Parallel Universes: More lies about days, people, and prophetic history
Part 4 (final): Bickle uses the whitewashed Truman legacy to sell a false prophetic history and a reverse racism to build his empire, with more lies about dates and deeds?
* This is the final part of the Truman + Bickle (Trickle) series. Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here. *
“Truman’s bigotry comes as little surprise to historians who have studied the man and his career.”- Peter Kuznick, Los Angeles Times, 2003
No one in Mike Bickle’s circle is void of knowing how intense of a person he is. Neither will any person honestly say he lacks study in topics that matter to him. Bickle’s friends tell me that dinner with him was not chatter about kids and the latest movie, but was “intense,” often involving topics like Harry S. Truman. One psaid he seemed “obsessed.” While that’s perception, anyone who has spent years listening to Bicke’s messages (sadly, Dr. Dénouememt must raise her ashamed hand here), can tell you it’s quite apparent what topics matter most to him. If it’s in the infamous “Prophetic History” (PH), Bickle cares about it and studies it, and that’s why Truman’s standing in Bickle’s world holds grand importance to Bickle, enough to fudge the facts sometimes.
Before you continue:
I suggest taking a look at these two links, and perhaps keeping them open in separate browser windows as you read this post. Both are transcripts on the Truman property, so verbatim in Bickle’s words, and while I include some screenshots here, the full context is helpful:
In the above notes, as well as most full PH stories Bickle tells, there exists a similar tale, which conflates buying the Truman property with the prophecy Bob Jones gave him about IHOPKC and his “youth movement,” resulting is a type of heavenly guilt trip that to not embrace the property and ongoing giving to its development is to somehow reject God himself. Simply put, Bickle, Truman, the PH, and all the tentacles of those areas are intricately tethered into something not easily destroyed.
For Bickle to let go of the Truman property would be equivalent of quitting.
Say it with me now: “If you don’t quit, you win!”
We may weary just hearing that trite phrase at this point, but it’s unlikely Bickle is; his staying power is strong. He needs the Truman property because that is a portion of his identity. The problem is, as we have learned, especially in Part 3, Truman was not who Bickle—or earlier parts of history—pretended he was. Bickle, who studied Truman well surely knew that, too. Reports back decades reveal Truman’s bigotry and antisemitism, some of which come from the staff of the Truman Museum and Library. Perhaps Bickle assumed his flock would take him at his word.
That expiration date has passed; that milk is sour.
Bickle’s ministry focus, and a word from Bob Jones
Bickle tells the story in the PH of how he came to lead a mega-ministry focusing on intercession for Israel—read the entire narrative here; and this is a main excerpt, edited for clarity, emphasis mine:
Bob said, “The Lord is going to raise up a worldwide youth movement of singers and musicians. He’s going to use this youth movement to affect the nation of Israel in the generation of the Lord’s return. Are you a singer or a musician?” [Bickle says “no” to all the questions here]
Jones: “Have you ever prayed for Israel?… Do you know about this youth movement?”
[….]
Bob Jones said, “The Lord told me you would be dull, but I didn’t think you would be this dull!” He actually said that. I had just met the guy three minutes ago. I wasn’t a youth pastor, I had never led singers and musicians, I wasn’t that interested in Israel. I had never thought of Israel once in my life. This guy was totally off! He said, “The Lord is going to move you away from this affluent part of town, and He’s going to put you next to Harry S Truman. Do you know who Harry S Truman is?”…. Did you know that he was from Kansas City? Do you know what Harry S Truman did?… Truman was a man the Lord used in a prophetic way for the state of Israel to be established in 1948.”
Bob said that the top leadership of the United States government was against standing with Israel at the end of World War II…. Israel became a nation because of the insistence of one man, Harry S Truman. There were others who were involved, but none of them to the same degree as Truman. In Israel, they call him, “Cyrus.” That’s actually a name that they call him. Secular leaders in Israel really liked him, and they actually call him, “Cyrus.” He said, “Harry S Truman was a political intercessor for Israel.” I don’t know that he knew it, but he was right. (Source)
As you can see, the mandate here came from Bob Jones. Israel and the Song of Solomon (different PH story)—two parts of the Bible, to be sure, but two parts where the methods, or application within IHOPKC have been most questioned—have come from Jones, who himself was questionable, due to his own issues with sexual impropriety and false prophecies. This post is not about that, but the background matters, as much as Truman’s does, because Bickle used these men as models, mentors, and guides.
The Truman Property; the story of “the Jewish couple”
In the same handout as above from onething 2007, Bickle pulls Gary Cooper (not the movie star) up to tell this story. The entire narrative of the Truman acquisition is at this link. I am including screenshots of the pertinent excerpts below, and this is important:
As I was preparing this portion of the story, I asked some questions about Cooper. I actually met Cooper a few times, and I liked him, so I wanted to know if he was “good people.” I reached out to three or four people, and independently they all said the same things, which I’m paraphrasing here:
Gary Cooper was a good guy; he helped us get/buy/finance the Truman property, and worked to close on it on the Jubilee date. But he finally got so fed up with things that he left. But yes; he’s a good guy.
That was the gist of it all. Clearly it’s hearsay, but it’s favorable in Cooper’s light, and not hard to grasp either. (Mr. Cooper, if you are reading this, feel free to email me, and I’d love to talk with you. We have mutual friends that you would trust to vouch for me.)
The only thing that doesn’t work here is that Bickle says in every story we find that the “exact date” was Jan. 27, 1958 when Truman sold the property to “the Jewish couple.
[Friends, I want to just say that, as one commenter asked a few posts ago, the entire reason the “Jewish couple” part matters is because Bickle makes it a reason. It’s like a magic charm for him. Although I am Palestinian, I lived in Jerusalem for several years. When people learned this sometimes when I was younger, I actually had people say gross things like, “can I touch you?” And in case you wonder, no. No you cannot touch me because I lived in Jerusalem and was born in Bethlehem! But, boy howdy, do you need to be touched! It’s bizarre the way Evangelical Zionists act. If it was offensive to me before I even understood the issues at hand, can you fathom what it would be like? I’ll link to more of this in a moment.]
More Prophetic History Inconsistency
So what about “the Jewish family” Bickle mentions every single time he tells the story? Why does he use it like an incantation or a rubbing a magic 8-ball? The Goldberg family is real. And they are Jewish. And they do have a foundation, which is generous. They also have a real estate company because obviously they also make investments. This is all quite normal of course. So here’s what that paper trail shows:
The Goldberg Family Foundation, which gives generously to all sorts of organizations—most of which are the antithesis of what IHOPKC stands for with Evangelical Christianity or Messianic Jewish outreaches. But that’s also not how IHOPKC obtained the Truman property.
Here you see something pretty ordinary: the Goldberg Family Partnership transfers the property to an investment company (also owned by their company, but in this case, for investments and profit). The difference between IHOPKC doing this with its assets is the sleight of hand, versus the Goldberg family have all their tax records easily accessible, not to mention these transactions being years apart. This is simply ordinary business here.
You can have a look at the Goldberg Foundation’s latest tax filing right here on the IRS site (unlike IHOPKC, they don’t appear to have a thing to hide). But also have a look at the many different places they fund. Below is a list of last year’s grantees, which is a typical representation, looking through all the available ones I could find. But in the Bickle/Cooper onething narrative, the Goldbergs walk in and a young IHOPKC person essentially prophesies “God told me you’re a clean man!” (page 10) to (I think), Stanley Goldberg, who then is so impressed by the move of the Spirit—of course not yet recognizing the Holy Spirit—that the awesome negotiation takes place. The story continues:
“They determined to sell it to us because of the young people and the enthusiasm that they saw at the house of prayer.” And maybe that was the case. The city of Grandview apparently didn’t want it. And any smart business people would not want to hang on to property they didn’t need. However, these savvy business folks suddenly grew enamored with IHOPKC not only doesn’t make sense with their normal list of who they give to—you will see some organizations here that would be preached against as “woke” from the pulpit)—but below, we will see what the manager of the Goldberg Family Fund herself said.
Meanwhile, my writing this should not be a revelation to anyone listening closely because a lengthy story investigation by Talking Points Memo’s Sarah Posner on this topic and a number of associated topics was published Oct. 1, 2014, and included this statement by Lynn K. Intrater (who appears to have no relation to Messianic friend of IHOPKC and Israel prayer leader Asher, by the way; this is a common name). I tried to find anyone with the Goldberg Family Foundation, but realized it was a bit challenging since likely many try to reach out asking for money (understandably). My search for contact information sent me to this story and comment:
Lynn Intrater, who handled the transaction on behalf of her family’s company, said, “we have no ongoing association with IHOP nor do we endorse IHOP’s views on religion, world affairs or the state of Israel,” and the version of “how IHOP became the owner of the property” is “theirs alone.”- Source
That statement was indicting then and it still is—maybe more now. Intrater should be given an A-plus for class because that’s the kindest way to say “they are lying,” I have ever heard. But see below. Bickle insisted multiple times, that acquiring the “Truman Property” was a miracle of God, and fulfillment of a prophetic word from Jones, and more, as we see in the story above. In every retelling he insists that this happened on exactly the same day, January 27, 2008, 50 years to the day, that Truman “sold it to the Jewish couple.” Jan. 27, 2008 was a Sunday, but they could have signed the papers on a Sunday. I bought a car on a Sunday once, and a notary I knew came to the house of the party from whom I purchased Winfred (God rest her non-soul), so that was the date of transfer. The Truman property was absolutely not signed, deeded, or transferred on Jan. 27, 2008, according to the Jackson County Recorder of Deeds.1
In one of Bickle’s teaching he was smart enough to say it the best way, “over the weekend, we closed on the property…” He really should have stuck with that. Unfortunately, however, that was not good enough for most of his narratives. And the narrative is vital to this guy—as we have learned way too well in these months.
Here’s the original submitted on the Thursday prior (click to enlarge):
Remember Darby and reflect on Bickle
Bickle always said—actually, I have his own words from a project I was working on a few months back:
“The pretribulation rapture has only been a doctrine since 1830. The pretribulation rapture was not a doctrine for 1,800 years of Church history. If you had asked a scholar in the 1400s or the 1600s, they would have gone blank on you. A woman in Scotland had a vision in 1830 of the pretribulation rapture. A few teachers, John Darby and Scofield, got hold of it and made it famous. It was a heresy to most people. By around 1930, it became established, but mostly only in America. It’s not a doctrine that’s widespread around the world, except for the places where American seminaries have taken it. It’s a fairly new theological idea from the 2,000-year point of view of history….. The problem is that many historical premillennialists don’t have a victorious church. They have a church backing into a cave holding in. I see the Church going forth in power, signs, wonders, prayer and prophecy. I just put the word apostolic instead of historic premillennialism.” -Mike Bickle
But after Jan. 6, 2020 and the Capitol insurrection (endorsed by many charismatic leaders, some of whom attended) many scholars began looking at this side of American Evangelicalism and realizing there might be more than meets the eye of “let us pray.”
Remember the nonstop talk about the rapture and how “wrong” Darby was to invent this in 1830? Bickle is not lying to tell you that. Darby’s 1830 mess is a mess. What Bickle never told us is that Bickle was also teaching half of Darby’s eschatology—the part he liked. I have previously cited this thesis, and I cannot tell you how valuable it is to read. I don’t know all my readers, and I do know some will not agree and some will. That’s fine. But Sharp, from Georgia State, analyzes sermons such as Bickle, Bill Johnson, and Ché Ahn, and his academic and spiritual evidence is compelling. While Darby does teach a pre-tribulation rapture and Bickle doesn’t, Darby and Bickle’s violent battle for Jerusalem is a parallel relatively new eschatology, and is the reason behind many Jewish people claiming the movements which purport to evangelize them are actually out for one thing—as a rabbi said in a session I attended—a blessing. See pages 18-20 of the Sharp thesis. Also see page 93 for the beginning of the Bickle analysis.
Political Endorsements
PROPHETIC HISTORY 101- Here you see the way IHOPKC and Bickle turn the story of the formation of the state of Israel into Truman being the central figure, the Truman property being a key prophetic piece of the connection, and Israel being so closely tied to IHOPKC that—though it’s never said—to not be connected (and of course to unload some cash!)—you’re missing out on God’s plan. After all, Bob Jones prophesied this.
Bickle, of course, has been connected with the New Apostolic Reformation (coincidentally, Sam Storms published this Monday, which neatly sums up the movement, without emotion, for there is much) for some time. He doesn’t like those sorts of labels, but the literature on the way the NAR movement (see more on C. Peter Wagner here, and reference my post on prophecy here) manipulates and twists both the Bible and human beings is about the only reason some people hold on to threads of Christianity.
Galatians says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (5:22-23). This is my test. This has always been my test. This is how I decide if someone alleging “God said” is actually speaking something godly next. That’s a simplistic explanation, but no one is won over by ugly words and Twitter wars of “you’re wrong! God told me I interpret the Bible right so I am blocking you!” I made that up just as an exaggerated example, not a specific instance. But many connected with the NAR world, whether they identify as NAR or not, have a standard defense to critics. We’ve seen it come from Bickle defenders like Steven Strang and Eric Metaxas, too. Everyone against them is simply “woke,” and afflicted with “Wokeism.” Horrific grammar aside, it seems that is the new pandemic.
It’s no wonder the Goldberg family, and many other Jewish people have labeled Bickle and IHOPKC antisemitic like his hero Harry. The link from Bickle on a violent Jerusalem in the TPM story is not active anymore since Bickle took his website offline, but Dr. Dénouement has you covered. I took a larger than usual screenshot so you could, indeed, see the IHOPKC branding at the bottom of the page. The link is on the caption. Note that if this source to the links ever is removed, I have loads of free cloud storage on several servers, and I never post something that is not also saved permanently. I recommend downloading your own copies now, though.
Bickle ran with the Israel mandate and, in fact, named a department at IHOPKC that, dedicated sets to praying for Israel, held exclusive fasts for the nation, and even had an ELT member who served on the infamous AIPAC political lobbying committee about a decade ago, which made some major political waves in the mainstream Jewish world. In deeply tragic irony, Bickle has apologized more profoundly for his statements that he made about Jewish people (not that it was that profound, mind you) after endorsing Ted Cruz in 2016, than he has to the women he is accused of sexually assaulting—including Tammy Woods who was a middle schooler at the time she alleges her years of assaults began (note that Dr. Dénouememt is legally required to write the previous sentence that way and does not prefer to that, and maintains her personal belief that you will hear her express often… just sayin’).
In fact, Bickle’s endorsement of Cruz got him in a heap load of trouble—and this was years after Intrater’s statement that IHOPKC’s narrative about the Truman property was theirs and not the Goldberg family’s—and years before Cruz would be flamed for ditching his state during a crisis to fly to Cancun.
See, not all Jewish people align with the Evangelical Christian desire to convert them and be like the Messianic movement, and see the moves as a heavy-hitting move, which often is “offensive” or stereotyping. It’s not unlike the way Christians do not want to be all seen as “Trump-followers” or “progressive liberal Christians” or any type of Christian in between that. General wide sweeping comments about any people group are usually going to gain one thing—pushback.
George W. Bush also got himself in a heap o’trouble with his “Messianic Bible” endorsement and speaking plans in 2013, and then Bickle decided his platform was best used not to teach on prayer and worship but to endorse Cruz for president, which The Times of Israel condemned. Not long after, Bickle issued an apology for that one (and it didn’t take weeks either), which the news outlet also reported. But it did more than that. You know why? Bickle wrote a most heartfelt apology, which the news outlet published, letting Bickle ooze and gush and proclaim how much of an atrocity Hitler committed (at least that part was true), and—wait for it—defend himself from the “false statements circulating in the media distort[ing] what I said.” Unbelievable. (Hey, Mikey, I know some women who would appreciate a letter!). But it was too late anyhow because the readers for the most part were not having it. You should read the comments. Like Truman, Bickle plays what cards he needs when he needs them, and keeps a couple aces in those baggy pants, but maybe he’s fasting too much because they’ve begun slipping out the sides. We see the cards falling. We know there’s a safety deposit box.
Bickle and IHOPKC criticisms of “prophetic apocalypticism,” sounded almost normal when he preached these things—it was that “folksy” tone. Jesus was returning. We were his end-time prophetic messengers who would be prepared for the battle for Jerusalem especially—we would actually be praying in and unleashing the judgements of God—and, well, how about I let you see for yourself because it sounds crazy now. Because it is crazy.
The citations and research is in a fuller context here at Political Research Associates.2 Simply saying that reporters are “woke” will not aid in any of the goals anyone has. If people are operating in pure motives from love, it doesn’t show when storming the White House, elevating sexual predators to the nation’s highest office (Trump has had a judgment against him in court for that and now is a convicted felon, so I don’t have to say “alleged” here), or making up prophetic things (it’s not prophetic if we make it up). I’ve said here before that I have not lost my faith; that’s true. But I am not sure I would ever walk into a church, a prayer meeting, or a worship service again. And no, of course I am not okay. Not even close. The trauma, the lies, and the abuse—not even counting the racism and discriminatory actions and words—make me default to not trusting.
I am not alone. I am actually a bit more fortunate than some in that I had a deep and rooted experience that probably grounded me enough to know it was real before I found out the rest of it was lies. I knew the day I started writing this Substack that everyone I ever knew would and could find this and would know I was that fool who spent years of my life involved in that place. I remember starting my own little house of prayer and how a dear friend (who is still one, and I love her and her precious husband for this) got me a meeting with Mike Bickle when he was still me hero. I was in his office with him (Hi, Mikey! Yes, that’s me; I’m the one writing these things. Thank God I wasn’t your type!) and he made a video I played for everyone. I was so proud. Gross. Just gross.
Today you can find one page link that is always available (though maybe not when I publish this.) IHOPKC’s cash cow is somehow connected to Truman and Israel, I think. The Israel Mandate page has a sharp, nice-looking link with a 21-day devotional and many explanations, verses (though the dumbest FAQ, like no one asks those questions, really!). There has also been a lot of the “romance” imagery connected with the Israel with IHOPKC and it is that way in the devotional (which definitely has led a few—thankfully not a lot—of women over the years to dress in white and act “weird” sometimes.
The language and imagery does make many feel awkward But some prefer that over the warfare imagery, which is currently posted:
If you recall my post went up about that (seemingly not grasping I had downloaded them and was posting my own copy downloaded from a public post), unless IHOPKC and/or Mike Bickle render the entire prophetic history null and void (which they should, but won’t), they need that Truman property, which is probably why it was moved from their tax-exempt assets so fast.
What’s next for this plan?
From its inception, the stories of Truman had a place with IHOPKC’s plan if one is to buy into the PH. Most people reading this certainly do not, but Bickle either does—either genuinely, or has manipulated the truth so much he thinks he does? These psychological distortions are not unusual.
There’s more on the horizon, and Dr. Dénouement has some breaking news to confirm and tell. Alas! Dr. Dénouement also has many hours of work to do this week on her 4 more days of work side gig, and she has to book her hotels and pack her bags… because all she does is investigate the biggest trickster of Kansas City since Harry Truman, and really… no regrets.