Prophecy promoted by IHOPKC founder is based on incorrect information, document shows

A decades-old prophecy promoted by embattled IHOPKC founder Mike Bickle that has been repeatedly recited by charismatic leaders to rally believers was based on information that isn’t true, The Star has learned.

That inaccurate claim, which involved the timing of the 1990 death of the mother of Bickle’s good friend, Paul Cain — a man then highly regarded as a prophet in charismatic circles — has been invoked as a message from God that an anointing of the Holy Spirit is coming, and when the time arrives, leaders like Bickle and his International House of Prayer-Kansas City will play a key role in carrying out the Lord’s mission.

The story Bickle has told over the years is that Anna Cain died at 4:18 p.m. on April 18 (4-18) and gave the Bible verse Luke 4:18 to her son just before she passed. Bickle captivates listeners with his dramatic retelling of her final moments and the astonishing recurrence of the numbers “4” and “18.”

But Anna Cain’s death certificate shows that the time and date Bickle has been describing as evidence that her dying words were prophetic is not the actual time and date she died.

The discovery calls into question the credibility of IHOPKC’s prophetic history, a vital component of the 24/7 global prayer movement. The ministry already has been tainted by sex abuse allegations that surfaced against Bickle last fall.

Some former staffers and supporters say the incorrect prophetic claim is proof that Bickle is a fraud.

“Anybody that’s been in the prayer movement long-term knows this story,” said Tammy Woods, who went public in February with allegations that Bickle sexually abused her in the 1980s starting when she was 14. “He has video of him telling this story brazenly over and over. It happened before IHOP even started, and they have carried it through the decades.

“And it was so compelling and so unbelievable, the gasp factor would happen every time he would tell the story. Mike (Bickle) and Paul Cain — you’re talking about the pillars of the prophetic and prayer movement. This was so sensational that you could believe everything from that point on.”

Such prophecies are used to solicit contributions, Woods said.

“They’re calling for donations based on these super-hyped, incredible stories,” she said. “Because wow, I mean, that had to be God, right? So I want to sow into what God is doing in the earth. And it’s just a lie.”

Austin Roberts, a former staffer who grew up in the IHOPKC community and has studied the movement’s prophetic history for years, was stunned to hear about Anna Cain’s death certificate.

“It blows my mind,” he said. “For anyone who was paying attention, especially during certain years, Luke 4:18 was a big one.”

In the earlier years of IHOPKC, Roberts said, interns were required to listen to 12 hours of discussion about the prophetic history — called the Encountering Jesus CDs — as part of their orientation.

“There’s almost two hours of content on Paul Cain,” he said. “And one of the central stories is Luke 4:18.”

A deathbed prophecy

Woods and others say the deathbed story is a cornerstone of IHOPKC’s prophetic history, which it describes as “about 25 powerful prophetic experiences that provide insight into what will happen in the days ahead in Kansas City, the USA, and other nations.”

According to IHOPKC, “These supernatural experiences were given to several prophetic people in the 1970s and 1980s. They include times when various believers saw the Lord, heard God’s audible voice, saw an angel, or had prophetic dreams that were dramatically confirmed.”

While no longer required to do so, new followers and interns are strongly encouraged to study the prophetic history, and Bickle and others have incorporated it into their sermons over the years. The ministry now is struggling with how to permanently separate from Bickle, as leaders announced IHOPKC was doing in December when so much of the movement centers on him and the prophetic history.

The prophecy involving the death of Cain’s mother goes like this, according to Bickle:

The Lord promised Anna Cain that she would have a son, but then she had five miscarriages. Finally, at age 45, she became pregnant with Paul. In her eighth month of pregnancy, she was suffering from four terminal diseases — tuberculosis, heart disease, cancer in both breasts and three tumors in her womb. Her doctor told her that neither she nor the baby would survive.

“One night after midnight, the angel of the Lord appeared by her bedside and said, ‘Daughter, be of good cheer, you will live and not die!’” Bickle wrote in sermon notes about the prophecy. “‘The child you bear is a male, you shall name him Paul, and he shall preach the gospel and bind up the sickness of My people and shall stand before kings.’ She was healed and lived another 60 years to age of 105.”

Anna Cain “had a strong prophetic gifting operating in her life,” Bickle’s notes said. Near the end of her life, she told Paul “that she would give him a significant prophetic word before she died.”

“She went into a coma for two months just before her death,” according to Bickle’s notes. “When she came out of the coma, she prophesied to Paul that what the Lord did in Luke 4:18 would happen in his life and those connected to him and many others. She died on April 18 (4/18) at 4:18 pm after giving him the scripture on Luke 4:18!”

That verse reads as follows: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed … ”

The death certificate, however, shows that Annie Matilda Cain was 104 and died at 9:50 p.m. on April 19, 1990, at RHD Medical Center in Farmers Branch, Texas — not at 4:18 p.m. on April 18, 1990.

Annie Cain’s gravestone also says she died on April 19, 1990. She is buried in Garland Memorial Park in Garland, Texas.

In an emailed response Wednesday to questions from The Star, IHOPKC said:

“Mrs. Cain passed away 34 years ago, nearly a decade prior to the founding of IHOPKC. We do not have any information regarding the timing or details of her passing. Unfortunately, Paul Cain is also deceased.

“As a result of revelations and accusations against Mike, we are examining all elements of the ministry culture and foundations he influenced. This includes each element of the Prophetic History. With help from trusted elders in the body of Christ we will determine which prophecies to hold fast and which to discard.”

Bickle loves telling the story of Anna Cain’s prophecy. In videos, he says Paul Cain called and asked him to come to Dallas because his mother was going to die the next day. Bickle becomes animated when describing the scene at the hospital.

“Paul’s kneeling down with his ear next to hers, gently crying, ‘She’s going, she’s going.’ I’m standing in the room and there’s a medical person. There’s three of us in the room. And I don’t want to, like, look at them. They’re like, they’re having an intimate moment,” Bickle says in the videos.

Bickle says he stared at the wall.

“And she comes awake for just a moment,” he says. “She whispers something in Paul’s ear, and then she dies. And I’m looking at the clock. And I see the digital clock and it’s 4:18 in the afternoon. And I’m staring straight at it.

“And Paul is so sad. He doesn’t come and tell me the word … And so I just kind of backed away and went in the other room. And so the medical people come in and they said, ‘What time did she die?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know.’ I go, ‘Oh, I’m positive. I was looking at the clock — 4:18. It was right over her bed.’ So they write 4:18.”

After “a little time passes,” Bickle says, Cain revealed the message his mother gave him.

“He goes, ‘The word she gave me was Luke 4:18. That Paul, you would go forth in the spirit of Luke 4:18, but so would the people that the Lord has given you to nurture and to strengthen.’”

IHOPKC hadn’t been created yet, Bickle says, but “we talked about that many times, that one day there would be this group and they would do 24/7 prayer … with singers and musicians.”

“... And so Paul knows this word is for that young adult movement, but far beyond us, this is Jesus and his end-times church.”

‘It was so grandiose’

Bickle says he didn’t immediately catch the significance of the timing of Anna Cain’s death. But a short time later, he says, he was at a church and someone asked him when she died.

“‘Well, sometime in April, I said. Let me find out. Oh, it’s April 18.’ She was, ‘Oh, so she died at 4-18, the date, at 4:18 in the afternoon, and the promise was 4:18?’”

Bickle says that’s when it hit him.

“I said, ‘That is — who picks the verse and the minute they die, and they all add up?’ I mean, it was awesome … this is a core promise for what is yet coming.”

Woods said those who hear the story are mesmerized.

“It was so grandiose — it’s Paul Cain’s dying mother’s prophetic words,” she said. “And she dies on 4-18.”

“It was so sensational that it kind of just hooked your emotions and your passion. To hear it told you’re just like, ‘Whoa. Only God could do this. So we’re gonna believe everything that now happens or is told. Because this is so amazing.’”

Other prominent charismatic figures, including Lou Engle — co-founder of The Call, a prayer and fasting movement — picked up on the prophecy. Engle has described it as “shock and awe.”

“When I heard this story, and as I now ponder the recent death of Paul Cain,” he said in a March 2019 Facebook post, “I know that a new scroll is unfolding for my life and the nation.

“ … I believe that we are in the season of the great transition. We are in a moment where the scroll of Luke 4:18 could be opened up over the whole nation, and then it will be a Jesus Movement like we have never seen before.”

The story became even more momentous in 2021.

In an April 16 sermon, Bickle said Chris Reed, a prophetic pastor and CEO of MorningStar Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina, met with IHOPKC’s leadership team on April 9.

“On the way to the meeting, Chris heard the news that Prince Philip had just died, so he asked if ‘418’ meant anything to us,” Bickle said.

Bickle said Reed told him that on Nov. 20, 2019, he had recorded a prophecy about the future death of Prince Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II. Bickle said Reed had time-stamped the prophecy on his phone.

“Chris understood that (the death) would be a timing indicator for an important season in God’s kingdom,” Bickle said. “Then he received a prophetic riddle about ‘When the prince will pass, it will be 418 at last.’”

Bickle said while the number 418 didn’t make sense to Reed, it meant a great deal to IHOPKC.

“I want you to get this, because there’s some real specific takeaways that we’ve been operating in a bit, for 30 years,” Bickle said in his sermon. “But the Lord is saying, ‘I want you to know that Luke 4:18 at last has come.’”

Launching a comeback?

The discovery about Anna Cain’s prophecy emerges as many former IHOPKC leaders and staffers wonder if Bickle is trying to orchestrate a comeback after being removed in December from the round-the-clock prayer movement he started a quarter century ago.

The organization has been in turmoil since the allegations against Bickle surfaced in late October, accusing him of using prophecies to groom, sexually abuse and manipulate women over multiple decades.

Bickle, 68, issued his first public statement on Dec. 12, admitting that he had “sinned” and “my moral failures were real.” He said his “inappropriate behavior” occurred more than 20 years ago, but he did not admit to engaging in any sexual misconduct.

On Dec. 22, IHOPKC announced that it was “immediately, formally and permanently” separating from Bickle, saying it had confirmed “a level of inappropriate behavior” on his part.

Last month, confusion erupted after a leaked recording of a staff meeting revealed that IHOPKC planned to close its doors and open a new, smaller organization. That was followed by a statement from IHOPKC attorney Audrey Manito saying IHOPKC was not closing but going through a “transition and reorganization process.” She said the 24/7 prayer room was not shutting down, but IHOP University would close after graduation, which is May 18.

The day after Manito’s statement, IHOPKC executive director Joseph Taylor said in a news release, “we have come to the conclusion that we will wind down many of the ministry and training expressions of IHOPKC.” Those included IHOP University, Forerunner Church, the Children’s Equipping Center, and the organization’s internships, Taylor said.

Then came the May 5 sermon by Isaac Bennett, senior pastor of Forerunner Church.

Many former staffers and followers were shocked to hear Bennett talk about IHOPKC’s prophetic history, even mentioning Bickle and the late “prophet” Bob Jones. Like Bickle, both Cain and Jones — not the evangelist who founded Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina — went through scandals of their own.

In his sermon, Bennett said, “And that man, named Bob Jones, he was a prophetic man, he came to Mike Bickle, who’s the founder of IHOPKC. And he said some very unusual phrases that at the time did not make sense at all. But today, they make a lot more sense. And I guarantee in our future, they’re going to make even more sense.”

Bennett said that on March 7, 1983, Jones told Bickle, “you will be part of a worldwide youth movement of prophetic singers and musicians.” Back then, Bennett said, that phrase seemed “weird.” But today, he said, it’s a more commonly understood term.

“It speaks of singers and musicians that operate in a spirit of prophecy, and as they sing and as they play and as intercessors pray, there is the release of the Holy Spirit and increased Holy Spirit activity through their ministry — through our ministry,” he said. “As we pray, things are stirred up in the spirit. And there’s never been a season of time to understand that more actually than maybe today, the very day that we’re in right now.”

Bennett told followers that “we’re sitting here today seeing promises that have come to pass before our eyes … we can’t back down from this; we can’t step away from this.”

“I know that there’s confusion,” he said. “I know that there’s pressure. The reason that we’re standing for God’s purposes for Israel isn’t because of IHOPKC or Bob Jones or Mike Bickle, it’s because it’s in the word of God.”

If it’s not in the word of God, he said, “then throw it out.”

“Let the Lord handle the rest. Let him handle all the details and where we’re at and what building we’re in and what the name of the ministry is. I mean, let the Lord sort all that out.”

Response to Bennett’s sermon was swift and, in many cases, scathing.

“This morning @ihopkc’s Isaac Bennett rehashed all the same prophetic BS as his sexual predator mentor Mike Bickle,” Matt Hartke posted on X. “Watch how he engages in all the same doublespeak (“we’re doing this bc it’s in the word of God”) and manipulation (“we can’t back down from this”). Unconscionable!!!”

Roberts, the former IHOPKC staffer, said there’s a reason current leaders continue to promote the prophetic history.

“It’s quite simple,” he said on X. “No Prophetic History, no IHOP-KC.”

Roberts told The Star he believes Bickle will eventually be back. He said he doesn’t necessarily think Bickle “is pulling the strings” of Bennett or other IHOPKC leaders.

“But his ghost is pulling the strings,” he said. “There’s a ghost in the machine, and you can’t get it out. Because the programmer leaves a part of himself in the code.

“We were all encoded by Mike Bickle, and so he doesn’t need to be there,” Roberts said. “He constructed this symbiosis so that it would need him and so that he would be directing IHOP even if he died. He could die, but through the prophetic history, he would live on. It’s ingrained into the movement. His legacy is the prophetic history.”

IHOPKC leaders in an email said Bennett’s sermon “was meant as an encouragement and a sign to pray for Israel and stand against global antisemitism.”

“It was not meant as an endorsement of Mike Bickle,” they said. “Mike Bickle’s duties ceased, and privileges were revoked at all IHOPKC entities as of October 26th, 2023. The separation in December formalized the permanent status of those conditions. Our leadership has no contact or communication with Mike.

“As a ministry founded by him, it can be difficult to reference important stories from our past without mentioning our founder. This does not change our formal and permanent separation from him as a ministry.”

Celebrating IHOPKC’s 25th anniversary

On May 7, just two days after Bennett’s sermon, Hope City, an inner-city prayer and community center run by Bickle’s younger sister and her husband, celebrated IHOPKC’s 25th anniversary.

Cars lined East 24th Street near Van Brunt Boulevard, and inside the center praise was being heaped on the prayer movement and the Bickle family. While Bickle didn’t make an appearance, several family members attended, including his wife, Diane, and sons Luke and Paul.

Bickle’s sister, Lisa Stribling, and her son, Richy Bickle, served as emcees for the event, attended by about 120 people, some of whom brought children and infants.

“God has had his hand on this city, and he’s not taking it off,” Richy Bickle said. “He’s not moving his finger off of this city. In fact, this is for the next 25 years that we’re doing this today.”

He thanked numerous IHOPKC leaders as well as the Bickle family “for laying down everything and saying yes to something that seemed so ridiculous at the time.”

No mention was made of Mike Bickle’s sex abuse scandal, but in an odd twist, Richy Bickle also thanked former IHOPKC leaders, including the families of Allen Hood and Dwayne Roberts. The Hoods and Robertses are members of a group that has been at odds with current leadership over its push for a third-party investigation into the sex abuse allegations.

Pastor Ray Mabion Sr., of Bethlehem Kingdom Center in Raytown, commended the prayer movement, saying, “There’s gonna be a change in this nation because of Kansas City.”

He said Satan tried to crush IHOPKC but failed.

“Because of the prayers that have gone forth in this city, the enemy tried to come and to destroy the Tabernacle of David,” Mabion said. “ … Because of the spotlight that we have as a nation, the enemy came and he tried to cut the head off of what God has done in prayer.

“But I’m gonna tell you this right now. That is not gonna be forgotten. Because God said this song and dance is gonna continue in Kansas City. And you can try to cut the head, but the head is not gonna drop. It’s gonna keep right on going because what God is doing is gonna bring forth his purposes in Kansas City.”

Stribling talked about Jones, calling him “a unique individual who was sent to Mike and the IHOP community to give words of things that have happened, things that were gonna come … ”

“So many of the words have come to pass.”

She said the nonstop prayer movement would continue in Kansas City.

“It would be like cutting your foot off to say, ‘Well, we’re just gonna stop because they told us we should stop believing it,’” she said. “Are you out of your minds? There’s no way. It doesn’t matter if the lights are out and we have a candle. We’re going to keep praying for revival until we see the things that we have bled for come to pass.”

Then she showed a 1983 video clip of Jones talking to Bickle about IHOPKC’s prophetic history.

“I was flabbergasted,” Woods said about the anniversary event. “They have the audacity to celebrate 25 years? Unbelievable.”

IHOPKC told The Star that it had no involvement in the event.

“Hopecity is an independent, separate organization serving inner city residents facing the challenges of addiction and poverty,” the email response said. “On May 7th they marked 25 years of 24/7 prayer in Kansas City, which began when the IHOPKC Prayer Room opened.

“IHOPKC was not involved in the planning of the event and our leadership team did not attend. We are told it was an inclusive, community-wide event that was open to anyone.”