the first century before the completion of the Bible and as confirmation to the early Church. Third, they were postmillennial, believing that through the spread of the Gospel (not sign gifts) the world would be slowly Christianized before the return of Christ. They offered no hope of perfect healings or people rising from the dead short of the return of Jesus. They would classify men like Bickle as "enthusiasts," misguided, or even worse.
God is still the same. He has not changed His mind to accommodate Himself to the new fallible prophets. Bickle seems to denigrate the character of God, suggesting that God has changed His mind on the need for 100% accuracy.
CHARISMATIC TRADITIONS AND PHARISEES
Dominant among the modern prophetic movement is its obvious departure from the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture. Bickle is no exception as he would have us subtly bypass the Bible when he says, "There is, I have discovered, a great longing throughout the body of Christ to hear from God in a personal way."23 By that he means personal prophetic revelations and what he calls "now words."
What Bickle calls the "now word" or the "aspect of now ness" are the prophecies and revelations of the new prophets. These, he says, are a complement to Scripture: "Our desire is for God, not just knowledge about Him."24 But how do we know which "now word" is correct? In reality, this is no better or different than papal traditions or Roman Catholic additions to Scripture. For example, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:
"Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence. ...these traditions can be retained, modified or even abandoned under the guidance of the Church's magisterium."25
Nineteenth century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge speaks against tradition and how it destroys the authority of Scripture. His argument can well be ascribed to Bickle and the modern prophets:
"Making tradition a part of the rule of faith subverts the authority of the Scriptures. This follows as a natural and unavoidable consequence. If there be two standards of doctrine of equal authority, the one the explanatory, and infallible interpreter of the other, it is of necessity the interpretation which determines the faith of the people. Instead, therefore, of our faith resting on the testimony of God as recorded in his Word, it rests on what poor, fallible, often fanciful, prejudiced, benighted men, tell us is the meaning of that word. Man and his authority take the place of God."26
Bickle links the Pharisees to "conservative intellectuals"27 but, in fact, the very opposite is true. The Pharisees have more in keeping with people like Bickle, who add their own fallible thoughts and errant "traditions" and "prophecies," thinking they are complementing the Bible.
In fact, Bickle admits:
"This personal and contemporary application of an end times, dramatic, worldwide visitation of God is without doubt based partially on my subjective experience. But it is also based on the Scriptures."28
Any God fearing pastor should be unwilling to base anything being taught to his people on a subjective experience whether his own or someone else's. It is the substance of cults. It is a frightening thought. And it gives us a clue where some of Bickle's ideas come from.
This author can readily understand the Preterist view of the Book of Revelation and its attempt to see Revelation as being fulfilled in the first century, more or less in the time of Nero. While not totally agreeing, one can comprehend how this view is established. One also can readily understand the Futurist view of the Book of Revelation and its attempt to slot the worldwide catastrophes and devastation in a future Tribulation period during the rise of the Antichrist.
However, what this writer cannot understand is Bickle's attempt to tie the Book of Revelation to the current Church Age and see all the universal bloodshed, warfare, catastrophe, death and destruction as having anything to do with his movement.29 The Adventists also tried and failed to fulfill Revelation in the 1800s with their historic approach, as did the Methodists before them. The wrath of God is all over the pages of Revelation from chapters 6 to 19. Who wants that?
It seems that all the promises of the return of Christ scattered all through the Bible are not enough. Bickle says that "awesome signs and wonders in the heavens" will be "undeniable confirmations of His coming!"30 Once again, apparently God's Word and His promises repeated over and over are just not sufficient. Bickle is doing exactly what the Apostle Paul commands us not to do: "That you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you be puffed up one against another" (1 Corinthians 4:6). When we go beyond the Scripture it does cause a pride and an elitism among those who think they have superior knowledge and the ability to divine omens.
WARMING THE LEFTOVERS
Bickle's views are simply a rehash of the fallible prophetic views of Wayne Grudem and Jack Deere. However, Bickle tries to improve on Grudem since Grudem does not equate prophecy today with "God's very words." Bickle argues:
"I do not believe he convincingly eliminates the possibility of a person speaking a prophetic word or words that are 100 percent accurate in every detail and, as such, are God's words. ... Again, I find Grudem helpful, but not adequate."31
Bickle also affirms:
"I believe we should acknowledge that mature and gifted people can speak 'God's words.'"32
However these "words" can have mistakes and range in accuracy from "51 percent" to "99 percent."33 The question is who is making the mistake, the prophet or God? While Bickle would protest that others put God in a box, he creates a God who is not powerful enough to give accurate words through people when He wants to. Could it be that God is not giving those words at all but is already satisfied with His complete and inspired Word? We must never forget that claiming new revelations is the error that will support all errors.
Dr. Thomas R. Edgar is a professor of New Testament and proficient in the Greek New Testament. In his book, Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit, he spends over 260 pages thoroughly refuting these views by a careful study of all the pertinent texts. In a summary following many pages of exhaustive exegesis he concludes:
"None of the arguments for the New Testament prophet as an inferior or 'fallible' prophet, such as those within the charismatic movement, have stood up to inspection. Therefore, after an examination of the evidence, we conclude that biblical apostles and prophets are not present in the church today."34
We might say that while a prophet could be fallible, his prophecies could not or he would not be a prophet for long. In the end, nothing by way of mistake seems to matter. Bickle even mentions what he calls "'hamburger helper' prophecy."35 This has to do, Bickle says, with people who just add filler and give a word "even when God is silent." Bickle says even though this can cause significant problems "it is not what I consider false prophecy or a false prophet."36
So, according to Bickle, to speak a lie, fake a prophecy, or pretend to have a word is all right as long as you are sincere and trying to help someone. He writes that Isaiah 50:11 is "a warning not to manufacture prophetic words!"37 However, later in the book, he instructs that manufactured prophetic words simply be treated "as a less serious problem" and that they should be merely overlooked the first and second time.38 The contradictions are blatant when on one page we can do it but not on another. Again we remember that teaching new revelation is the error that will support all errors.
Professor Edgar rationally addresses the terrible consequences for one accepting this point of view:
"We are also left with a whole order of deficient gifts. ... The New Testament prophets are fallible, cannot be trusted, and are no more than any teacher or counselor, even when speaking by revelation. The miracle workers and healings can often fail but still originate from God. We are confronted with healings of 'personality meltdown' as well as 'demons' of depression and allergies. Finally, we are left with a 'gift' of making unintelligible sounds rather than a miraculous and marvelous ability from the Holy Spirit to speak actual languages for the benefit of others. The unique nature of the apostolic age is abandoned, and we are informed that the church of that time had all of these weak and inefficient gifts. The gifts rather than being given for a specific ministry for the benefit of others now center in miracles, signs, and other evidences to bolster flagging saints. Ultimately, if we accept all of this, we have paid a terrible price only to justify someone's personal experiences. ... Their experiences have solved no theological issue, produced no advance in biblical knowledge, nor produced more spiritual Christians. We maintain that we are asked to surrender too much that is important, if not essential. The price we must pay for this experience is entirely too high."39
CHARISMATIC MANTRA
Bickle repeats the old mantra of John Wimber and John Arnott, "God offends the mind to reveal the heart."40 He alleges that the Holy Spirit "intentionally offends people."41 Bickle knows better but tries to use John 6 and the discourse on eating Christ's flesh as a proof text for offending people.42 Certainly the people were offended at Christ's message, but not at his manner. The offense of the cross is the rejection of the Gospel, not the message bearers' silliness. We may offend people with the message of the truth (since they reject truth), but we are not to be offensive by our manner and lack of control. We ought to reject those who act like crystal ball readers. Paul warned the Corinthians that bizarre behavior would cause others to reject them and their message. They would be written off as insane (1 Corinthians 14:23, 33).
Bickle really does understand what he is doing here, but barrels ahead anyway:
"I understand that the context of this principle (God's intentional offense) relates to issues much broader than strange prophets and bizarre manifestations. But in these instances, the principle can be clearly applied."43
So though it does not apply apply it anyway. Bickle then stacks the deck and says that if one is offended with all that he (Bickle) is saying, it reveals a "lack of hunger for God and a lack of humility."44
The idea of "offending the mind to reveal the heart" is a manipulative tactic of eastern enlightenment and dynamic meditation.45 It is a gross violation of the command of Christ, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).
Heart and mind are not always that distinct in Scripture and the word "heart" can mean the inner man, including the mind. In the Old Testament, man was a totality and the heart was seen as the center of his thought processes and the spring of conscience. David meditated in his heart (Psalm 19:14). The heart is the seat of knowledge in Proverbs 15:14. In the New Testament, evil thoughts proceed out of the heart (Matthew 15:19). In both Testaments, "it is in the heart, in the innermost recesses of his being, that man is illumined, cleansed, renewed, by attention to the word of God."46 Bickle's false dichotomy between heart and mind does not hold up biblically. It creates mystical double speak.
In just making up "four levels of prophetic ministry," Bickle admits, "These are not biblical distinctions."47 So, clearly, we are being led to involve ourselves in unbiblical practice.
Even more frightening is Bickle's Appendix on "God's Manifest Presence."48 In this section, Bickle presents a list of phenomena from contemporary experience such as:
"Shaking, jerking, loss of bodily strength, heavy breathing, eyes fluttering, lips trembling, oil on the body, changes in skin color, weeping, laughing, 'drunkenness,' staggering, travailing, dancing, falling, visions, hearing audibly into the spirit realm, inspired utterances (that is, prophecy), tongues, interpretation; angelic visitations and manifestations; jumping, violent rolling, screaming, wind, heat, electricity, coldness, nausea as discernment of evil, smelling or tasting good or evil presences, tingling, pain in the body as discernment of illnesses, feeling heavy weight or lightness, trances (altered physical state while seeing and hearing into the spirit world), inability to speak normally and disruption of the natural realm (for example, electrical circuits blown)."49
Much of the above can be found in a cultic Ashram or a mental institution, or could be caused by sickness, drugs, sleep loss, brain damage, altered states of consciousness or, worst of all, demons. Who ever imagined there would be a day when we would be discussing the horrible mess above as viable for church worship? There certainly is a strong delusion on the Charismatic church today.
Bickle does admit to three possible origins for manifestations other than the Spirit of God. He allows for: 1) "human responses," 2) "demonic powers," and 3) "revival phenomena."50 He does not mention combinations of the three. Why would we think if humans and demons are cutting loose there would be anything of God involved?
Paul assures us that light and darkness have no fellowship together and since there is no concord between Christ and Belial, we are to separate ourselves from the unclean works of darkness and the flesh (2 Corinthians 6:14 18). Bickle's attempt to set up rules and expose the dangers of manifestations51 is a day late and a dollar short, especially when he follows it with a section on posturing ourselves for manifestations.52 In this contradictory see saw, Bickle opens the floodgates for these kinds of things and naively thinks he can regulate the torrent by some subjective guidelines or pretense that God may be in it somewhere. Don King does a better and more consistent job than Bickle.
DON'T BLAME ME
Bickle tells the story of how he had to step in between "dueling prophets," who were trying to out prophesy one another in his church. Bickle took on such a "get tough" attitude he was ready to just shut down the miraculous and the supernatural with one fell swoop:
"I was tempted to get rid of all the prophetic ministry the miracles, the supernatural confirmations everything. We would just no longer have prophetic ministry in our church. ... I was no longer afraid to confront prophetic ministers, even if they previously had authority to call fire down from heaven."53
How in the world does one just shut down "miracles" and the "supernatural"
and control God in this way? If it were all that easy to do just with the issue
of a decree, wouldn't it be questionable as to whether it was of God or just
of man? Who could control the supernatural? Perhaps only a Don King of the supernatural.
This certainly sounds more orchestrated than sovereign, more human than divine.
If these "prophets" were just playing manipulative games, why does
Bickle call them "prophets" at all?
Bickle then details how he took charge:
"After Dueling Prophets Sunday a few months earlier, we had begun to work out a system for administrating the flow of prophetic words in our worship services."54
The last third of Growing in the Prophetic is an attempt to control
and regulate behavior that is unbiblical in the first place.
Bickle believes he can somehow subjectively discern whether a prophecy is unanointed,
false, or mistaken. The offending "prophet" is gently corrected.55
It is unfortunate that rather than exalt, glorify and hold up the Word of God,
Bickle alleges that "God wants to speak to and through the body of Christ.
The power of revelation can flow through even the youngest believer in the church."56
Frankly, no Christian should look for revelation from fallible humans. We have the greatest revelation of all in the person of Christ (John 1). We need to concentrate on Him and God's revelation of Him in the Scripture. He is "the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
Just as Don King has had trouble with some unruly boxers in the past and had his share of difficulties in trying to keep them in line, so Bickle admits to having many unruly prophets. It is absolutely incredible to hear Bickle describe the "prophets" he knows. None of them sounds like a "thus saith the Lord" man paralleling the likes of Isaiah, Elijah, or Elisha. Bickle's description of dysfunctional, insecure, manipulative, carnal, immature "prophets" would be laughable if it were not so sad:
"...they may appear arrogant or pushy ... their pushiness usually comes from fear, hurt and rejection. Most prophetic people who have been around for a few years have had their hands slapped many times. ... John Paul Jackson, another prophetic minister at Metro Christian, was so shell shocked by negative experiences with previous churches that he was expecting to be totally rejected by us at any time. ... by the time this person reaches forty or fifty, he or she is often very guarded and suspicious of authority figures. Those coming into prophetic ministry later in life may also have problems with rejection. ... They feel if they get enough clout, they don't have to worry so much about being rejected. ... building clout is so important to them, ... the temptation is to whisper to the influential people in the church in an attempt to get recognized."57
Bickle explains that the "prophets" can run afoul of pastors who see them as ambitious and manipulative. These "prophets" can get their "prophetic groupies," he says, to pray against the pastor. "All of this and more is usually the result of wounded and rejected prophets giving in to former hurts and present temptations," he writes.58 Bickle also suggests that the pastoral leadership needs to "discern the fears and hurts that drive him."59
Bickle needs to think more seriously about a counseling center to help the people he has led down the illusive road of the prophetic. He needs to be held accountable for (and help pick up) some of the wreckage he is creating. He also needs to give attention to the Matthew 18 discipline process for false prophets. And he needs to think seriously about the fact that teaching ongoing revelation and "now words" of prophecy might just be the seedbed to produce the rotten fruit he is describing. He cannot just write people off as disturbed if he has helped to feed that disturbance with false teaching. He must share some of the blame.
Bickle's use of 1 Thessalonians 5:19 20 also needs to be addressed. Bickle writes that, "Paul exhorted us not to quench the Spirit or despise prophetic utterances (1 Thess. 5:19)."60 The New King James Version renders the 1 Thessalonians 5:20 passage as "Do not despise prophecies."
W.E. Vine tells us that the word for prophecies is the Greek word propheteia.61 Vine explains that the word "signifies the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God ... It is the declaration of that which cannot be known by natural means, Matt. 26:68, it is the forth telling of the will of God, whether with reference to the past, the present, or the future."62
Vine, in his exposition, then cites from his and Hogg's Notes on Thessalonians:
"With the completion of the canon of Scripture prophecy apparently passed away, 1 Cor. 13:8, 9. In his measure the teacher has taken the place of the prophet, cp. the significant change in 2 Pet. 2:1. The difference is that, whereas the message of the prophet was a direct revelation of the mind of God for the occasion, the message of the teacher is gathered from the completed revelation contained in the Scriptures."63
Herein is the beauty and the safety of the Scriptures. We must understand the thrust of the New Testament by affirming the following:
1. Prophecies were still being given by Paul in the Apostolic Age while there was no completed New Testament. These are the legitimate prophecies that we cannot despise or devalue.
2. All the prophecy that we need has now been delivered and is contained in the completed Bible, Revelation 22:18-19. We cannot add to that.
3. In the undervaluing of the Word of God (true prophecy), the new prophets with the "now words" may be doing what Paul is forbidding in 1 Thessalonians 5:20. There are so many rules, guidelines, and instructions for understanding and regulating prophecies and divinely inspired prophetic music,64 it is easy to see how a person could get caught up in these (and even seeing Bickle's book as another Testament) to the neglect of the Bible.
4. Understanding the above keeps us out of the dangerous waters of man's speculative and subjective utterances.
Bickle admits that he does not believe that all we need to know about God
is in the Bible. In speaking of what he calls prophetic music he proposes that
"This implies that the Holy Spirit gives the church a deeper revelation
of the nature and personality of God in prophetic messages through song."65
Bickle is despising the biblical prophecies here. If we really want the deep
stuff, the really supernatural and spiritual stuff, he says, the route of the
prophetic is all we need. What of Christ's disclosure of the Father (John 1:18;
10:30; 14:6 11; Hebrews 1:1 3)? What about the hundreds and hundreds of Bible
passages that help us construct a systematic theology in terms of the person,
nature, attributes, and ways of God? Such questions are rhetorical.
Bickle would have us believe that he has heard choirs of angels performing Handel's Messiah and claims:
"Many people who have had heavenly encounters and returned to tell about them have spoken of the marvelous music they heard in heaven. People who have had experiences of having their ears open to the spirit realm have testified of hearing the angelic choirs and music. In fact, I had an experience like this myself."66
O COME LET HIM ADORE US
Bickle also buys into and promotes the self esteem message. His friend and colleague Stephen Strang writes:
"Bickle says he realized what we all need to understand: that our God is a God who loves us so much He can't keep from embracing us. A God who loves our friendship and wants us to be with Him. A God who enjoys us even in our failure and immaturity because He sees the intentions of our hearts."67
Jeremiah described the intentions of man's heart in quite a different fashion (Jeremiah 17:9). Bickle's message is moving the focus from God to man by diminishing His incomparable mercies and creating man's worthiness. Any advancement of man's worth lessens God's grace and mercy.
Strang's publishing firm, Creation House, has published Bickle's latest book. Strang's magazine, Charisma, ran a full color advertisement for the book. The ad's description reveals a self esteem message gone insane:
"You are invited to discover the pure joy and beauty of an exciting, intimate relationship with an awesome God who loves you unconditionally, likes your company and adores you."68
Bickle leaves his people with so many dilemmas that it is amazing that they just don't see through it all or give up in frustration. Angelic encounters with heavenly music, a theology where God adores man, and modern day revelations all place Bickle in an elite class. In actuality, such claims really just incite spiritual confusion. Moreover, even if one considers his prophecies real, another problem then arises: their interpretation is up for grabs. Bickle writes:
"The problems we have to deal with have not been the result of incorrect prophetic revelation. In most cases, the divine information was right, but the problems began when someone went on to interpret incorrectly what the prophetic revelation meant. This misinterpretation can begin either with the person receiving the prophetic revelation or with the person to whom it is directed."69
So Bickle says there is "raw data (divine information) and the interpretation of its content." But wait, it gets worse. There can also be confusion and false hope with false expectations of fulfillment. Bickle writes, "The problem was that they allowed revelation and interpretation to run together in their minds until they could no longer distinguish between what God had actually said and the expectation they created by their interpretation."70 Somehow, Bible study seems a lot more appealing and a lot less confusing.
Bickle sets up so many prophetic hoops that it would drive any thinking person to distraction. All kinds of confirmations must be sought.71 There is a process of interpretation and application.72 There are questions of who should be told and when.73 Still there can be presumption, misunderstandings, pride, division, and self serving.74 This sounds nothing like the "wisdom from above that is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). Bickle offers us one big nightmare. Yet he says that "the consequences of shutting it out are too severe."75
Just what are those consequences? After all, all that we would be left with are the grace of God, God's Spirit, God's precious and unchangeable Word, the Church, and the prayers, help and counsel of God's people. Sounds far better to me.
Don King may eventually regulate the new and coming world of woman boxers. Bickle, in his Growing in the Prophetic, lays down the guidelines and rules for woman as prophetic ministers.76 The underlying error and fallacy is the same, apart from gender. Anne Graham Lotz, in her comments on Revelation 22:18 19, cuts to the heart of it all:
"While we think of cults today as groups who add to God's Word, I wonder if there are others who do so less obviously. When people say they have 'a word of knowledge,' or a 'prophecy,' and what they say is held in the same regard as Scripture, does God view that as adding to His Word? ... We are not to add to God's Word as though it is insufficient in itself, and we are not to take one word away from it as though it is irrelevant or unreliable or unimportant or untrue!"77
A NON PROPHET WARNING
Dr. Henry Morris sends out a clarion call warning us to stay alert:
"If there ever was 'an evil and adulterous generation,' it is surely this present one and, once again, there is a wide spread seeking after signs (same word in the Greek as 'miracles'). The almost explosive rise of the so called New Age movement has produced an amazing interest in all forms of occultism and supernatural phenomena: astrology, channeling, ESP, near death experiences, UFO's, meditation, and mysticism of many strange varieties. Even in Christian circles, there is an unhealthy interest in new revelations and other supernatural signs. ... Unlike the first generation of Christians, we now have the complete written word of God, both Old and New Testaments, and it is sufficient for every need of every believer until Christ returns, 'whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts' (II Peter 1:19)."78
Endnotes:
1. Mike Bickle, Growing in the Prophetic. Lake Mary,
Fla.: Creation House, 1996, pg. 145.
2. See also, PFO's earlier critiques of Bickle and the Kansas City Fellowship
in The Quarterly Journal, Vol. 10, No. 4 and Vol. 11, No. 1.
3. See further, David Pytches, Some Said It Thundered. Nashville: Nelson
Publishers, 1991, pp. 57 65.
4. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 134.
5. Ibid., pg. 135.
6. See further, Albert James Dager, Vengeance is Ours. Redmond, Wash.:
Sword Publishers, 1990, pg. 127.
7. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 30.
8. Ibid., pp. 25 28.
9. Ibid., pg. 31.
10. Ibid., pg. 39.
11. Ibid., pg. 37.
12. Ibid., pg. 40.
13. Ibid., pg. 44.
14. See further, Hank Hanegraaff, Counterfeit Revival. Dallas: Word Publishers,
1997, pp. 145 150.
15. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 182.
16. Ibid., pg. 139.
17. Ibid., pg. 182.
18. Ibid., pg. 11.
19. Ibid., pg. 48.
20. Ibid., pg. 21.
21. Johann Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament.
Grand Rapids, Mich.: William Eerdmans Publishing, 1985, Vol. 1, Deuteronomy,
pg. 397.
22. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 29.
23. Ibid., pg. 13.
24. Ibid., pg. 74, italic in original.
25. Catechism of the Catholic Church. New York: Doubleday, 1994, pp.
31 32.
26. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers,
1999, Vol. 1, pg. 128.
27. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 76.
28. Ibid., pg. 31, italic in original.
29. Ibid., pp. 42 43.
30. Ibid., pg. 46.
31. Ibid., pp. 117 118, 119.
32. Ibid., pg. 121.
33. Ibid., pg. 97.
34. Thomas R. Edgar, Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit. Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Kregal Resources, 1996, pg. 85.
35. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 106.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid., pg. 109.
38. Ibid., pp. 155 156.
39. Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit, op. cit., pg. 259.
40. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 66.
41. Ibid., pg. 67, italics in original.
42. Ibid., pg. 68.
43. Ibid., pg. 70.
44. Ibid., pg. 77.
45. See further, Counterfeit Revival, op. cit., pp. 223 227.
46. Everett F. Harrison, editor, Baker's Dictionary of Theology. Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1973, pg. 263.
47. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 121.
48. Ibid., pp. 196 227.
49. Ibid., pg. 209.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid., pp. 215 217.
52. Ibid., pp. 217 219.
53. Ibid., pg. 141.
54. Ibid., pg. 149.
55. Ibid., pp. 155 156.
56. Ibid., pg. 158.
57. Ibid., pp. 142 143.
58. Ibid., pg. 143.
59. Ibid., pg. 144.
60. Ibid., pg. 159.
61. W.E. Vine, The Expanded Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1984, pg. 893.
62. Ibid.
63. Ibid.
64. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pp. 160 234.
65. Ibid., pg. 163.
66. Ibid., pg. 162.
67. Stephen Strang, "Are You a Sinner or a Lover?", Charisma,
February 2001, pg. 98.
68. Advertisement for Mike Bickle, The Pleasures of Loving God in Charisma,
February 2001, pg. 24, emphasis added.
69. Growing in the Prophetic, op. cit., pg. 171.
70. Ibid.
71. Ibid., pg. 174.
72. Ibid., pg. 176.
73. Ibid.
74. Ibid., pg. 177. 75. Ibid.
76. Ibid., pp. 178 185.
77. Anne Graham Lotz, The Vision of His Glory. Dallas: Word Publishing,
1997, pp. 262 263.
78. Henry Morris, Days of Praise, December January February, 2000 2001,
entry for Monday, December 18.
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