Today we prayed at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. IHOP has a 24x7 prayer room that has been going around the clock since 1999. We spent most of our time in said prayer room.
IHOP has more than this 24x7 prayer room, it also has a university, a coffee shop, condominium complexes and a series of other assets in and around Kansas City.
We stopped to visit IHOP because we had heard of it and because one of our friends back in Charlotte spent some time there as a student a few years ago.
In some ways, going to IHOP was a bit of a different experience than a regular church visit, because IHOP is not exactly a church. It is more of a movement. And it is a movement that has specific theology and prophecy specifically related to Kansas City and the broader Midwest region of the United States.
We did a great deal of research after visiting IHOP.
Before getting to the details of that research, what was our experience at IHOP?
Beth and I went into the 24x7 Prayer Room together. Like all of IHOP, the Prayer Room is found in a strip mall that is entirely owned by the group. Once inside, we found an interesting and subdued place that had a decent number of people studying scripture, praying and listening to the music being played by the praise band. There were flags from around the world along the ceiling, a huge map of the world, as well as scripture along the walls.
Pictures and videos:
After spending some time in the Prayer Room, we drove over to IHOP University. This was again in a strip mall, this time a massive one. We visited the coffee shop, as well as saw the Center for Biblical End-Times Studies. We spent a few minutes in the All Nations Prayer Room. This is where IHOP hosts worship in Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, French and Arabic (we were there during the Spanish time).
The fact that we saw the Center for Biblical End-Time Studies reminded us of the theological focus of IHOP, which is definitively bent toward the eschatological. This means that IHOP is focused on the end of all things. Eschatology is defined as "...a part of theology concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity. This concept is commonly referred to as 'the end of the world' or 'end times'. The word arises from the Greek ἔσχατος éschatos meaning 'last' and -logy meaning 'the study of' something."
There are two words that are commonly associated with the theological branch of eschatology, specifically Armageddon and Apocalypse.
Armageddon is the Anglicized name of a location in Israel where a final battle between good and evil will take place.
Apocalypse is a term rooted in Greek that means "the lifting of the veil," which refers to an uncovering of reality that will accompany the End Times.
This gets us to the question of Mike Bickle's eschatological and apocalyptical revelations that took place in the 1970s and 1980s. These prophetic revelations gave rise to IHOP.
Mike Bickle is the Founder and spiritual head of IHOP. He's currently in his late 60s.
Mike Bickle claims to have received a set of direct prophetic revelations while visiting specific places. The first was in Cairo, Egypt in 1975. These prophetic outpourings led to a large edifice of prophecy that people at IHOP call "Prophetic History." It may not be an unfair statement to say that at IHOP, Mike Bickle's prophetic history is elevating to a level relevance next to The Bible itself.
If you are interested, here is a recording that elaborates on this prophetic history, from Mike Bickle directly. It takes an hour to watch it, you may find it interesting:
Bob Jones, the son of the Founder of Bob Jones University in South Carolina, figures directly into Mike Bickle's story, as do other notable pastors like John Wimber and Rick Joyner. The reader will note that Rick Joyner is the head of MorningStar Ministries in the Charlotte area, one of the first churches that I visited as part of this experience.
Mike Bickle says he received multiple prophetic outpourings and learned that the Second Coming is imminent, that Kansas City in particular will be one of the lights to the world in this final age, and that the American Midwest will be a global focal point as these final events occur.
These prophetic revelations came in the form of people having shared dreams, angelic visitations, and identical words of knowledge coming from different Prophets.
Critics state that memorization of Mike Bickle's prophetic history is an example of where IHOP crosses the line of treating his experiences as truths on par with The Bible itself.
From such prophecy arose a loose confederation of Prophetic leaders who have formed something called the Apostolic-Prophetic Movement (APM), which seeks to take Christianity in an entirely new direction. Their goal is to re-establish the entire Christian church according to the Five-Fold Ministry. The Five-Fold Ministry would organize believers into five categories that are described in Ephesians 4:11 - "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers."
In addition to the APM, there are a small group of Prophets who comprise what is called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Mike Bickle is one of those Prophets.
There is also a worship style that is related to IHOP and the other prophetic churches called the "harp and bowl" style. It infuses the worship at churches in the NAR and APM. Harp and bow refers to a part of the Book of Revelations that says:
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (Revelations 5:8)
Names like Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries, Bill Johnson of Bethel Church and Christian singer Cory Asbury are ones that we already knew, but learned about their involvement with IHOP and the related entities of AP and NAR only after extensive research in the last day.
We knew nothing about any of those connect points prior to visiting IHOP.
So, what to make of all of this?
For sure, we do not generally do research to this level after visiting a church. IHOP has clearly captivated Beth's imagination and given rise to discussions between us that have varied from intrigued to skeptical to fascinated to troubled. In short, we're working through what sense we can make of IHOP.
It's alot.
I guess here is how I approach such questions - there are only three options that might explain IHOP.
First, IHOP may result from a prophetic outpouring that came directly from God. If so, it deserves our attention and we should learn more. We did talk it through and said that if even this is of God, it could still be misused by flawed vessels (the humans involved).
Second option is that there is no transcendent source of Mike Bickle's revelations and that he is a deeply deceptive person. In essence, this is the snake oil option.
The final and third option is that Mike Bickle's prophetic history is a deception from a transcendent source, which ultimately leads us to the doorstep of The Enemy.
Which do I believe that IHOP might be?
Candidly, I do not know.
What seems evident is that there is a huge emphasis at IHOP on Mike Bickle's personal prophetic experiences. That is at least a possible warning sign about IHOP, in that it seems to put his revelation on the same level as Scripture. It also feels that there is a risk of a cult of personality.
With that said, the idea of 24x7 prayer rooms as a discipline in the modern Christian church is something we consider very inspiring and a solid thing to seek to expand.
As far as the rest of it, we can and will keep our minds open.
At the very least, this is all very interesting. This visit has proven truly noteworthy in how much research it generated in a mere twenty-four hours (Beth's research has vastly outstripped mine, a theme).
Really glad we had this chance to see this interesting gathering of Christians.
Thanks to IIHOP for a fascinating visit.
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