I was out of church for a few years from around 1996 to 2000 and then followed some prompting back to church. The church I attended had young people who had learned the Harp and Bowl way of worship and prayer from an IHOP conference, so they were probably an early follower since IHOP started their 24/7 prayer and praise in 1999. I attended conferences with the local group for a few years, and didn't even visit the prayer room there other than briefly walking into the prayer room when it was meeting in combined trailers. At the last of 2010 to my surprise I believed the Lord gave me direction toward one of the sisters there and Mike said some things that strongly were part of that. That too surprised me since usually I only perceived consistent support from the pastor who had trained me and left town in 1995. I was listening to recordings of his preaching from earlier years (now listening from probably from around 2007 or so until now). As I drove to my hotel room during the IHOP conference I heard on the recording what I believed was that they were working together and I committed to it. The Sunday after the conference a brother spoke at the church there and I took part of what he said as directly for me. I heard it as, you've received something and now want to know what you can do; you could begin to participate in the global bridegroom fast. (That is a fast that Mike said the Lord showed him when he was seeking the Lord about what to share at a conference. He said the Lord said, I am raising up a global bridegroom fast. The days of the fast were usually started on the first Monday of the month for three days and for seven days in December. Somehow later I bought a book from amazon--not directly recommending it to others, though I was glad I encountered it--Can we live 150 years? The author, as I remember, said he fasted those same days, 3 days a month and 7 days once a year. He may have also said he fasted each week some; I don't remember that.) At the time I had the maximum number of annual leave hours that we were allowed to carry over to the next fiscal year and I was allowed to start taking that week off from work and so I would drive about 700 miles (wow, the 700 club :) not sure I ever thought of that before) there and back, usually leaving Saturday and returning after church there on Sunday a week later. It was quite an adventure for me, nothing else like that in my life so far. I visited there monthly when I had enough annual leave and I would work overtime when possible to earn more leave time from 2011 through 2019 when I stopped visiting partly because the situation with the woman there had become untenable (not sure what the Lord's word for it would be). Then Covid made visiting more opposed. At some time I began to watch the IHOP church services online and had stopped attending church here locally where I live. (I'm not saying that that is ok or good, just saying what I did.) Before going further, I'd like to add that I believed the Lord showed me through the preaching that I listened to in my car that if I thought a leader was doing something that was not right, that I should keep a good attitude and pray. He spoke of it as if we had such a question about him. He said, pray for me, and so my prayer became that the Lord would strengthen him, though I did not have a question about my pastor's behavior. I settled on the prayer that for other leaders that God would strengthen them, help me to love them the way he loves them, that we would do the things that benefit one another, and that if they were doing anything wrong, that God would correct them. Later I realized that just just transferring that to others, because that is like a "just in case" prayer which may have some place but it doesn't seem right to use with a person not deserving of the question. I mention this prayer as an evidence that I believe the Lord was showing me not to question or try to correct leaders but instead to pray for them and let the Lord correct. Mike was charged with wrong behavior that had happened in past years, with the focus on 20 years or more before. I'm not wanting to restate that, however, the charge had a significant effect on many. I was thinking again today of the scripture, smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered--and that definitely happened. One source I explored to find out what was going on was searching Twitter and the main "noise" about what was going on in the situation was very accusatory and harsh. I thought of the example that follows about how onlookers were speaking. If we saw someone at a traffic light; I'm not sure it matters what color the light was; if we saw them tap their brake twice, we wouldn't necessarily know what they were thinking, but the accusers seems to characterize others and groups and to accuse and condemn them (with their speech) based on such limited data. Now, they would say the evidence was stronger than that, and it may have been, but the rush to judgment was as real as judging someone who tapped their brakes, in my opinion. I thought when I began this note that I was going somewhere, and yet now it seems like time to stop, so I will, though saying this. There were many times that the Lord spoke to me through Mike, beyond what would seem to be through personal awareness of him speaking. (Maybe I was 100 yards away in a conference at Bartle Hall.) He also had significant knowledge of words they had received about the house of prayer. He was also an advocate of the house of prayer. I also recognize that one response and its concern that people who suffered from wrong-doings have not been served or bettered. This may still be related to the directive not to correct leaders, and we saw some of that and possible repentance from those who took an accusatory viewpoint in other situations. There's also the factor of clarifying what did happen. I do think the guidelines in scripture do not get set aside in "sensitive cases". Somehow we should still follow the scriptures and what about the other scriptures such as ye that are spiritual restore such a one. The Lord loves you. Have a nice day John

Posted by John Fullerton at 2025-01-28 20:00:24 UTC