#11 "Deconstruction"
Is this trend an attack from Satan?
My husband and I had a contract on a house. It was beautiful! All that remained were some final logistics before we could move in. Sadly, an inspection revealed the truth. Its foundation needed extensive repair. Part of the house had been built on bedrock and the other half on areas filled in with dirt. When the house began to settle, one corner of the garage had sunk a couple of feet lower than the opposite corner. I asked a foundational engineer if he would buy a home like this. Off the record, he told me that he wouldn’t walk away, he’d run! What foundation is the Church built upon?
Unfortunately, this is a picture of much of the Church. A structure built on shifting sand will fall apart. A house divided cannot stand.
The foundation of the Church needs repair!
"Deconstruction"
Is this trend an attack from Satan? Yes and No.
In order to answer this, we need to better understand the tactics of our enemy and ask even more questions. Here are some to start with:
What is “deconstruction?”
What are people "deconstructing?"
What is Satan attacking?
What is “deconstruction?”
What does “deconstruction” mean? Let's make sense of it.
de·con·struc·tion /ˌdēkənˈstrəkSH(ə)n/ noun: deconstruction
From Oxford Languages: a method of critical analysis of philosophical and literary language which emphasizes the internal workings of language and conceptual systems, the relational quality of meaning, and the assumptions implicit in forms of expression.
Origin
Late 19th century (originally in the general sense ‘taking to pieces’):
from de- (expressing reversal) + construction.From Merriam-Webster: the analytic examination of something (such as a theory) often in order to reveal its inadequacy.
Deconstruction doesn't actually mean "demolition;" instead it means "breaking down" or analyzing something (especially the words in a work of fiction or nonfiction) to discover its true significance, which is supposedly almost never exactly what the author intended. A feminist may deconstruct an old novel to show how even an innocent-seeming story somehow depends on the oppression of women. A new western may deconstruct the myths of the old West and show lawmen as vicious and criminals as flawed but decent. Table manners, The Sound of Music, and cosmetics ads have all been the subjects of deconstructionist analysis. Of course, not everyone agrees with deconstructionist interpretations, and some people reject the whole idea of deconstruction, but most of us have run into it by now even if we didn't realize it.
Basically, “deconstruction” is the reversal of construction. It is literally “taking something to pieces.” I am in the process of “deconstruction” as I analyze pieces of “The Church Puzzle” to make sense of the structure I have known as the Church.
What are people "deconstructing?"
Many believers are “deconstructing” what they have believed about the Church. We are taking apart the pieces of the church structure that have been built over centuries so that we might reconstruct it properly. Unfortunately, some who grew up in a dysfunctional church culture are “deconstructing” so much that they are walking away from their faith instead of reconstructing a healthy church environment. It is important to understand that not everyone is in the same category. Many don’t even realize that this is what they are doing.
What & how is Satan attacking?
There is a lot of criticism concerning “deconstruction” because many religious leaders have labeled it as an attack from Satan. So what exactly is Satan attacking? Of course, our enemy is attacking the Church. He is always seeking to steal, kill, and destroy. But how exactly is he doing this?
The devil has so many tactics. Yes, he will draw some believers away through deconstruction, but his work started long before this process. Satan knows how to disguise evil as good, manipulate, deceive, sow discord, and so much more. He uses wolves in sheep’s clothing to harm the flock. He uses the pain of trauma to breed distrust. The list goes on. It’s never black and white. People say that Satan is attacking the Church through all the exposure of leaders. News flash: Satan began by deceiving ministry leaders into covering things up.
So is “deconstruction” a tool of Satan? It can be. It can also be a tool that the Lord is using to bring correction and healing to His Body.
Deconstructing VCF & IHOPKC
Many, like myself, are “deconstructing” the move of the Holy Spirit in the Charismatic Church. I have been involved in this stream of Church history since 1983. My family moved from the “Bible Belt” of main-stream denominational Christianity in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Anaheim, California during a powerful transition in Charismatic ministry. We joined the Anaheim Vineyard (a.k.a. Vineyard Christian Fellowship, VCF), led by John Wimber, at its inception. I was in the third grade. Decades later,
I joined the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), under Mike Bickle’s leadership, during its formation.
I recently watched a video interview of John and Carol Wimber’s daughter and son-in-law on the Minor Prophets Youtube channel. It answered many questions about my own experiences in Church history.
Here’s the interview of John Wimber’s daughter on “The Minor Prophets” podcast:
As I listened, I recalled knowing John and Carol Wimber, Bob and Penny Fulton, Dave and Glenda Schroeder, and many others as esteemed Church leaders. They were my extended family: fathers, mothers, aunts, and uncles. I didn’t know them well, but I was in youth group with many of their children and grandchildren. Dave Schroeder was one of my first youth leaders. I never even knew of his involvement in the beginnings of the Vineyard Church.
John's daughter and son-in-law talked about the original Vineyard Church in Yorba Linda, but they didn’t mention that the warehouse where we met was located near Disneyland for a decade (1440 S Anaheim Blvd, Anaheim, CA). When I was in high school (1989-1993) we moved over to the building that is still in Yorba Linda (5340 E La Palma Ave, Anaheim, CA). Perhaps the Quaker Church and the home they spoke of was initially in Yorba Linda. They also explained a lawsuit about the changing of Anaheim Vineyard to the Dwelling Place, another storyline I didn’t fully comprehend. This podcast helped me put the pieces together and see the picture more clearly.
Deconstructing Holy Spirit
Over the years, I have had to go through my own process of understanding the Holy Spirit. There are varying views in the Church. Some denominations do not believe in the outward manifestation of spiritual gifts, while others may take it too far. Some believers have even been kicked out of Christian organizations when it was discovered that they spoke in tongues.
John Wimber was on the cutting edge of Charismatic ministry. He wanted to “do the stuff” he read about in the Bible. I remember attending “Doing The Stuff” youth conferences at the Anaheim Vineyard during high school. Once, at a youth retreat, we prayed for a friend who was usually confined to a wheelchair. She could walk with supports using mostly her arms. After we prayed, she was able to walk around the auditorium without support. This seemed like such a miracle! Unfortunately, the healing didn’t seem to remain. We all seemed to struggle with the question of what happened that day.
After going away to college, my brother and I followed separate paths concerning our understanding of the Holy Spirit. My brother went the route of traditional churches, while I pursued the gifts of the Holy Spirit along the Charismatic path. Since we both grew up in the Vineyard Movement, I could never understand this separation. Deconstructing my views on the Charismatic Church has helped me make sense of it. My life has been significantly impacted by manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power, but this is not everyone’s experience. Sadly, there has been a lot of spiritual abuse and dysfunction among Charismatic streams. My eyes are only beginning to be opened.
Quenching the Holy Spirit
The interview above helped me understand more about the Vineyard Movement’s foundation and why John Wimber disassociated from the Toronto Vineyard. I thought John was wrong for separating from the “Toronto Blessing” and believed he had quenched the Holy Sprit by not embracing what God was doing at the Vineyard Church in Toronto, Canada. I didn’t know John and Carol Wimber’s history.
Now, I can finally see the story in context. Prior to starting the Vineyard, Carol had quenched the Holy Spirit for a long time. Eventually, she and John both embraced the Holy Spirit, which birthed the Vineyard Movement. In setting boundaries for leadership at the Toronto Vineyard, Wimber wasn’t saying the “Toronto Blessing” wasn’t from the Holy Spirit. He was actually seeking to provide accountability. John was acting as a Shepherd and protecting the flock from getting off track and into emotionalism. He was guarding against things that might have been from the flesh and not genuinely from the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of whether Wimber’s choice to separate was right or not, his intent was never to quench the Holy Spirit. Human wisdom cannot comprehend the ways of the Lord. When Jesus lived on the earth, people did not understand many of the things that He did. Religious leaders even discredited miracles that were from the Lord.
It’s interesting how perspective changes with hindsight. I wasn’t aware of the conversations behind closed doors. I had considered VCF the “mother ship.” I moved away from VCF in 2001 to pursue short term ministry opportunities. Then, in 2003,
I transitioned to IHOPKC, which I saw as an extension of VCF. When I heard Mike Bickle speak at Metro Christian Fellowship (formerly Metro Vineyard), the church out of which IHOPKC was birthed, I thought to myself, “This is that,” in relation to VCF.
Had I known then what I know now, I might not have joined IHOPKC. Then again,
I might have agreed with Mike and the Kansas City prophets, who claimed that John Wimber’s cancer was the result of his disassociation from the Toronto Vineyard. I’ve since learned that these very accusations are a form of spiritual abuse.
In the early days of his ministry, John would let the Spirit move, even if it looked messy, and trust the Holy Spirit to clean things up. This background helped me understand a bit of Mike Bickle’s philosophy. Mike always said, “We’re building the ship at sea.” He wasn't concerned about any messes that might be left in the wake but emphatically trusted the Lord to take care of them. His spiritual father, John Wimber, also modeled a lifestyle of extreme generosity and physical care for individuals. Unfortunately, this led Mike into patterns of behavior that we now understood as “grooming.” What was the difference?
Exploitation & Elitism
Were the things that John Wimber did grooming? I don't believe so. Sadly, when Mike Bickle did similar things, blessing people financially, he got off course. Somewhere along the line, whether consciously or not, it seems that Mike began doing these things for his own advantage, which is the definition of exploitation. This follows suit with another aspect explained in the interview: elitism. John Wimber and Mike Bickle had a stark contrast in leadership style. Wimber’s philosophy was, “everybody gets to play”, but with Bickle, the best seats in the house were reserved for special people. When this elitism mentality began to surface, John and Carol were not comfortable with it. For me, the dots are finally beginning to connect.
The elite spirit I experienced at IHOPKC wasn’t evident at the Anaheim Vineyard. While on staff at IHOPKC for six years, I remember feeling like there was the “in crowd" and then everyone else. It felt a lot like high school. There were even messages from the platform spiritualizing this discrepancy and the nobility of those who were not “recognized,” while the elite club continued to thrive.
When I first came to IHOP, I had a dream about being led down a wrong path. My interpretation of the dream was shaped by messaging from IHOPKC. I understood it to represent the “luke-warm” mainstream church as being off-course. I was led to believe that coming to IHOPKC was helping me to stay on the “right” course. It never occurred to me that the spirit guide in my dream, named “Laodicea,” might have actually represented Mike Bickle, and the very movement I was joining.
Processing “Church Hurt”
What does a person do when they grew up in both the Vineyard Movement, under John Wimber, and IHOPKC, under Mike Bickle, without ever recognizing the difference? This is some of the disentangling that needs to happen.
Until his death, John Wimber remained a man of character and integrity. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many of the Kansas City prophets
(i.e. Paul Cain, Bob Jones, Mike Bickle, Bob Hartley, etc.)
There is still so much to process, but things are beginning to make more sense.
If you experienced “church hurt,” I hope you will listen to the following message from the Restore Conference: “Finding Jesus After Church Trauma.” It is very insightful.
Be sure to go back and read previous posts to follow my journey of processing and detangling the IHOP-KC crisis.
#1 Puzzled!
Jan 23
Life is hard. #firsthundredyears
#2 Questions about Mike Bickle & IHOPKC
Jan 24
#3 Questioning Mike Bickle's Silence
Jan 26
#4 Choosing Sides
Jan 31
#5 The 68 Page Report
Feb 8
#6 Questions re: the Firefly Report
Feb 13
#7 “Theologically Articulate” Deception
Mar 8
#8 NDAs in The Church
Mar 22
Did Jesus’ Disciples Sign NDAs?
#10 Holy Saturday
I shared this as a “note” earlier. The link contains one of the most articulate depictions of the journey many from the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC) experienced. It’s called “Liminality, Part 2.”