Sam Storms Issues ‘Heartfelt Apology’ & Asks For Forgiveness For Defending Mike Bickle, Recommending IHOP
In late 2023, Sam Storms, a member of the Council of The Gospel Coalition, past President of the Evangelical Theological Society, and former IHOPKC board member who ministered alongside Mike Bickle for nearly a decade, issued a statement saying that he found the allegations against his long time friend credible.
Today, he issued a “heartfelt apology to the body of Christ” on his personal website to express his “deeply sincere and profound apologies to those who suffered under Bickle’s leadership or abuse because of my former endorsement of him,” describing him now as a “wicked, two-faced abuser of women, most of whom were much younger than he.”
Storms notes that “Ever since I first met Bickle in January of 1991, through the years when I served as one of his associate pastors at the church he led, up through the present day, I have been his most vocal defender and advocate,” even going so far as writing articles “praising the ministry of IHOPKC and have responded to the many criticisms that were launched against Bickle. “
But he’s since had his eyes opened, and is ashamed that he got it all so wrong. As far as how it happened and why he never saw it:
I’m heartbroken beyond words. When people ask me why I didn’t discern anything during my 35-year relationship with Bickle, I have no good answer. My only solace is that no one else detected anything amiss in the man. I’m not trying to excuse my blindness and lack of discernment. I simply don’t know why God waited as long as he did to uncover Bickle and his sins. I am truly deserving of whatever ridicule or criticism that comes my way for being blind to this man’s true character. It forces me to ask, why would anyone ever trust my judgment again. I can’t undo the past or gloss over my mistakes, but I can speak honestly and sincerely to many of you who are deeply wounded by my vocal support of Bickle through the years. It grieves me beyond words that some of you have walked away from the Lord and from his church because of Bickle’s betrayal of all of us.
Then, Storms issues his apologies:
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from my immediate family members (my two daughters, six grandchildren, my sister and her husband, and all their extended family) for the way I influenced them through my misguided endorsement of Mike Bickle.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who may have moved to Kansas City and joined IHOPKC on the strength of my endorsement of Bickle. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who suffered under his abusive leadership because of words that I spoke in public in support of him. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from anyone who was sexually victimized by Bickle, having put yourself in a position to endure such sin because you trusted my words of affirmation. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who invested considerable sums of money into the “ministry” of IHOPKC and into Bickle personally, based on what you may have heard or read from me saying that he was trustworthy. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who suspended your critical judgment of Bickle simply because I did. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who have lost confidence in the truth of the Bible because of Bickle’s sinful conduct and my failure to warn you about it. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who have grown cynical or suspicious about the work of the Holy Spirit and the charismatic gifts because of your trust in my misguided belief that Bickle was a good and godly representative of what being a biblical charismatic should look like. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who have walked away from your faith or from the church or are in process of deconstructing because of Bickle’s transgressions, having put your confidence in him because you heard my endorsement. Please forgive me.
I apologize, repent, and ask forgiveness from those of you who suspended your pursuit of higher education or a career or even delayed getting married and having children because of the teaching of Bickle concerning the urgency to be prepared as “forerunners” of the imminent appearing of Jesus. Some of you may have embraced this approach because you knew that I had spoken highly of the “ministry” IHOPKC. Please forgive me.
Lastly, Storms says “I am certain that there are others to whom I owe this apology and request for forgiveness. I will continue to search my soul for insight on this, and whenever I discover other ways in which I misled you concerning Bickle and IHOPKC and caused you to suffer spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, sexually, or theologically, I will quickly and sincerely repent and ask your forgiveness.”
We would suggest that he apologize to those writing the “many criticisms launched against Bickle” he mentioned defending against.
Otherwise, however, we respect Storms for this statement, as it’s more than most in his position have ever done.
About Author
Never defend a charismatic. Anyone who is brazen enough to jump over pews and claims the Holy Spirit made them do it, is also brazen enough to do essentially anything vile.
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