My Response to Sam Storms
This article will be a critical examination of the 13-page letter that Sam Storms sent to me on November 16, 2025. I will post the entire letter here, and my comments will be inserted in parentheses in bold, italized type. -Steven Kozar
Steven,
I just concluded listening to both of your videos. I got the impression you wanted me to respond. So here it is.
(A word for those reading this who may get lost in the weeds. These are my comments on things Kozar said in his two videos. That is why they seem to be disconnected. If you want to follow the flow, you will need to watch his two videos and read my comments and responses that correspond to his accusations.)
(Actually, I made 7 videos, not 2; but he’s referring to my last two videos that focus on him after he appeared on the Minor Prophets YouTube channel being interviewed by JonMark Baker. This comment in parentheses suggests that Sam is distributing his letter to more people than just me, which is partly why I’m making my reply public. I also hope to clarify some things I said that were wrong and apologize. Some of the things Sam Storms says in this letter are bizarre and false, and I believe they show him doing damage control. I haven't been looking forward to replying because it’s long and tedious, but Sam Storms emailed me again on Dec. 31, 2025, asking why I haven’t issued an “apology and retraction,” and then, as I was working on my response, he emailed a third time on January 10th where he says he “doesn’t want to have to go public,” but I’ve got nothing to hide so I’m the one “going public.” -S.K.)
(As you can see, Sam Storms really wants me to respond, and is threatening to expose me if I don’t apologize for “repeatedly lying” and “slandering him.” It appears that he might have convinced Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson to remove most of the negative comments about him on her video interview on Jan. 8th, 2026. Click on the right side to view the screenshots/comments. -S.K.)
(In that same interview with Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, Sam said this: “There are some out there who just want to mock me and ridicule me and that’s fine. You know the Lord is my judge, ultimately. And if I’m to be vindicated it’ll be by Him in heaven, not now.” So he publicly says that he doesn’t need to be vindicated, but in his email to me, he threatens to “go public” if I don’t “apologize for my videos.”
I am posting Sam’s letter in its entirety here and also on a separate page without any alterations or commentary. I’m covering as much as I can in this extensive article because I believe Sam Storms’s claims need to be critically examined. -S.K.)
I think the most frustrating thing about your recent video is that you only quote me from statements made prior to the implosion of IHOPKC and the disclosure of Bickle’s sexual misconduct. In the aftermath of that, I have repeatedly and on numerous occasions both in print and on podcasts acknowledged that Bickle exaggerated and lied about certain events in the so-called prophetic history.
(Yes, you’ve acknowledged the bad things that Mike Bickle did, but you haven’t completely acknowledged that you, yourself, exaggerated and lied about certain events in the so-called prophetic history. You claimed that you did the research in order to prove things about the prophecies; Mike Bickle didn’t force you to do that, it was all your doing. Even in this letter, you mostly blame everything on Mike Bickle tricking you. You often sound as if you’re only guilty of getting fooled. -S.K.)
What I don’t understand is that, assuming you are aware of my confession and acknowledgment of Bickle’s massive deception, you did not quote me saying so. (Yes, I have. You should be saying that you’d prefer that I do it more frequently. -S.K.) Why continually point people to things that I no longer believe, stories that I have rejected, events that I have called into question. I can only assume, and hope that I’m wrong, that you are doing this to heap ridicule on me. But why have you said nothing about my statements that Bickle deceived and lied to me and countless others? Why have you not quoted my statements subsequent to his fall, but only ones that I made prior to it?
(You continually believe that your critics are either “ridiculing” you or “mocking” you. You need to consider that your critics might actually have important things to say, things you seem oblivious to. When you claim that your critics are simply “ridiculing” or “mocking” you, you sound like someone trying to gain sympathy for himself. -S.K.)
You try to suggest at the beginning that you and perhaps others called out Bickle before his implosion in October of 2023. But every time I have said that neither I nor anyone else suspected Mike of misconduct, it was in reference to his sexual behavior. I’m not talking about whatever other theological or practical problems you and others might have with Bickle’s teaching. I only referenced his sexual misbehavior, and no one, at least no one with whom I have talked, ever had any suspicions that something was amiss.
You say that Bickle is either clueless or wicked. But you are not talking about his sexual misconduct as that had not yet been disclosed. So, my request is that you and others please cease suggesting that I or those with me in KC should have known about his sexual misbehavior.
(The culture of cover-up was inculcated by the people surrounding Mike Bickle for over 40 years. You may very well have been clueless about the specifics of what Bickle was doing, but you were one of the people closest to him for over 30 years. You were right there in the middle of IHOPKC’s foundation. Now you expect nobody to question your role (regardless of how minor it may have been) in Bickle’s cult, because you issued a public apology. That shows a lack of self-awareness and an inflated sense of self-importance. I knew that Bickle’s close connection to Paul Cain & Bob Jones was reason enough to mark and avoid him. That was reason enough for me to say he was “either clueless or wicked.” I also knew that IHOPKC was employing cult tactics and teaching strange new doctrines, while you adamantly claimed that Bickle was “biblically orthodox.” I was right about him being wicked, even though I didn’t know the specifics of his sin. -S.K.)
Why do you recast my sincere comment about hoping that others don’t experience what I did as a manipulative way of redirecting people away from my lack of discernment. Can you not acknowledge that it is entirely legitimate for a Christian to hope and pray that other Christians don’t suffer from bad judgment the way I did?
(Perhaps you’re right, but it sure seems like you wanted to focus on your difficulties above the difficulties that faced Bickle’s victims. -S.K.)
(Do you think Sam Storms knows how to elicit sympathy for himself?)
Yes, Francis and I did defend Bickle. How many times do I have to say what I’ve said a hundred or more times? I never defended him in order to lead people astray. I never promoted him at the same time I knew of his deception.
You ask how many young people might have gone to IHOPKC on the strength of Francis’ endorsement. Are you aware that I issued a very heartfelt public apology to anyone who might have gone to IHOPKC or trusted Bickle because of my endorsement of him? I’ve included that apology in which I ask for forgiveness (see below). Why is it that you say nothing about this in either of your videos?
(I’ve included a link to that apology in both videos. I also said this about you in the first video: “…at least he’s trying to apologize to some extent, and he’s admitting that this really is a tragedy, so we have to give him credit for that.”-at 4:16 in the video What in the Sam Storms is Going On Here? So I gave you credit and mentioned your apology. I probably didn’t mention it often enough, and I can see how that would upset you, but your claim that I said “nothing about this in either of your videos” is not true. -S.K.)
Why would you say I try to gain sympathy for myself? I have done no such thing. And you say that I am still too close to Bickle and IHOPKC. What?????!!!!! I have insisted that Bickle never be allowed to enter any form of ministry ever again. I have said nothing in support of him or IHOPKC since the day I learned of his sins. You said that I am way too close to Bickle and IHOPKC. That is a total falsehood. Please apologize publicly for slandering me in this way.
(You’re right, that was a bad choice of words, and I’m sorry. What I was thinking was that your beliefs about prophecy were still too similar to Bickle's and IHOPKC's, but I totally see how that sounded like I was accusing you of still being (literally) close to Mike. I know that you’ve had no contact with him since your initial confrontation because I’ve heard you explain that multiple times. But your above comment is not true: ‘I have said nothing in support of him or IHOPKC since the day I learned of his sins.’ When you and your wife first heard of his sins, you refused to believe them. In your own words, you’ve said that you didn’t believe the allegations against Mike Bickle until after you talked with Debra Perkins. -S.K.)
Please stop telling people things that I think or desire that you have no knowledge of. Why would you say that I don’t want people to know about Bob Scott’s book. I’ve recommended it to countless individuals! I read it cover to cover when it was first released and have been in contact with Bob for quite some time since Mike’s sin was disclosed. I quote Bob’s book in my forthcoming book.
(I’ve never heard you mention Bob Scott’s book or the many stories it tells of Mike Bickle’s bad character traits. But you’re correct, I should not have made the snarky comment that you don’t want people to read that book. I’m sorry for that. -S.K.)
You also seem to say that “the need for significance” was true of me. How would you know that? I trust that whatever needs I have, Jesus is more than enough to meet them.
(Mike Bickle constantly praised you and went to extremes in describing how smart and important you were. I don’t think it’s unfair to claim that you gained a sense of significance from his excessive flattery and that severly clouded your judgment. -S.K.)
Bob Scott had left staff long before I arrived in KC. His story about Bickle screaming at him and saying “it is all about me” is quite disturbing. But again, Bickle never once acted like this or spoke in this fashion during my seven years as his associate pastor.
You quote me as saying, “Mike Bickle is a great guy. But there’s just this one little thing where he tricked us.” Seriously Steve, please think about what you are doing. Since I learned about Bickle’s sexual sin, I never ever said he was a “great guy.” Before the disclosure of his sin, yes. But never since that time.
I can’t believe you would say that I affirmed Bickle as a great guy although he was sexually abusive. You are lying about me. I never ever affirmed Bickle again once I learned of his deception and sexual misconduct. You clearly make it sound as if I continued to affirm him as a good person even after I discovered his extensive sexual sin and double life. Why are you doing this? This is slander pure and simple.
(I’ve listened to numerous interviews where, yes, you admit that he’s been living this horrible double life, but you keep talking about what a close, personal friend he was, and how much you appreciated him and his teaching. Here’s a quote from your new book where you do this very thing:
From Sam’s new book “The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets”
You’ve been simplifying things down to this: “I’ve always considered Mike to be a great and godly man, but now we’ve learned of this one horrible sin that is in stark contrast to all of his good qualities.” But he was a cult leader, not just a guy who had one terrible character flaw. That was the point I was trying to make. Remember, I had just read quotes from Bob Scott’s book that portrayed some of Bickle’s very serious character flaws. In contrast to Bob’s observations, you’ve made less mention of those character flaws as you’ve talked about how surprised you were to learn of his deception and double life. Even in your recent interview with Laura-Lynn, you said this: “Maybe I lacked discernment in that regard. Maybe I was so overwhelmed by the good things that I saw Mike doing that I just was blind to anything else.” I know you don’t currently believe he’s a great guy, and I’m sorry that my comment didn’t make that clearer; you have reason to be angry about that. -S.K.)
Again, you show the video from the Roundtable where I said I know Mike to the depths of his soul and that he is humble and honorable. But why would you refer people to what I said before the revelation of his sin, instead of showing them clips from numerous videos and articles where I denounce him as a sexual predator and a fraud?
(In the roundtable, you said that he was “biblically orthodox.” You also confirmed that he had made legitimate trips to heaven. This is the kind of thing that, in my opinion, disqualifies you from speaking authoritatively on these topics ever again. These are the things that should cause you to retire and stop what you’re doing. At the very least, you should understand that people like me have the right to oppose your continued ministry, book-writing, and speaking appearances. You had zero discernment for over 30 years, and now you expect people to respectfully listen to your teaching? Denouncing Bickle after he was exposed by others doesn’t suddenly make you a trustworthy teacher. -S.K.)
For you to say that Francis is pulling people into the Word of Faith and NAR movements is again blatant slander. Francis doesn’t believe anything in either of those movements, and neither do I. You owe Francis a public apology.
(It’s incredible that you think I owe Francis Chan a public apology, but you don’t think Francis Chan owes the public an apology for endorsing Mike Bickle. Here’s a video I made on this topic:
(As far as “blatant slander” goes, you aren’t even quoting me correctly. Here’s what I said, and I stand by it:)
“And to see a guy like Francis Chan pulling mainstream Evangelicalism towards the hyper-Charismatic/New Apostolic Reformation/Word of Faith version of Christianity is disturbing.”
(Francis Chan is pulling mainstream Evangelicalism in that direction. If he thinks this is slander, he can take me to court, where I will prove my case to an even larger audience. Maybe Benny Hinn, or his son-in-law, Michael Koulianos, will help pay for the attorney fees. -S.K.)
You say that I lack discernment. Yes, when it came to Bickle, I did. But then you point to the Firefly report about problems at IHOPKC. But I wasn’t at IHOPKC. (You say “I wasn’t at IHOPKC,” but you were at IHOPKC. Here’s what you said in your blog “What Should We Think about the International House of Prayer [IHOPKC] and Mike Bickle? Part One” from May 29, 2019:
“When we moved back to Kansas City in 2004, I was not officially a part of IHOP, but both my wife and I were regularly present for the prayer meetings, conferences, and other gatherings. When Mike’s brother, Pat, went to be with the Lord in 2007, Mike gave me the privilege and honor of officiating his funeral service.”
(Sam says he “wasn’t at IHOPKC;” does that sound like an accurate statement or more of an excuse? Here’s a short video to ask some questions about that claim:)
I never heard anyone say anything critical of Bickle at IHOPKC. How can you cite the Firefly report to undermine my capacity to discern when that report wasn’t released until 2024?
(The Firefly Report identifies a culture of cover-up at IHOPKC that protected Mike Bickle and gave him the ability to abuse women. The cover-up and abuse happened over decades; it didn’t happen when the Firefly Report came out. You continue to claim that no one had any idea Bickle was doing bad things because he hid it so well, but the culture of cover-up enabled him to do so. My pointing out the Firefly Report’s findings doesn’t mean that you’re culpable only after the report came out. When you say “I wasn’t at IHOPKC,” you’re dodging the issue. You were on the founding board of IHOPKC. You lived nearby for the 4 years between 2004 and 2008, and in your own words: “When we moved back to Kansas City in 2004. My relationship with Mike kinda picked up again, & I was in & out of the House of Prayer pretty consistently for 4 years.” -from your interview with JonMark on November 3, 2025.)
Once again you are slandering me by saying that I was “covering up” Bickle’s abuse and sexual mistreatment of young women. How could I have been covering up something of which I had not one hint of knowledge? Please stop this slander! Maybe some people at IHOPKC were covering up Bickle’s sin, but I certainly wasn’t. I haven’t lived in KC since 2008.
Here’s my comment that Sam wants you to believe is me accusing him of knowingly covering up the sexual sins of Mike Bickle.
Sam wants you to believe that this is the entirety of what I said.
(I never said you were “covering up Bickle’s abuse and sexual mistreatment of young women.” If I did believe that was true, I would continue saying so. I know how much you want to make me appear guilty of this, but either you still don’t understand my point, or you’re intentionally ignoring it to make me look bad. But if you would just take your mistaken idea to its logical conclusion, you would have to believe that I accused you of this terrible thing and then I immediately denied it. If I didn’t want people to know I accused you of that, why would I leave my comment up? Why would I go through all the trouble of explaining myself when I could just remove my comment and end the problem? Do you even know how comments function on YouTube videos? The truth is, I explained myself until JonMark understood my point and said, “That’s a fair point.” Once again, here is the simple point I was making:
Sam Storms keeps saying that NOBODY had any idea that these bad things were taking place, but the Firefly Report says that cover-ups were happening for decades. If people at IHOPKC were covering stuff up, that means there was SOME knowledge of what Bickle was doing by SOME of the people there. Storms may very well have been clueless about Bickle’s true character and behavior, but his claim that NOBODY had any idea is refuted by the Firefly Report. -S.K. )
Your attempt to say I misquoted you simply won’t work. You said it in black and white. It was both because of the lack of accountability at IHOPKC and because no one knew it was happening. You must own up to the lie in the first half of your statement. You can’t wiggle out of your slanderous statement by appealing to the rest of the comment. The first part still stands as it is. Regardless of the reason why Bickle got away with his sin, be it the lack of accountability or the fact that no one knew, you still blatantly accuse me of covering it up.
(Do you not understand how sentences work? If I said something like ‘I hate my wife being mistreated at her job,’ would you accuse me of saying that I hate my wife? You don’t get to decide what a sentence means by removing over half of its words. -S.K.)
No, it’s not a cohesive sentence. Nice try, but you can’t escape what you said. I’m not pretending you said something you didn’t. I’m saying you said something because there it is for all to read.
(Interestingly, not a single comment is accusing me like you are. My comment and its follow-up comments have been up for three months now, and many people like them. However, this 13-page letter from Sam Storms is available for all to read, and now many people will see “the real Sam Storms” for the first time. -S.K.)
In your attempt to respond to JonMark’s comment in defense of me, you once again cite the Firefly report of on-going cover up at IHOPKC. Yes, evidently that was happening. But again, I had no knowledge whatsoever that such was the case. You can’t keep appealing to the Firefly report when it discusses things that happened or didn’t happen at IHOPKC while I wasn’t living in KC and had no knowledge of such alleged behavior.
(Once again, you were involved at IHOPKC from 2004-2008, and you were on staff at Bickle’s Kansas City Fellowship at the time of IHOPKC’s founding. You were on the board of IHOPKC when it began in 1999:
From page 3 of the Articles of Incorporation of the International House of Prayer, Dec. 8, 1999
The Firefly Report identifies a culture of cover-up within IHOPKC. You were part of that culture, even if you were unaware of it. My point is that there were people aware of Bickle’s sin, but it was being covered up, in spite of your claims that “no one else knew.” S.K.)
When I said that no one had any idea of Mike’s misconduct I was talking about the time I was in KC on Bickle’s staff. But even if we extend that to the years of IHOPKC, I had no knowledge that anyone had knowledge of a cover up going on. Maybe it was. But how was I to know that? No one contacted me to say so.
(You’re conflating two issues as if they were the same thing: You’re lack of knowledge of Bickle’s sin, versus anyone’s knowledge of Bickle’s sin. Since you claim to have no knowledge of a cover-up, you keep making the same point over and over again: “How could I have known about this bad stuff happening since nobody told me?” Just because you didn’t know about it doesn’t mean that NOBODY else knew about it. You want so badly to maintain your innocence that you fail to acknowledge that you were in the midst of a cult. You were best friends with the cult leader, and that does great damage to your reputation, I get it. But the culture of cover-up existed, and you were, for some reason, clueless about it. I’ve never said you’re guilty of personally covering up Bickle’s horrendous sins, only that you’re portraying the IHOPKC culture inaccurately. On top of that, you’re minimizing your involvement at IHOPKC in a way that seems dishonest. -S.K.)
This is one of the many comments on Sam’s interview on the Minor Prophets YouTube channel.
This is one of the many comments on Sam’s interview on the Minor Prophets YT channel.
These are some of the many comments on Sam’s interview on the Minor Prophets YouTube channel.
These are some of the many comments on Sam’s interview on the Minor Prophets YouTube channel.
(Have you considered that no one contacted you because of the culture of cover-up? That’s what it means for a culture of cover-up to exist. You keep saying that no one else knew about Bickle’s sexual sin, but that’s because it was being covered up. In order for something to be covered up, there has to be some knowledge of the thing that’s being covered up. I’m not saying, nor have I ever said, that you knew that Bickle was engaged in these egregious sexual sins, but that doesn’t mean that nobody else did. -S.K.)
I’m not trying to bully you. If anyone is being bullied, it is I.
You refer to the “four-year gap” that I hoped you wouldn’t notice. Again, you are slandering me. I never for a second chose not to mention those four years because of something sinister or something I was trying to hide. During those four years, 2004-08, I traveled approximately three times a month for several days at a time. I may have gone to the IHOPKC prayer room once or twice a month to pray, worship, and study. There is nothing sinister about my not mentioning those four years. But you make it sound like I was trying to hide something.
When I said I was “involved” at IHOPKC for those four years, perhaps a definition of “involved” is in order. That probably wasn’t the most accurate term to use. As I said, my “involvement” entailed the occasional visit to the prayer room. Nothing more.
(You keep changing your story on this. You said this to JonMark: “When we moved back to Kansas City in 2004 my relationship with Mike kinda picked up again, & I was in & out of the House of Prayer pretty consistently for 4 years.” -from your interview with JonMark on Nov. 3, 2025. Here’s what you said in your blog post from 2019: “When we moved back to Kansas City in 2004, I was not officially a part of IHOP, but both my wife and I were regularly present for the prayer meetings, conferences, and other gatherings.” -S.K.)
By the way, why do you repeat my statement by slowing it down and increasing the deep tone of my voice? Is it not to ridicule? That hardly strikes me as the way one Christian should represent another.
(I’m a YouTuber and artist, and I don’t like boring videos. Slowing down and repeating part of a video gives people a chance to consider what’s being said. Again, you should realize that not everything is either “ridicule” and/or “mocking.” -S.K.)
You try to make my two statements about those four years sound contradictory. But why would it be necessary to go into detail about what I did or didn’t do during a four-year span of time? In addition to my traveling, I wrote 6 books in that period of time. And none of them were written while I was anywhere near IHOPKC.
(Sam, didn’t you live here at 718 E 125th Street? You were 7 minutes away from IHOPKC…)
“Enjoying God Ministries” had the address 718 E. 125th St. Kansas City MO in 2004. Sam Storms lived 7 minutes away from IHOPKC.
Your comment about my sermons at Bridgeway is again indirectly slanderous. If you go to Bridgeway church’s website, www.bridgewaychurch.com and click on Resources, then Sermons, you will see that every sermon I preached in those 14 years is still there. No, nothing suspicious or weird about it, but again you take advantage of even the slightest of “facts” (I regret even using the word “facts”) to try to discredit me.
(There’s no such thing as “indirectly slanderous.” S.K.)
This has nothing to do with our subject, but I want to make clear why I left Bridgeway lest you try to make use of it to further discredit me. After 18 months upon arriving, the elders fired my successor, Michael Rowntree, in what I consider an egregious act of poor judgment. Worse than that, they sinned against him in ways that I pointed out to them. I stood up for Michael and defended him. Over half the congregation at Bridgeway left as they also saw how horribly Michael was treated. After that, I could no longer stay there in good conscience. I am now a part time pastor at the new church plant that Michael launched a year ago, Convergence Church OKC. So if you want to make something evil and sinister out of that, go ahead.
(You’re assuming that I want to make something evil and sinister out of whatever I can, even if I know it’s not true. That’s not the case. But you were Mike Bickle’s “closest friend” for over 30 years, and that should make any thinking person a bit skeptical. And based on the deception I continue to hear from you, I remain skeptical. -S.K.)
Again, I have to keep asking you. Why would you direct people to blog posts in 2019 that I wrote before knowledge of Bickle’s sin? What possible reason would you have for continually doing that if not because you want to mock me? Especially given the fact that I have recanted and apologized for it all. You are a mystery to me. I’m trying my best to give you the benefit of the doubt, but your constant citation of things in the past that I have openly acknowledged were wrong and based on Mike’s deception of me, makes it difficult for me to conclude otherwise than that you are determined to undermine my integrity and mock me to the Christian public.
(You want everyone to believe that Mike Bickle simply tricked you, making you more of a victim than anything else. But you claimed that all of the prophetic history was “empirically verified,” and that you couldn’t deny the tremendous evidence that supported it. You didn’t simply repeat stories from Mike Bickle; you were a very convincing IHOPKC spokesman who claimed to have done your own research. -S.K.)
(You have been portraying yourself as totally disconnected from IHOPKC since its founding in 1999, yet you were there in November of 2019, giving the most fervent endorsement of IHOPKC and Mike Bickle possible, after you had written the extremely pro-IHOPKC blog post. I want the public to know how deeply you were entrenched in the IHOPKC culture and how your current claims to have stopped your involvement 20 years earlier are false. -S.K.)
Again, you cite my blog posts from 2019 endorsing Bickle and IHOPKC. Why? You’ve already done that multiple times in your video. Why not instead cite my rejection of Bickle and my many statements criticizing the prophetic history, all of which have come after October 2023?
(I have cited your rejection of Mike Bickle, and I’ve put a link to your public apology in all of my videos. When I played the roundtable segment where the message from you and Michael Brown came up, I even read it out loud to make sure everyone heard it. I know you want to make people believe that I’m intentionally “slandering” you, but you’re not making a very good case. -S.K.)
Yes, Remnant Radio took down the videos. I asked them to. It was a joint decision.
My goodness, how many times do you have to cite the weather information? Yes, you are right. Bickle lied about it and exaggerated. We are all in agreement on that. Enough already!
(Actually, YOU lied about “doing research at the Kansas City library and with the National Weather Service to confirm ALL of that.” Mike Bickle didn’t make you say those things. In the above quote, you say ‘We are all in agreement on that. Enough already!’ Why would you say that? Until you sent me this letter, you’d never mentioned this topic, as far as I’m aware. All you’ve ever said was how wrong I was. -S.K.)
I am “responding” as you request. And I’ve responded multiple times in this email. Your report on the weather was correct. Bickle was wrong. Can we not find something else to talk about? (Except, you will continue to talk about the weather for much of this letter. -S.K.)
(You’ve never said a word of apology or correction to me after claiming that I was “badly distorting the truth of the matter.” Now you’re complaining that I’ve talked about it too much. Details matter. If you’re going to claim that you’ve got empirical evidence, you should be prepared to prove it. Instead of admitting that you, yourself, perpetuated deception, you’re blaming it all on Mike Bickle. And you’re going to continue being dishonest as this letter continues.- S.K.)
You then say that I “still” believe in the prophetic history. How many times are you going to lie about me? I do not “still” believe in it.
(I agree with you here, and I’m sorry. I’ve re-listened to your interview with JonMark, and you did express a lot of skepticism about the prophetic history, and I didn’t make that clear. I heard you say that some/many of Paul Cain’s and Bob Jones’s prophecies were true, which led me to mistakenly say that you still believed in the prophetic history. I had no intention of saying anything untrue, and I’m sorry I did. -S.K.)
You cite the Firefly report, with which I totally agree. They did a pretty good job. You mention from the report that allegations against Bickle came to other IHOP leaders, and then splice in a moment where I say, “None of us knew anything.” In doing so, you prejudice the listener to think that I don’t know what I’m talking about. How can Sam say none of us knew anything when in fact the Firefly report says several people did? The answer: I wasn’t present in IHOP when these things happened. And my comment about “none of us knew” anything refers, once again for the umpteenth time! that this was in regard to my time in KC and is based on what I was told or not told by other people. You make it sound as if a whole lot of people knew and Sam says that no one did. But clearly my point is that no one ever even hinted about such to me. As far as I was concerned, as far as my knowledge extended, Bickle’s sinful conduct was hidden.
You continue to quote the Firefly report about systemic abuse and lack of accountability at IHOP that enabled Bickle to perpetuate his abuse of young women. Surprise, surprise! I completely agree! But I had no knowledge of any such shortcomings of IHOPKC until early in August of 2023.
The mere thought that a young girl went to IHOPKC on my recommendation and was abused by Bickle is utterly and absolutely abhorrent to me! Thus, my apology, repentance, and the asking of forgiveness in the email I have included below.
At the 33-minute mark in your first video, Bickle says I knew Bob Jones. That isn’t entirely correct. I met him once, had lunch with him, but never went deeper in our relationship.
You sarcastically mock me for the statement that I had very little contact with Bickle or IHOPKC for several years. That is true. Then you cite the 2019 event where I was on stage with Bickle and others. That was six years ago, and long before Bickle’s sins were exposed. (It was in late 2019, and Bickle’s exposure came four years later, not six. -S.K.) I wasn’t present for the 20th anniversary of IHOPKC and had nothing to do with it. (True, but you were at IHOPKC about a month later as part of the CBET Symposium, so what’s your point? You were at IHOPKC praising the daylights out of Mike Bickle/IHOPKC in late 2019. -S.K.)
You seem to make a big deal of my comment that “we were in the prayer room as we always come by.” You do this no doubt to counter my point that my contact with IHOPKC was sporadic at best from 2008-2023. You slow down the video and warp the sound to make your point. But you need to know that we visited KC at most twice a year. Twice a year! Usually in August when we take a few days’ vacation. In most years we visited the prayer room once a year. (In 2019 you praised the living daylights out of Bickle and IHOPKC, yet now you claim that you barely knew what was happening there for 20 years. These are contradictory statements from you. -S.K.)
I did misspeak at one point in saying that I learned how to pray in the church “and at IHOP.” I learned very little about prayer from being at IHOP. How could I when I was only there one or two times a year? But in any case, it was incorrect of me to say that. (You aren’t even quoting yourself honestly, Sam. Look at the words you put inside quotation marks compared to what you actually said. It seems like you want to ignore that you said: “I learned it all from Mike Bickle!” -S.K.)
(Here’s what you actually said, starting at 38:37 in my video: “Somebody needs to from the outside, whose been here, but now from the outside needs to stand up and make it clear what is happening here, and how critically important it is that you’re doing what you’re doing. I pastor a church in Oklahoma City, and our church is built; one of our pillar, foundational truths is prayer; intercessory prayer. And none of that would happen were it not for what I learned from Mike here at Kansas City and through IHOP. I lead corporate prayer times; you are all so accustomed to this; you have no idea how rare it is in the body of Christ. Pastors and leaders don’t have a clue how to do that. And I stand up and some of my people are here, they can tell you and lead corporate ministry, praying for the output of the Spirit, the movement of God, and just press in and relentless in that. And people always come up and say ‘How did you do that?’ I said, ‘I learned it all from Mike Bickle! I mean, I really do, I do blame you for it, because I watched Mike do this hundreds and hundreds of times....” Sam, do you think no one will check what you actually said? You didn’t “misspeak,” you told the whole room full of IHOP people that you learned everything “from Mike Bickle here at Kansas City and through IHOP.” -S.K.)
Sorry, but I in fact “don’t know that this is a straw man argument.” I find it amazing how you think you can read my mind!
(Sam, you should show examples of people criticizing IHOPKC and/or Mike Bickle because “they pray, worship, and study the Bible all the time.” I can find plenty of articles that warn people that IHOPKC is/was a Latter Rain-derived cult. -S.K.)
(On the subject of IHOPKC being considered a cult, here are some personal testimonies from former IHOPers that I took from the website, IHOPKC Stories ; click on the right side to scroll through them:
You mention what you believe are the “true reasons” for the criticism of Bickle and IHOP. At that time I didn’t believe the prophetic history was wrong. I do now. And I didn’t see any evidence of cult-like behavior at IHOP. And yes, Alcala, Jones, and Cain were engaged in egregious sexual misconduct. I knew of all the criticism directed at Bickle because of these men. As for the Gruen report, you will have to wait for my book to be released to read a detailed, line upon line analysis of it. Perhaps you aren’t aware of the fact that Gruen was involved in several adulterous affairs when he attacked Bickle and the church. (Yes, I was aware of those things. -S.K.) But you can read about it in my book.
Mike was never good at numbers. I was on staff for 7 years and lived in KC for an additional 4. Eleven years total, not 12 years as Bickle said.
Yes, it is a good thing that only these four men were sinning sexually. Why would it be a bad thing to say that? (Because FOUR men were sinning sexually, and they were all at the very foundation of the cult!! -S.K.) It is horrible that these four did what they did, but the fact that others did not is a good thing, is it not?
(This is a bizarre thing to say. The main prophets who established IHOPKC and the head honcho of the whole thing were sinning sexually, but it’s a good thing since there could have been even more than that? This is not the way a sane person thinks, let alone a Christian leader. You ask: ‘Why would it be a bad thing to say that?’ Because you should be saying something like this: ‘The main prophets whose prophetic words established IHOPKC and Mike Bickle as an unquestionable authority figure were sinning sexually. And even worse than that, Mike Bickle, the main leader of the entire movement, was sexually abusing numerous girls and young women under his care. One man behaving this way is terrible, but four is beyond shameful. This whole movement was built on deceitful men who couldn’t control their sinful desires.” -S.K.)
As for the Firefly report that beginning in 1997 Bickle launched Friends of the Bridegroom and that he had sinfully close contact with a group of girls is clearly true. But again, I didn’t know of his misconduct with these young ladies. Bickle was an expert at hiding his actions from others. I first heard about his group of young ladies who did research for him in August of 2023.
“And Sam Storms is still really big on the prophetic history.” Why in the world would you say something so patently false? Did certain prophetic words come true? Yes. But many (most?) of them were fabricated or rely solely on the personal testimony of Bickle, Jones, and Cain. But for you to say that I am “still” supporting the prophetic history is a slanderous lie!
(Yep, I was wrong on this one. I put a correction in the description of the two recent videos, and it will be corrected in upcoming videos. But remember, you are still claiming that some of Bob Jones's and Paul Cain's prophecies are true, so I’m not the only one confused about your current position. -S.K.)
You say I spent my “entire” life propping up people like Bickle. Really? I’m turning 75 soon and I defended Bickle for only 30 of those years, from 1993-2023.
(This is true, and I’m sorry. I should’ve said you propped him up for “only 30 years,” not your whole life. -S.K.)
So now you say that my words that they “fell into immoral conduct” isn’t sufficient. Ok. What they did was horrific. What should I have said that would satisfy you?
How dare you say that I minimize their sexual misconduct to protect myself. I don’t minimize it. If you had paid any attention to numerous podcasts that I have done, you would know that if anything I have maximized their sinful behavior. I’m honestly getting tired of having to call you out for slandering me and undermining my reputation. (You have been undermining your own reputation for a long time. I don’t need to “slander” you. -S.K.)
I have followed along with Jack Deere every step of the way on this issue. We both have renounced Bickle and Cain and want nothing to do with them. Jack and I have talked at length about the entire scenario and are in complete agreement.
You say I was “dishonest” about what was said at the Roundtable and that it wasn’t true. Again, I beg to differ.
(The proof that you were dishonest is in the roundtable video for the whole world to see. You said that you “did research to confirm ALL of that” when Justin Peters asked you about the snowstorm and the March 7th meeting. Mike Bickle didn’t make you say that; you did it all by yourself. -S.K.)
Strangely ironic, isn’t it, that you appear to embrace your view of spiritual gifts on the misconduct of certain Pentecostal and charismatic charlatans. I thought it was we charismatics who were guilty of basing our theology on experience. But that is a perfect description of you!
(This is the go-to cliche I’ve heard you say in many of your videos. This isn’t a cogent argument; it’s more like a rhetorical mechanism to stop people from holding on to this very understandable thought: “Wait a minute, these people don’t do any of the things they claim to be able to do, and many of them are deceptive frauds!” Did you know that my wife and I attended a large Charismatic church in Madison, WI, for over 15 years? You have no idea who you're dealing with or how deeply I’ve thought through these issues. Your clichés won’t work on me. -S.K.)
As for Benny Hinn, after watching Mike Winger’s videos my opinion of Benny Hinn has changed. I still can’t say with absolute confidence that he is or is not a believer. God knows those who are his. I don’t. My statement about his salvation was based on his affirmation of trusting Christ and the fact that he hasn’t denied a foundational truth of the gospel. The 9 member Trinity thing was ridiculous. Everyone knows that. Why he would say such a thing is beyond me, but it indicates that he shouldn’t be in ministry.
(Did you know that Mike Winger asked for my help on those Benny Hinn videos? He’s wise enough to understand that people who do extensive research on a topic are worth listening to. You, on the other hand, have disparaged “heresy hunters” whenever you get the chance. -S.K.)
I didn’t say that as long as they make a profession of faith it doesn’t matter how much of a huckster they are. You said that. I don’t believe that. I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe it now. But it wasn’t until I watched the Winger video series. By the way, how much of a “huckster” must a person be to lead you to declare them lost and heading for hell? (Your upcoming comments about Chris Reed and Todd Bentley indicate that you know the answer to that. -SK.)
To say, as I did, that such men as Hinn shouldn’t be in ministry, is not the same as saying they are unsaved.
Osman says my view is “an easy out.” There is nothing easy about taking a position on whether or not someone is saved or unfit for ministry.
(I made a whole video about this topic, which I’m guessing you never watched. Here’s a concept that almost everyone understands, except you and Michael Brown:
We don’t send people to hell!
People are sent to hell because of their sin before a Holy God.
Watch the video and see how hard it is for you to say anything definitive about Kenneth Copeland being a false teacher-S.K.)
You are correct about the mistakes and exaggerations Bickle made in reporting the weather events. Not all of it was false, as I show in my book. But in light of the information that has come to me subsequent to Bickle’s fall, I now know that you didn’t “badly distort” that information. So I apologize for that comment and ask your forgiveness.
(Thank you for that, and I forgive you. -S.K.)
Seriously, Steve, don’t you think you have said enough about the weather reports? You’re beating it like a dead horse. (If I hadn’t beaten it like a dead horse, would we ever have gotten this partial admission from you, Sam? -S.K.), you were correct that Bickle’s report and my quoting of him were only partially true (your words). I was deceived into thinking it was entirely true. I apologize in sack cloth and ashes! Enough already! (“Enough already?” You’re going to continue bringing it up for the rest of this letter. -S.K.)
(Except… you still are blaming Mike Bickle for the fact that you told Justin Peters that you “did the research to confirm all of it.” How did Mike Bickle deceive you into saying that? When you were on Remnant Radio you said that Bob Jones “kept coming with these undeniable, inescapable, empirically verifiable confirmations of his prophetic words.” You weren’t saying, “I heard Mike Bickle say these things and I just believed him.” You were claiming that all sorts of objective proof existed. How is that Mike Bickle’s fault? I’m only asking the question that many others are asking, too. I’m not expecting you to like what I’m doing here, but it seems no one else is holding your feet to the fire. -S.K.)
Again, how many times do I have to repeat myself? My trip to the KC library concerned the events of August 23 and the rain. (But that’s not what you said in the roundtable. Justin asked about the snowstorm and the March 7th meeting, and you told him that you went to the library, etc., etc. -S.K.) I wasn’t talking about the snow or anything else. And here is the testimony of a man whose name I won’t mention who is not on Bickle’s side.
In a personal email to me, Steve . . ., who, together with his wife Jane, had been involved in the Kansas City church from day one, confirmed the reality of the rain. He wrote:
Despite what the “official” weather bureau records suggest, it absolutely DID RAIN fiercely on the very day Bob Jones has prophesied following the solemn assembly. We were there and everyone was wildly anticipating what might happen after a very long, dry summer. At or about 7PM the heavens opened. I'm not sure I've EVER seen it rain that hard. We were all jumping and shouting and laughing and celebrating after the disappointing end to the solemn assembly itself 3 months earlier. I tell you this because it was THIS EVENT (and one other) that kept me participating for the next decade even when I had serious doubts about Mike's theology on the critical role “we” played in God's timetable for the second coming. I couldn't quite shake the supernatural nature of that torrential rain and was kept by the thought that I didn't want to stand before the Lord someday and have Him say, “I invited you to be a part of something truly historic but you were too cynical and walked away.”
Again, one more time, the records I saw confirm the rain on August 23. I wasn’t talking about the events of March 7 or March 21 and the snow. Am I not being clear on this?
(No, you are not being clear. These things don’t add up. You never said you only researched the Aug. 23 rainfall; you said you “did research to confirm ALL of it.” And you never showed any weather records that confirm the evening rainstorm, either. -S.K.)
You can continue to show the official weather reports for temperature and snow on March 7 and 21 until you are blue in the face, but it is entirely irrelevant to my point. I was talking about the weather report for August 23.
(This whole thing is just an excuse. I’m not buying it, and neither should anyone else. You are on video, Sam. -S.K.)
My point about Justin’s comment that Jones was sexually immoral is that I have a definition for that and I think it is the same that the general public shares. It refers to someone who has engaged in sexual intercourse. I simply wanted to make certain that people didn’t conclude something about Jones that wasn’t true. Was his behavior immoral and evil and horribly sinful? Absolutely yes. I never denied this. You say, “he didn’t have sex with them, if that’s what you mean.” Yes, that is precisely what I mean/meant. Your hint or suggestion that I am saying what Jones did is “sort of ok” is again slanderous.
(What you said about Bob Jones displayed a sense of moral confusion that is very concerning. Go ahead and watch your exchange with Justin again. What did you get angry and defensive about? You accused Justin of “slander” for calling Bob Jones sexually immoral. Bob Jones told a mother and daughter to take off their shirts so he could suck their breasts, and you were mad at Justin for calling him sexually immoral. You were protecting “the brand” of Mike Bickle and IHOPKC, it seems to me. I didn’t “slander” you, either (but you sure like using that word). You’re not quoting all that I said in that clip. I said this:
“Now he didn’t have sex with them, if that’s what you mean. So does that make it not quite as bad? Is it sort of okayish? Seems like he’s implying that. I know he isn’t, but the language here is, well, it’s the language that allows people like Mike Bickle to have a platform for decades, that what it is.” -S.K.)
No one ever said to “accept” what Jones said to the women. Where did you get that?
(Where did you get this weird question? -S.K.)
You say that Jones and people like him should be put out of the church and we should protect people from them. I agree. Perhaps you aren’t aware of the strict discipline and steps taken to remove Jones from ministry. (Yes, I know about that, you’ve mentioned it on many occasions. What you haven't mentioned very often is that Bob Jones simply went to other places, like MorningStar Ministries and Bethel in Redding, to continue “ministering” however he wanted. -S.K.) You can read about it in my book. I would also say that what David did with Bathsheba and her husband was far worse and far more sinful than what Jones did. But you say anyone who does any such thing should never be trusted and that anything they taught or prophesied in the past should be rejected. And I suspect that you will try to turn that statement about David / Jones into “Sam is once again minimizing Jones’s sin.” No, no, no. (Is this you standing up for Bob’s ministry again? It sure sounds like it. -S.K.)
And you suggest that we are “protecting” Bob Jones from the discernment ministries. Show me one word that remotely suggests that Jones was protected.
How dare you say that I “downplay” Jones sin and that it “wasn’t that bad.” Stop lying about me. I never, ever said it “wasn’t that bad.” How do you sleep at night? Who said Jones was a “really good guy that we should love and respect?” I certainly never did.
(I’ve listened to you fawn over Bob Jones. You liked to say he was “unsophisticated” and “quirky,” and you created a false dichotomy between the “real” and “earthy” Bob Jones versus all of the critics who wanted him to be more sophisticated and intellectual. You’ve ignored the real complaint: he was a blathering mental case who usually made no sense at all and required “interpretation” to be understood in any way at all. But, according to you, his critics were mostly complaining that he wasn’t intellectual and sophisticated enough for their tastes. Below is video footage of Paul Cain and Bob Jones propping up Todd Bentley. -S.K.)
Taking my comment about Bob Jones actually having a prophetic gift and comparing it to the charlatan Todd Bentley is even beneath you. I never said that Todd Bentley “sure had a gift”. Where did you get that? If you, Justin, and Jim think I am always reluctant to call someone a false teacher and false prophet, listen closely: “Todd Bentley is a false teacher/prophet and is assuredly not saved.”
(Again, here’s what I actually said: “This is the Todd Bentley excuse-making program. Yeah, Todd Bentley was sleeping with the intern, he was showing up drunk, he left his wife and children, but he sure had a gift!” This program is what goes on in the prophetic circles. The “gifted” prophet is unaccountable and does whatever sinful thing his flesh desires. This is the thing that’s been happening over and over again. You were saying the same thing that allowed Todd Bentley to do the damage he did. I never said you were approving of Todd Bentley himself. And in your interview with JonMark, you had difficulty articulating a cohesive explanation of why God gives special spiritual gifts to “prophets” who are living in ongoing sexual sin. You contradicted yourself multiple times. -S.K.)
My comment that “I don’t know how to interpret that”, referring to the video Justin showed us, was an honest confession. I couldn’t make sense of what you or Justin were saying that took place. But why do you employ a mocking version of my comment by repeating it several times and deepening my voice? That is not the way Christians should treat other Christians, at least in my humble opinion.
My purpose in saying “I don’t care” if it was a fabrication was to make the point that what I care about is whether or not a person is healed. God is merciful enough that he can choose to heal someone even through a charlatan. Now, having said that, do I regret saying “I don’t care” at that point of the video? Yes. Why? Because it is so easily misinterpreted by some to think I’m saying I don’t care about truth. But that wasn’t my point. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t said it, but I did, and I’ll live with the consequences. (Yes, you will. But I’ve said things off the top of my head that I shouldn’t have, so I have some sympathy for you here. -S.K.)
Am I “bothered” as you say when someone exposes a false healer? No, of course not. And it sounded as if you said that I have an idolatrous view of healing. Perhaps I misheard you. But if you did say it, it is so absurd it hardly needs comment.
(Actually, it’s not absurd at all. Listen to your reactions in the roundtable. You got angry and defensive when popular Charismatic leaders were exposed as fraudulent. In my view, you showed less concern over false healers and continued to try to make Justin & Jim the real culprits. Remember, the purpose of that roundtable discussion was to curb the influence of obvious fakes, frauds, and false teachers, not to agree on the nature of the spiritual gifts. -S.K.)
To say that I don’t care that people are being deceived is again slanderous. I’ve been in ministry for 50 years and I urge you to talk to anyone who has sat under my preaching and ask them if I don’t care that people are being deceived and hurt.
(Compare the angry, confident comments you’ve made against “discernment ministers” and “heresy hunters” to the way you’ve referred to false teachers like Todd White & Benny Hinn. -S.K.)
So, let me get this straight. Because I quoted 1 Cor. 14:1 and Paul’s command that we should earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, I am not to be regarded as a bible scholar. What? That’s what the text says! And then you quickly cut to Chris Reed as if his fakery disproves or undermines Paul’s exhortation.
You refer to Chris Reed and say that “this is the world Sam Storms has been perpetuating his entire lifetime.” Wow. Chris Reed is a huckster who should never be in ministry. And to say that I have perpetuated this sort of nonsense for my entire lifetime . . . I’m almost without words to respond to such a false, deceitful, outrageous statement.
(If “Chris Reed is a huckster who should never be in ministry,” why did Francis Chan say the following things about him? Chan looked right at Chris Reed as he told everyone it would be crazy to disregard his prophetic gift. Why are you so mad at me, but you’ve said nothing about the tremendous lack of discernment in Chan? -S.K.)
(Chris Reed was the honored “prophet” at IHOPKC on multiple occasions. Mike Bickle loved having him do his Christian psychic routine. Those clips were from IHOPKC. The only thing I got wrong was not saying “30 years” instead of “his entire lifetime.” Did you perpetuate the IHOPKC world for over 30 years or didn’t you? Did you do anything to prevent fake “prophets” like Chris Reed from having the stage at IHOPKC? Mike Bickle thought you were an incredible Evangelical scholar and an influential figure. Why didn’t you do anything to stop the idiocy of Chris Reed for all of the times he was there? Why didn’t you do anything to stop Shawn Bolz, who was another byproduct of IHOPKC? This is not false, deceitful, or outrageous at all, but you giving praise to Mike Bickle, IHOPKC, and all that happened there is. -S.K.)
I’m happy to acknowledge that the people Justin showed us on his laptop are making a mockery of healing. That is why I am so passionately committed to doing it right.
Again, you said that a year and a half after the roundtable I am defending Todd White. Not true! How dare you make up lies such as that! Tell me how my comment that those men should not be in ministry is defending Todd White. Your reasoning is beyond me. (Watch the video of yourself defending Todd White, Sam. It seems you disparage discernment ministers out of hand unless Mike Winger makes a video saying the same things. -S.K.)
Yes, Bickle lied about the temperature. You say that I repeated this verbatim on Remnant Radio. Yes, but why then did you not say that I repeatedly retracted my comments about the truthfulness of that story? After the implosion of IHOPKC and the disclosure of Bickle’s sexual misconduct, I did a much deeper dive into everything and uncovered documents that I had not seen before. You must be aware of the fact that I have apologized publicly many times and have acknowledged that the story Bickle told about the temperature on March 7 was false.
(Here’s what a lot of other people and I are thinking: “Why didn’t you do that deep dive a long time ago? You said you did all sorts of research and had objective, empirical evidence to back up all of the prophetic history for many years now, but after Bickle gets exposed as a fraud, you’re simply blaming everything on him being such a good manipulator. You still aren’t owning up to the deceptive role you played. -S.K.)
It actually gets worse. A short time before Bickle was exposed he appeared on Jim Bakker’s TV show (now that’s a bad idea!). There he said the temperature was 80 degrees! (No, he was on the Jim Bakker Show in 2017, not “a short time before he was exposed.” I've already played clips from that in my videos. Mike appeared on the Jim Bakker Show 2 years before you went on stage in 2019, and he gave him a glowing endorsement. -S.K.)
Needless to say, or maybe it does need to be said, once I realized that Bickle had lied I completely retracted my endorsement of this story and of Bickle. I document all of this in my forthcoming book, The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets. (You have a new book coming out? Why haven’t you said anything about it yet? -S.K.)
Should I have double checked Bickle’s claim by going to the national weather report for that day? Yes, of course. But I was so entirely convinced of Bickle’s integrity that it never crossed my mind. (This is the opposite of what you said in the roundtable. You’re doing damage control, and it’s not working. -S.K.)
I’ve already mentioned this, but since you brought it up more than once, I need to respond yet again. You show a clip from the Roundtable where I refer to my research at the KC library. You mistakenly think that this was in regard to the weather on March 7. It was not.
(For you to say that I “mistakenly” think you were referring to March 7 is shifting the blame to me. The reason I think you were referring to March 7 is that you were. You said you did the research “to confirm ALL of that.” -S.K.)
My time at the library entirely concerned the issue of whether it rained on August 23 in fulfillment of Bob Jones’s prophetic word. But by mistakenly (I trust inadvertently) telling people that it concerned the weather report of March 7, you leave people with the impression that I am a liar.
(No, YOU leave the impression that you are a liar; I just played the clips of you confidently claiming to have done the research to “confirm all of that.” -S.K.)
I was also referring to March 21 and the question of whether it had snowed late that spring. The answer is yes, it had. I include the data from the KC newspaper and the weather service to prove it. It was not a large snowfall. But it was enough that Art Katz used it as an excuse not to fly out of town that night. In point of fact, he wanted to visit again with Bob Jones and that provided him with a convenient excuse. I never knew this, but once I discovered it, I acknowledged my mistake and have included this in my book.
You say in the video released on November 15 that “it didn’t snow.” Yes it did. (Not on March 21st, which is what you and everyone else kept saying.) It was minimal, but it did in fact snow. Yes, my records show that it was .3 inches of snow. So, it did snow. But the amount was negligible. (Why are you bringing this up? Remember earlier in this letter when you said, “Can we talk about something besides the weather?” -S.K.)
You say that I was repeating what Bickle said about the snow. Yes. But since I have repeatedly and publicly acknowledged that Bickle fabricated information to support Jones’s alleged prophetic word, I can’t help but keep asking you, Why do you constantly go back and cite things that I have repudiated and apologized for? (Because you didn’t just repeat what Mike told you; you claimed to have done the research to “confirm all of that.” -S.K.) Why not instead, as an expression of Christian charity, say that Sam later discovered that Bickle was misleading (yes, even lying) about the weather that day, and that he has openly confessed this and repented of it?
(When you repent of lying about having done the research and having all the empirical evidence, I’ll be glad to express Christian charity. Seriously. But you’ve got a terrible track record, and you need to come completely clean. Up to this point, it’s reasonable to see your argument as just damage control. -S.K.)
You accuse me of “bullying” people. I did no such thing. That I was inaccurate in my report is true. I freely confess that. But for you to charge me with “bullying” people is slanderous. (You need to find a new word besides “slanderous.” They’ve got the Thesaurus online now.)
Yes, I did say on Remnant Radio that Bickle reported that Art Katz couldn’t leave that night because of the snow. Now I know he was lying. My error was in trusting Bickle. But I didn’t lie. (You lied. Yes, you lied because you trusted your best friend, the cult leader Mike Bickle, but you lied nonetheless. And now you can’t admit that you claimed to the research to “confirm all of that.” And you’re wondering why so many people still don’t trust you? -S.K.)
You say again, “Did no one bother to look at this? No.” You are correct. We all trusted Mike implicitly. It never crossed my mind that this man that I thought I knew could be deceptive. I am resigned to living with that failure on my part for the rest of my life. What more do you want me to say?
(I want you to admit that you pretended to have done the research necessary to prove all of the weather-related prophecies. That was all you. Stop blaming Mike Bickle for everything. You spent many days going over his stories, and you never saw anything contradictory in anything he said the whole time? I watched him in a few dozen videos and found numerous contradictions and errors. Why didn’t you? Why didn’t you mention anything problematic about Mike Bickle and IHOPKC until after he was exposed as a sexual predator by others? And now you expect people to buy your book on the topic you were utterly clueless about? -S.K.)
Bickle again exaggerated the length and intensity of the rain on August 23. My error is that I believed he was speaking truthfully. (Bickle told multiple different versions of this story, yet you never noticed that? S.K.)
You say once again, “just the way Sam Storms tells it.” When you say it like this you are giving people the impression that I am saying that in the present day. That is false. Why wouldn’t you be more accurate and say, “just the way Sam Storms told it in the past, when he was still under the impression that Bickle was trustworthy?”
One of the primary reasons I am increasingly skeptical about much of the prophetic history is that many of the prophecies were supposed to be indicators, perhaps even proofs, that revival would come to KC and to the U.S. It hasn’t come. That is why I am skeptical of the prophetic history, something that I write about extensively in my forthcoming book.
(This is true, and I agree with your assessment. But if you had made these points before Mike Bickle was exposed, they would carry a lot more weight. You can stop plugging your book now, by the way. If you want to show people that you’ve really repented of your involvement with the prophetic movement, you would make your book available online.
For free.
It’s not unreasonable for you to do so at all, afterall, haven’t you published enough books already? -S.K.)
You say, perhaps Sam Storms was in on it. Why would you say that? Even though you then seemed to back off the assertion, you leave people with doubts in their mind about my integrity.
(I said it because I have a brain, and there are only so many options to consider. Lots of other people are thinking it, too. This doesn’t mean that we claim to know for sure that you were in “on it,” it’s just a possibility that any thinking person might consider. I do question your integrity, and I have no problem saying so. Why do you seem to think that everyone owes you their respect and trust? Below is a comment from your Feb. 2025 apology blog post. -S.K.)
[I posted the following article on my blog, www.samstorms.org, on February 7, 2025. I was moved to do so after watching the interview of Deborah Perkins by Julie Roys on February 3, 2025, a podcast which you can access at www.julieroys.com. It is titled, Mike Bickle’s Primary “Jane Doe” Comes Forward.] (Yes, I know about that podcast and was one of the first discernment ministers to bring it to the public through my YouTube channel.)
My Heartfelt Apology to the Body of Christ, by Sam Storms
February 7, 2025
Most of you are undoubtedly aware of the horrible events that have been revealed concerning the predatory sexual misconduct of Mike Bickle. Numerous other sinful actions took place at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City that implicate former staff members and leaders. If you are hearing this for the first time, I encourage you to visit www.julieroys.com and read the many articles that have been posted since the Fall of 2023. You can also watch two videos where Roys interviews the first of several so-called “Jane Doe’s” who were victims of Bickle. Her name is Deborah Perkins, a truly courageous and godly woman that I have known for close to 30 years.
It isn’t my purpose to rehearse or describe the sordid events that took place at IHOPKC and in the many years preceding its establishment. My purpose here is to express my deeply sincere and profound apologies to those who suffered under Bickle’s leadership or abuse because of my former endorsement of him.
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. I’ve written articles praising the ministry of IHOPKC and have responded to the many criticisms that were launched against Bickle. I must confess that I thought I knew the man. I regarded him as one of my closest friends. When I first heard of his indiscretions (that word is far too lenient for what he has done) on August 2, 2023, I couldn’t believe what I was told. That is, until I had a long zoom call with Deborah and her husband, Murray, followed by several telephone conversations. The evidence began to mount with each passing day that the man I so passionately defended and admired was a wicked, two-faced abuser of women, most of whom were much younger than he.
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.
However, I also want to acknowledge the spiritual blessings and growth that many of you experienced during your time at IHOPKC and at Forerunner Church. In spite of what has been revealed of Bickle’s behavior, I’m sure that there are people who look back on their time in Kansas City with fond memories and gratitude for what God did in their lives. That being said, I now proceed with the main reason why I’m writing this.
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.
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.
Until then, may God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you.
Steven, I have no desire to engage in an internet/podcast/email war with you over these matters. I only ask that you own up to the many ways that you misrepresent me in your videos.
Cordially, in Christ,
Sam Storms
From Steve Kozar: Here are my concluding thoughts & opinions:
There is a pattern in this letter: Sam is minimizing the deceitful role he played in establishing Mike Bickle and IHOPKC, while trying to portray me as a lying, slanderous person. I’m sure that my snarkiness in my videos has encouraged Sam to think the worst of me, and I admit to that.
Sam Storms knows he was being deceitful when he claimed that the prophetic history was “empirically verifiable” and “based on undeniable factual events.” He claimed to have done the research necessary to make a conclusive case for certain elements of the prophetic history, yet now he claims he was unknowingly repeating lies he heard from Mike Bickle.
As the archivist of the prophetic history, he now claims to have discovered discrepancies and falsehoods. It’s reasonable to believe he chose to overlook those things in the past. I believe he helped create some of the narrative that established IHOPKC, but he won’t admit it. His refusal to admit that he claimed to have done the research “to confirm all that” exemplifies this.
He wants to continue speaking, writing books, and leading a church network, so he’s covering up his deceitful role in promoting Mike Bickle and IHOPKC. His attempt to obfuscate his own statements in this letter demonstrates that, in my opinion.
Yes, Mike Bickle was a million times more sinful and deceitful than it appears Sam Storms realized, but he wasn’t the total victim either.
Sam Storms wants it both ways: He wants to be seen as an innocent victim of Mike Bickle, while at the same time being seen as a trusted leader who can teach others how to be more discerning. He admits to being one of Mike Bickle’s closest friends and co-pastors, but also claims that he shouldn’t be held accountable for failing to realize that Bickle was a sexual predator and leader of a spiritually fraudulent cult.
Instead of totally admitting that he ignored warnings about Mike Bickle (as he disparaged those who gave them), he mostly admits to being tricked by a very clever manipulator. You know, the very clever manipulator that people were warning about.
Sam Storms uses a rhetorical trick to nullify Bible passages that say we will know people by their fruit. Storms says that if you reject his particular Charismatic theology about prophecy because you’re aware of its abuses, you’re just “basing your beliefs on your experience instead of on what the Bible says.” This is a rejection of the Scriptural command to “test the spirits.”
Because Sam Storms wrote his article “A Heartfelt Apology to the Body of Christ,” he seems to feel that everyone should now view him as trustworthy and honest. After vigorously endorsing and participating in a cult of false prophets for over 30 years, I believe it’s appropriate to dismiss much of his teaching, especially in regards to prophecy.
Sam says that particular prophetic claims of Mike Bickle can’t be true because God wouldn’t allow that to happen while Bickle was abusing young women at that time. But then he claims that Paul Cain made accurate prophecies about Sam while he was a closet homesexual the whole time. Which one is it? Do incredibly gifted prophets still function while living in sexual sin, or don’t they? Sam admits he’s not sure how this works, but he wants to continue teaching on the topic of prophecy.
Sam Storms was participating in and, to some extent, leading a cult. Yes, Mike Bickle may have managed to hide his sexual abuse from Sam, but Sam must have been aware of other things going on. He claims that nothing about IHOPKC being a cult ever came to his attention, and he had no evidence of it being a cult. On the one hand, Sam Storms defended IHOPKC and Mike Bickle against harsh criticism; on the other hand, the very criticism he opposed never accused IHOPKC of being a cult. Really?
I found various blogs that warned the public that IHOPKC was a cult in 2009, when my own daughter went there. Are we to believe that Sam Storms had never heard similar claims and warnings? Are we to believe that a Dad on his computer in Wisconsin knows more about IHOPKC than one of its founders?
I believe Sam Storms has disqualified himself for ministry. I am issuing this warning to those who are under his leadership in the Convergence Network. Of course, I’m just a blogger, so I don’t expect my conclusions to have much of an effect. I am simply stating my opinion.
I realize that I probably could have sounded more accommodating and dispassionate in my appraisal of Sam Storms, but I’ve done many hours of work to reach these conclusions and I wanted to get to the point. Sam has written a poorly argued 13-page letter accusing me of a number of things that aren’t true (along with a few things that I gladly apologize for), so I’ve replied with much more detail than he provided.
Sam said he doesn’t want to “engage in an internet/podcast/email war,” so he should let this article, and the other the page that has his letter without my commentary, and all of the public comments be the end of this. All the videos I post on YouTube will have the comment section open to anyone, including Sam Storms, as well. -Steven Kozar
Steven Kozar started The Messed Up Church; he is an artist (StevenKozar.com is his art website), musician, blogger, and stuff. He makes videos, too, on The Messed Up Church YouTube channel.