Posted on 07/09/2011 6:49:28 PM PDT by Cronos
The worship music, throbbing soft-rock appeals performed by live bands, has continued here without pause, day and night, since May 1999. Voices calling to Jesus or pleading with God to help tornado victims or make Congress ban abortion resound in an auditorium that is the physical and spiritual heart of the International House of Prayer, a Christian ministry rapidly blossoming into a movement.
Founded 12 years ago by Mike Bickle, a self-trained evangelical pastor, with a group of 20, the International House of Prayer, in a former strip mall, now draws tens of thousands of worshipers to its revival meetings. A wholly devoted cadre of 1,000 staff members, labeled missionaries, have given up careers to move here, living off donations and spending several hours a day in the prayer hall to revel in what they describe as direct communication with God. Another thousand students attend the adjacent Bible college, preparing to spread this fervent brand of Christianity....
Mr. Bickle has won praise from many evangelicals, but he has also been criticized by some pastors for what they describe as unorthodox theology and a cultish atmosphere, charges that Mr. Bickle rejects. Some former students said they had been expelled for questioning the fascination with mystical healings, prophesies, angels and demons.
..Scott Pursley, an evangelical pastor in New Jersey whose daughter spent time at the church, said Mr. Bickle had gone over the line in suggesting that his group’s prayers would hasten the return of Jesus and that his followers were part of an elite vanguard
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The International House of Prayer is “an important example” of the proliferating nondenominational charismatic churches, said Catherine C. Bowler, a religious historian at the Duke University Divinity School. From megachurches with tens of thousands of members to more intense and unusual ministries like Mr. Bickle’s, these churches, which practice faith healing and speaking in tongues, make up one of the fastest-growing segments of American Christianity, attracting millions.
There’s a charismatic church in my town that’s cut along the lines of IHOP. They call me in occasionally to fill out their worship team or play at a special event (I’m in a worship band at a different, non-charismatic church). It’s very free, Spirit-filled worship. It’s a place where a worshiper goes to worship.
I stopped at IHOP a few months ago. I enjoy their music, we do some of it at church. Good stuff.
I don’t know that the place is perfect (ok, I know it isnt), but they sure seem to have a heart after God. Will some be offended - absolutely. Do some accuse them of being a cult - sure. Is their style for everyone - no.
If they think they are ‘hastening the coming of the day of God’, then it sounds like they have read II Peter 3:12.
I have several friends that have been. I’m sure you’ve read the book of acts. That’s what the church should look like. He like so many other Christian’s are trying to find our way back to what Christianity once was. Where the whole body works, some healing, prophecy, ect. ALL the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Along the way we’ve made mistakes, but, we’ve learned. It’s hard to unlearn things that were taught for years, decades sometimes centuries that are not biblically sound.
Just like some were offended by Jesus and what He had to say and what He did.
Fascinating. There’s a link to live webcast in the article. I’ve watched / listened to, I suppose, the pastor preach. I count myself a connoisseur of good preaching and this guy is good.
Former member says IHOP is a cult
http://gospelmasquerade.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-i-believe-ihop-is-cult.html
Unholy manifestations at IHOP
http://slaughteringthesheep.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/unholy-manifestations-at-ihop/
Mike Bickle and the International House of Prayer
http://www.cicministry.org/commentary/issue107.htm
Forerunner Eschatology - Mike Bickles end time teaching
http://www.equip.org/articles/forerunner-eschatology?msource=EC110401WKLY&tr=y&auid=8062689
Joya has been there for a week and was really blessed.
Several others from our church have been there for from a week to a year and came back quite fortified, strengthened and more matured in very Biblical Christianity.
I was thinking the same. They have a show on Sky-angel on one of the Christian Channels. Since coming to the South I have not been able to find it on Skyangel( 30 channels of Faith I get lost to pinpoint its Specil time too). When they Sing and worship it is just so beautiful and anointed. They also have webcasts. I want to look it up. I too would love to go. My spirit does not understand any negative statements on this thread.
4 posts. You were able to find a church with a disgruntled former member, people with issues, and other institutions that disagree with their theology. What are the chances?
sounds like a religious place.
your words hold a lot of weight to me.
Then the IHOP sounds like a very good spiritual renewal place.
Some of the music blesses me.
Some of it is toooo rocky, and not melodious enough, for me.
Too much of it even grates on me sound-wise. I don’t know if it’s a minor key or just an irritating kind of tonal quality.
Nevertheless, their heart for God and heart for Worshiping God is way above average and that I admire and respect.
Am touched and impressed by your comment. PRAISE GOD.
I’ve found Bickle to be quite solidly Biblical.
I don’t know that there’s anyone but Jesus that I agree with everything on . . . Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, John, of course, in Scripture.
And, I suspect, given all the words he puts out, there’d be things Bickle might say or have said that I’d quibble with. Shoot, there’s probably stuff he’d now quibble with from his earlier pontifications.
Nevertheless, he is overwhelmingly, imho, very very Biblical. He confesses that Jesus came in the flesh and the basic doctrines of the faith.
Above all, he loves God overwhelmingly and loves people thoroughly. Given his passion for those two supreme priorities PLUS his earnest desire and dogged discipline to be led of Holy Spirit in prayer, fasting and serving God’s Kingdom—those are pretty Christian and Christ-like priorities.
I’m pretty scathing, actually (I know—what a shock), of most Pentecostal/Charismatic ‘luminaries.’ Been too close too too many of them. However, he still has my vote as Biblical, authentic and a very high priority on God’s priorities.
His books have blessed me directly and via others who’ve applied his Scriptural principles.
Yes, Cronos, I believe it is a place of spiritual renewal for many thousands around the world. EVERYONE who’s gone there for any length of time and returned to our church has been improved in their
A) walk with God;
B) their relationships;
C) their personal mental, emotional and often physical health.
Not a bad record, imho.
The carping folks—the chronic naysayers—come across to me as those who are itching to find an excuse to be contrary and unnecessarily harshly critical of anyone not fitting THEIR tidy little boxes. Such folks in Scripture never faired very well with God.
imho, the RC Pecos NM retreat center has similar results but probably typically with less intense manifestations—though evidently not always less intense.
Which should be taken in context. I know nothing about his theology (would suspect I disagree with it).
He was preaching about fathers and was doing it well. One could hear his charismatic belief coming through (a little). But, that was not his prime focus.
My words should not be taken as an agreement with his ministry. But, if he is pointing people to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I'll at least stay try to neutral until I know something about him and his ministry.
And perhaps, I should defer from comments of any sort until I do.
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