What is a false prophet?

I’m asking this today because I’m studying the Scriptures to try to define what is a false prophet. It is important. Yeshua told us to beware of false prophets.

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matt. 7:15)

Particularly in the End Times:

“At that time (at the end of the age v. 3), many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” (Matt 24:10)

An Unsettling Prophecy

I don’t want to be one of those people who are deceived. Thus, I’m very interested in this topic. The reason I have been studying it this morning is because of a very emphatic, authoritative (in tone, not in reality) prophecy given on Sunday by Mike Bickle’s sister, rebuking the body of Christ and calling for the reinstatement of her brother to public teaching ministry.

I’m going to post below a response that I posted online and a video I made. I think any Bible-believing person can discern that this was not a word from heaven. The question is, does that make her a false prophet? I’ve seen many posts and videos calling her a false prophet. I hear many people saying that Mike Bickle is a false prophet, claiming that he manipulated much of the IHOPKC prophetic history.

However, if you look at Scripture (and I’m not being light on Mr. Bickle, whom an investigator has found liable in multiple instances of grooming women into sexual contact—and using prophecy as part of the ruse), a false prophet in the New Testament is someone who is pointing to another gospel or another Jesus.

Testing the Spirits

If we look at the false prophet in Revelation 16:13, he is pointing to a false Messiah—THE false Messiah—the Antichrist. When John the Elder warns believers not to “believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God,” he does so “because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). He goes on to explain that those who are not of God will not confess that Jesus came in the flesh.

When John wrote this, in the latter part of the first century, itinerant teachers, often called prophets, would go from house church to house church (that would have between 20 and 30 congregants). We see this in the early Church discipleship guide called the Didache (Instruction). Not every prophet who showed up was from God. John is telling them that if a prophet does not preach Jesus as the Messiah who came from heaven and died as a sacrifice for our sins—he is not from God. Thus, we can confidently say that somebody who is preaching a different gospel or a different Jesus is a false prophet.

A Confessing False Prophet?

But what about somebody who confesses faith in Yeshua, but prophesies falsely? And I’m not talking about minor things, but the type of things that people sell homes to follow or leave family members. I have seen situations where young people were told that in order to be radical, they had to reject the advice of their parents. What about movements that have cultlike tendencies but preach good doctrine—I mean, their statement of faith is kosher, but they exercise great control over their followers.

What if they use prophetic speech to manipulate them?

“You don’t wanna leave our movement because we know that revival is about to come!”

“Others have left and been destroyed—they’ll never recover their destiny.”

“We are your true family.”

And what if someone like Mike Bickle’s sister prophesies for 20 minutes or so, things that clearly go against scripture? Is that a false prophet? I don’t know.

We know that in the Hebrew Bible, that which would get you stoned was to prophesy something that was going to come to pass and did not come to pass, or to call Israel to follow other gods. Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth (1 Kings 18). They were clearly prophets of a false god.

Two Kinds of False Prophets

Jeremiah uses different language, though, when referring to prophets of YHWH who prophesied falsely. He calls them נבאי השקר “lying prophets” (Jer 23:26). There’s also the story of Michaiah. All the prophets in 1 Kings 22—including Zedekiah ben-Kenaanah—claimed to be prophets of YHWH. The issue is true versus false prophecy, not allegiance to a different god. Micaiah proves a true prophet of YHWH; the 400 others are false prophets of YHWH, deceived by the “lying spirit” yet still operating under the God of Israel’s umbrella.

So, we can conclude there are two kinds of false prophets and both can be seen in Deuteronomy 18:20:

"But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death."

1. “Insider” false prophets: who speak in YHWH’s name, yet invent the message or twist it for self-interest.  “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you… They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of YHWH.” (Jer. 23:16).

2. “Outsider” false prophets: who urge the community to follow other gods and may even be able to perform signs and wonders. “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder,  and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you.” (Deut 13:1–3).

Why Do Wolves Choose the Church?

Remember that Jesus says that a false prophet is a wolf who pretends to be a sheep. Why would a wolf pretend to be a sheep? To abuse the sheep, of course. It is sad, but church folk are an easy mark for predators. A convicted child molester confessed to Dr. Anna Salter, “I considered church people easy to fool. . . . They have a trust that comes from being Christians. They tend to be better folks all around and seem to want to believe in the good that exists in people.” That is why a wolf will choose a church rather than a nightclub. If he is able to fake prophetic signs, how much more will people trust him?

“Access and trust. Pastors and churches have both access to kids and enormous trust within the community and within the church … From toddlerhood onward, I was indoctrinated in the belief that these were men of God and that it was my role to accept what they said.” —Christa Brown

“Right now, churches are the safest place for abusers to abuse and remain hidden.” —Jimmy Hinton

So it is quite unsettling that Lisa Bickle Stribling would call for the reinstatement of her brother, who seems to have had a long history of using the prophetic mantle to gain trust and access to more than a dozen women. We have to be on our guard against false prophets, who can become cult leaders and sexual predators.

2020—COVID and the Election

But we also need to be on our guard against those who are true believers (at least in doctrine) but prophesy falsely. Many true believers falsely prophesied that COVID-19 was nothing and would soon disappear in the early months of 2020. People made life-changing decisions as a result of these false prophecies from true believers. Many of those same prophets proclaimed in 2020 that Donald Trump would be reelected, and many doubled down when he lost the election. Why else would there be true evangelical believers charging the Capitol on January 6? They believed that the election was rigged and stolen, because many of these prophets said the election would be overturned and/or repeated the claims of fraud to some degree with unclear (but clear!) language (to give them an out in case their prophecies did not come to pass), such as Hank Kunneman, Kevin Zadai, Robin Bulluck, and Kent Christmas. (Even if you believed there were irregularities regarding the 2020 election, it is very clear that these prophets were wrong because the election was not overturned.)

I don’t believe everyone who prophesied that Trump would win in 2020 or that COVID would end quickly is a false prophet. I believe that a false prophet, whether internal or external, sets out to deceive. They want to trick the people of God for their own gain. I believe some of the Trump prophets did do that—and became famous. But I think some simply made a mistake. I know of some, only a few, who humbled themselves and asked forgiveness, like Dr. Kim Mass, whom I interviewed about this.

We do not want to go on a false prophet witch hunt. But we do want to understand Jesus ‘ warnings about false prophets in the End Times. Sadly, most leadership in the charismatic world is silent regarding both external and internal false prophets. If we are truly in the End Times, then this is an issue that we need to understand better.

Final Thought—Warning

In 2018, a conservative Israeli leader unilaterally declared a well-known Jewish believer a false prophet. It was wrong—even if he was right (I don’t believe he was right). False prophets are not proclaimed by one individual who doesn’t like the supposed false prophet. It should be handled by a council of senior leaders who examine the evidence.

Calling someone inside the Church with solid doctrinal beliefs a false prophet should never be done lightly. That is why even if I call out a false prophecy, I will not conclude alone that someone is a false prophet—not unless a council of leaders has issued such a decree. I simply do not possess that type of authority. I do believe that Mike Bickle should be examined. And his sister. But until then, I will deal with what I know, not what I don’t know.

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Today #LisaBickle, sister of #MikeBickle, declared him restored: 

“Those that are wanting to have [Mike Bickle] in your congregations should feel free to do so without any further harassment.”

“I am saying this very, very strongly, it is over. I'm not asking anybody's permission ... The pardon has been issued by God himself to Mike and to the church.” 

This was a supposed prophetic directive from God to the church. "I am speaking on God's behalf," she said. Let me share why I reject it: 

1. She has a massive conflict of interest. She is Mike's sister, and her church has been a recipient of his generosity (I believe).

2. She is alone. Issues like this are handled by a council of leaders in the NT (see Acts 15, 1 Tim 5:19-20), not a single individual.

3. She assumes that being pardoned for your sin means that there are no repercussions. Might I remind you that two of the accusations are of criminal behavior with minors? One was 14 and the other 15. This is typical sloppy theology that conflates restoration to the body of Christ with a right to be restored to the pulpit. Paul said those who were undisciplined with their bodies would be disqualified (1 Cor 9:27).

4. Mike Bickle was credibly accused by 17 women, according to a professional trauma-informed investigator. Mike Bickle has not repented of or even acknowledged any of these accusations except for a couple, and that only after seeking to gaslight at least one of his survivors into silence. "That would constitute the greatest betrayal of my life from one of my dearest friends," he wrote to one of his survivors, seeking to keep her and her husband quiet.

5. Mike Bickle used prophecy, not only, according to the investigation, to manipulate young women sexually, but also to try and manipulate the body of Christ, according to IHOPKC leadership, on October 13 and 20th, by faking a prophecy that accusations were going to come against him—when in fact, they had already come privately. He has not repented for this. 

"His predatory and abusive actions are sick and violate the Word of God, the marriage covenant, and holiness; we condemn them in their entirety ... We realize that Mike’s two Friday night messages on October 13th and 20th were manipulative attempts to construct a narrative of innocence concerning himself." — IHOPKC statement on Feb 8, 2024.

7. Ignoring passages, such as Matt. 18:15-17, 1 Cor 5:12-13 and 1 Tim 5:19-20, which speak of dealing with sexual sins (and others), of leaders (and others), publicly, when they do not repent, she declares: "It's none of our business about things that happened in people's lives, and what they tell and don't tell." Actually, there are standards for leaders, and we sign up for a stricter judgment (James 3:1). She cannot be speaking for God and against his word at the same time. 

8. She says that the narrative about Mike Bickle is a false narrative. You have to understand that in IHOPKC-culture or Bickle-culture, the word narrative is not equal to truth. He told survivor Deborah Perkins and her husband in an email in 2023, the narrative of his indiscretions, which he confessed to, "is not the narrative I believe that God has..." It would seem that this is a similar theology to his sister's, that he has been pardoned for his alleged criminal behavior and cleared for ministry. Those who seek to hold him accountable are believing a narrative that God has forgotten.

 9. "The pardon has been issued by God himself to Mike." So you just bypass New Testament leadership and declare yourself pardoned? That is not how it works. Mike Bickle needs to submit himself to a legitimate council of leaders. 

10. "This story, and stories like it, should never be investigated by the church," says Lisa Bickle. Paul, on the other hand, says, "Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses." Over 200 people spoke to the investigator!

11. "Whether it is true or not, does not matter," claims Lisa Bickle. "That is a demand that secular society has placed on the church, and the church is now answering secular society about the blood of Jesus." The police would disagree, as would Paul in Romans 13. We are subject to the secular authorities for criminal behavior.

For those reasons and others, I reject this as a word from God. The Bible tells us to test prophecy. At no point does Lisa Bickle say that she is submitting this to the Church to be tested. Instead, with an offended tone, she is rebuking the Church for seeking to hold her brother accountable for sexual sin, and that, allegedly, against minors.