Towards the end of my last article, Mercy For Me and Not For Thee, I raised a series of questions:
- Is Mike Bickle saved?
- Did he have a genuine salvation experience and later lose it?
- Can someone be born again and still function as a false apostle, prophet, or even as a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
- And is there a Scriptural difference between sexual sin and sexual abuse?
These questions surfaced from readers in response to an earlier post, Autopsy of Mike Bickle’s IHOPKC, and they cut to the heart of an issue far bigger than Mike Bickle or any other fallen leader. They force us to wrestle with how Scripture applies to sin, salvation, and sanctification in the life of a born-again believer—foundational doctrines that are too often neglected, distorted, or poorly taught.
At the same time, they compel us to ask another hard question: how should we deal with false apostles, prophets, teachers, and wolves in sheep’s clothing who, by definition, were never born again? Such men and women do not belong to Christ, no matter what ministry titles they claim, or what signs and wonders they perform (2 Corinthians 11:13–15; Matthew 7:15; 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 2:19; Titus 1:16).
This distinction is not a minor point. It becomes essential for how we understand the Ephesians 4:11 ministries in light of what the New Testament actually teaches. There is a flood of erroneous opinion and false teaching on this subject, leading many to make decisions based on emotions rather than Scripture.
To confuse these categories is to invite deception. And yet, much of the modern church has blurred them together, creating shallow phrases like “fallen Christian” that muddy, rather than clarify, the biblical picture. This is exactly what happened at IHOPKC and Forerunner Church: unless the Church rightly distinguishes between the immature believer, the disqualified leader, and the false minister, we will continue to be misled by personality, charisma, and outward “spiritual activity.”
Foundation Lessons
This is where clarity is so desperately needed. Derek Prince consistently emphasized that the foundation of the Christian life—the elementary principles of Christ—is laid out in Hebrews 6:1–2: repentance from dead works, faith toward God, baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. Without these doctrines, believers remain immature, “unskilled in the word of righteousness,” unable to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:11–14).
Instead of teaching these foundations—the very things the first disciples devoted themselves to, the apostles’ teaching of Acts 2:42—IHOPKC and Forerunner Church exalted prayer, prophecy, and end-times speculation. These were allowed to replace what seemed like “boring” basics. Yet it is precisely these elementary principles of Christ that provide the only true path to maturity, stability, and discernment.
Is Mike Bickle Saved? Does It Matter?
Critics often wield passages like “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 7:23) or “those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21) as a hammer to declare: “Mike Bickle was never saved!” But Scripture makes more careful distinctions.
- False ministers who were never saved. Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21–23 (“I never knew you”) point to those who used His name without ever belonging to Him. They were never born again, no matter how “anointed” they appeared.
- True believers who fall into carnality or disqualification. Paul warns believers that persistent sin can disqualify them from inheriting the Kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9–10; Galatians 5:19–21), yet he still calls them “brothers.” This is about loss of reward and inheritance, not loss of salvation. (I will expand this in the next article.)
So the Bible leaves room for two categories:
- The wolf in sheep’s clothing who was never born again.
- The saved man who becomes carnal, immature, or disqualified.
Why “Never Saved” May Be Too Simple
Many critics collapse everything into Matthew 7:23: “See? He was never saved.” But this misses the careful distinctions Scripture makes.
- Paul speaks of believers who are “saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15).
- He warns that a man can be disqualified from ministry (1 Corinthians 9:27) without necessarily being damned.
- Hebrews 12:6 reminds us that God disciplines His children—sometimes severely—because they are His, not because they were never His.
So to insist “Mike was never saved” may be neat and satisfying for critics, but it is not necessarily biblically accurate.
Why This Distinction Matters
- If Mike was never saved — then everything he did was counterfeit, and the thousands touched by his ministry need to re-examine their foundations in Christ. We do know that the Lord will minister to His own, regardless of the source.
- If Mike was truly saved but disqualified — then his failure is a warning to every believer: salvation is secure, but sanctification and inheritance are conditional.
Either way, the responsibility falls back on us: do we know the foundations of Christ, or are we resting in charisma and activity like those in Matthew 7?
The lesson is clear: the Church cannot survive on activity without foundations. And leaders cannot survive without repentance.
The Case With Mike Bickle
Men like Derek Prince, Ernie Gruen, and John Wimber—who were all deeply familiar with Mike and his ministry—warned against his lack of doctrinal grounding and the dangerous trajectory of his movement. Yet not one of them ever said Mike was not born again. Their concerns were about his immaturity, imbalance, and fleshly indulgence—not his salvation.
To be clear, Mike’s actions were evil. By exploiting trust, abusing spiritual authority, and preying on the vulnerable, he displayed deeds that Scripture itself calls wicked. But biblically, evil deeds alone do not prove someone is a wolf or false minister. They may also prove someone is a believer who has failed catastrophically in sanctification.
If Mike truly had a salvation experience—and there is evidence to suggest he did—then the more biblically accurate category is not wolf in sheep’s clothing but carnal Christian. His failure is not that he was a wolf all along, but that he was a man who never grew into maturity, and whose unchecked sin left a trail of devastation.
That does not excuse him. A carnal Christian can be forgiven and restored to fellowship, but not necessarily to leadership. Once that trust is shattered, it cannot be rebuilt.
Conclusion
Since none of us are the keeper of the Lamb’s Book of Life, my answer is this: Only God knows with certainty whether Mike Bickle was never saved or a saved man who fell into disqualification.
What we can say is this: his ministry proves the danger of neglecting repentance, foundations, and holiness. And Scripture gives us categories for both possibilities—without forcing us into a simplistic answer.
The responsibility is ours: to return to the foundations of Hebrews 6, to insist on repentance from dead works, and to hold leaders accountable not for charisma but for holiness.