Do I Regret Standing with Victims?

May 28, 2024 – Allen Hood

Dear Mike,

I am glad to respond to your following post:

The key words in your final sentence — “You poured your life out to the Lord there” — is “to the Lord.” The Lord is worthy of our worship, affection, self-control, and obedience. Nonetheless, the scriptures are clear that the Lord will shut down any religious infrastructure to get to the heart of the matter. Unfortunately, like the disciples, we are prone to be in awe of and idolize religious structures and leaders. The Olivet Discourse, which we at IHOPKC gave ourselves to study, begins with this very truth, “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down,’” (Matthew 24:1).

It is a mere 25 years into night and day worship and prayer, and it seems we have already made IHOPKC an idol. Clergy abuse, sexual assault, sexual immorality, the covering up of sin, leadership neglect, and real harm to persons are excused in the name of the “anointed vessel” and the “anointed ministry.” We became what we hated — a religious edifice concerned more with reputation and ministry calling than repenting of hypocrisy, sexual immorality, and hardness of heart.

The Lord kept Moses from going into the Promise Land, judged David’s House by dividing the Kingdom, destroyed the First Temple, exiled both Northern and Southern Israel, continued to allow foreign powers to rule over her, destroyed the Second Temple, and scattered Israel to the ends of the earth. Paul would remind the believers in Rome of this reality. “Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God; on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness, otherwise you also will be cut off,” (Romans 11:20-22). The Lord will certainly cleanse and purify the worship and prayer ministries that now bear and call upon His name. As I Peter 4:17 says, “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” 

The words of the prophets are still speaking to Mike Bickle, speaking to all of us; calling us to turn from our hard and sinful hearts and religious hypocrisy and blindness to embrace humility and true repentance. 

“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:21–24, NKJV)

“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. “Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword”; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 1:11–20, NKJV)

“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’ “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. “Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’? Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:1–11, NKJV)

“Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God. Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Is not the food cut off before our eyes, Joy and gladness from the house of our God?” (Joel 1:13–16, NKJV)

“Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O Lord, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (Joel 2:16-17, NKJV)

Even night and day prayer and worship among the Gentiles is promised in the midst of God judging the hypocrisy of Israel’s worship and prayer ministry.

“Who is there even among you who would shut the doors, So that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you,” Says the Lord of hosts, “Nor will I accept an offering from your hands. For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:10–11, NKJV)

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness. “Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years. And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien— Because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1–5, NKJV)

Mike, you asked if I have any regrets about taking a stand. I will never regret standing up for a 19-year-old (Jane Doe), a 14-year-old (Tammy Woods), and others who were the victims of clergy sexual abuse and calling leaders to repent and examine themselves in sincerity and transparency.

To this day, the victims are still suffering disregard and slander as “lies” and “lying narratives” abound. Both IHOPKC leaders and former leaders will give account before the Lord for our words and actions during this time.

I am truly sorry for the many who have experienced real pain and harm and regret the ways I was complicit in it. I have many other regrets related to IHOPKC and will share some of these in the days to come as part of my own contrition and ownership. 

Am I saddened by the closure of many of IHOPKC’s ministries? Seeing the closure of these ministries I helped build (like IHOPU and Forerunner Church) and the pain people are experiencing is heartbreaking. However, I am exceedingly more broken and devastated by a mentor’s and fellow friends’ resistance to true biblical repentance, which has led to a blatant disregard for self-examination and submission to the Body of Christ’s call for transparency and accountability. I am devastated by praying people who continue to disregard the victims of clergy sexual abuse, who transition assets and rebrand ministries instead of helping victims and shining the light on the people and systems that enabled it. 

I continue to weep over the hardness of heart revealed and the reproach that may continue if two prayer rooms in Kansas City — Hope City (or whatever new name Mike Bickle calls it) and IHOPKC (or whatever name they rebrand themselves as) — claim the prophetic history as justification for it being the “true prayer room” that will lead to global revival, the salvation of Israel, and the return of Jesus. 

Meanwhile, the sincere people who came and will come to these ministries (e.g., IHOPKC, a new Bickle-led prayer ministry, etc.) to give Jesus the worship due His name and intercede on behalf of Israel and the nations will be like sheep without shepherds, while their heartfelt songs will sound like brass and clanging cymbals to those left in its wake. Even now the lament grows louder, “Oh, how the mighty have fallen!”