Charismatic leader Rick Joyner said Mike Bickle, disgraced founder of the embattled International House of Prayer Kansas City (IHOPKC), should be fully restored to ministry.
“Mike, in my opinion, he has been one of the great leaders in the body of Christ in our time and his time’s not up,” Joyner said Monday morning. “He may just be coming to what he’s ultimately supposed to do.”
Joyner, 76, made the comments in Monday’s “Rick’s Rants” a podcast on the website of MorningStar Ministries, his charismatic prophetic ministry.
In February, a third-party investigation determined that Bickle, 69, who started a 24/7 prayer movement in the late 1990s, abused 17 women throughout his ministry. In March, a pastoral team called Bickle a “chronic sexual predator” who should never return to public ministry.
Joyner has a history of restoring leaders accused of abuse. In January, Joyner came under fire for platforming disgraced preacher Todd Bentley, although Joyner has been in the process of restoring Bentley since 2010. In 2020, charismatic leaders disqualified Bentley from ministry due to a “steady pattern of ungodly and immoral behavior,” including sexual abuse over a 20-year period.
Your tax-deductible gift supports our mission of reporting the truth and restoring the church. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “Redeeming Eden: How Women in the Bible Advance the Story of Salvation” by Ingrid Faro, click here.
Then in 2021, MorningStar hired a new lead pastor: Chris Reed, pastor of the Revival Center Church in Peru, Indiana. Reed had been at MorningStar only a few months when he was accused of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with an adult female student.
Nevertheless, Joyner promoted Reed to become MorningStar’s acting president within a couple of months, undercutting what was supposed to be a complex restoration process.
MorningStar Ministries is also facing five lawsuits that allege the South Carolina-based ministry mishandled decades of allegations of child abuse by a volunteer youth leader and by a student.
In his “rant” Monday, Joyner used Galatians 6:1 to defend the practice of restoring pastors to ministry. Galatians 6:1 states, “If anyone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.” (NIV)
Joyner said Monday that restoration shouldn’t be a “punishment.”
“We can’t just throw away great people like that,” Joyner said. “Restoring is a lot more than just forgiving. It’s getting them back to where they were. So, I’m believing for Mike’s full restoration without penalty. That’s how the Lord does it.”
Ron Cantor, president of Messianic-themed Shelanu TV, recently called using Galatians 6:1 as a reason to restore leaders to Christ an “abuse” of Scripture. That verse refers to sinners caught in sin, not leaders who engage in clergy sexual abuse (CSA), Cantor wrote.
“(T)here is nothing in Scripture that would suggest that someone caught in multiple accounts of CSA has any business ever being back in a position of spiritual authority over others,” Cantor wrote. “Constantly quoting Galatians 6:1 as a prooftext to restore leaders who have sexually abused others is an abuse of Scripture.”
In his 2024 post, Cantor also criticized how Joyner once called the sexual abuse allegations against Bickle a “nothing burger.”
“Where was the concern for the victims?” Cantor wrote. “Why is there an obsession at such an early stage with restoration to ministry?”
In an email to The Roys Report, Cantor added that Joyner is part of “an old system that is crumbling. And Joyner is panicking . . .
“Rick sees greatness in gifting, whereas God sees greatness in humility, brokenness, and self-sacrifice . . . not abusing his sheep.” Cantor noted that God warns wicked shepherds in Ezekial 34:10 that his is “against” them and “will remove them from tending the flock.”
Backlash online
Several commenters criticized Joyner’s statement that Bickle should return to ministry.
Pittsburgh-based filmmaker Benjamin Carlucci, going by “Bennty” wrote on X: “It’s notable how Rick CONSTANTLY invokes the rether (sic) vague ‘restore such a one’ of Galatians 6 yet never seems to have time for when Paul SPECIFICALLY addresses cases of sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5.”
The verse says: “So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord,” the verse states. (NIV)
Chad Hawley, a Charlotte, North Carolina, resident, wrote on X: “When Rick speaks this way, it reflects the kind of leadership culture that can lead to something as serious as five child sexual assault lawsuits. It fosters an environment where abusive behavior goes unchecked. We witnessed this firsthand at Morningstar.”
A “recovering Baptist” named Tony Ray added on X, “Being on the wrong side of sexual abuse isn’t Christlike.”
Also on X, Awen Dunning, an IHOPKC whistleblower, chimed in.
“Ricks (sic) job in the dark side of the charismatic complex,” she wrote, “is to get the guys back in position.”
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
English 
Spanish
28 Responses
It is unbelievable that Joyner wants to restore Bickle when Bickle has not even confessed his well established sins. Bickle’s lack of repentance clearly precludes restoring him.
And all the demons said, “Amen Rick! Thanks for all your help!”
My heart grieves for these leaders who continue to enable the guilty. Do they not fear God and consider the accountability to JESUS 😢
Actually Barbara they don’t fear God. Hubris is there replacement theology. And shame on the followers who have neither the discernment nor the guts to walk away from evil. Proof the pastors are who the sheep follow and not gods word. Poster children for Matt 7:21-23
I agree with you Barbara! I was thinking the same thing.
is this April fools? Rick seriously? first of all, we can’t take these people seriously because they deny that the NAR exists. I stopped taking Michael Brown seriously about 4 to 5 years ago when he had entire radio programs denying the existence of the NAR. And I am not saying that all of these people are bad. I have been blessed by some of their teachings. I think Bethel has good music. But the way that they cover for each other when there is MASSIVE sexual sin is outrageous!! We are not talking about admitting to one affair or admitting to masturbating privately. 17 women!! The only way guys like Bickle should ever be in ministry is the equivalent of a cop doing “desk duty”. No public facing work. No work with women. Back office stuff — I mean we would never know. And he should be required to submit to castration as well.
I’m in total panic mode.
How will the Kingdom of God be able to stand without Mike and Rick?
God is not in a panic mode. God is trying to get these and others like them away from sheep being exposed to wolves. This not rocket science people….
I think Billy was being facetious 😆
I think Billy Foote is speaking tongue in cheek.
I wonder why Rick Joyner is so adamant about restoring these fallen leaders. Does he too have something to hide? Why isn’t he an advocate for the victims who having been sexually abused,suffer the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences of this violence? It appears that there are still wolves among God’s sheep.
Jerilyn Woods
Weren’t there reports late last year of Joyner and his MorningStar ministry team ignoring reports of sexual abuse (leading to Chris Reed, who had been MorningStar’s president for about a year, resigning in protest and starting another church)?
Morningstar is currently facing several lawsuits over said sexual abuse.
“Great leader” Do these religious entrepreneurs really know what a pastoral role and function entails within the body of Christ? 🤔
First, let’s leave aside ‘great’ and ‘leader’ because these concepts are completly tainted with worldly status, assertiveness, insecure control, and so called external skills.
What counts at being a shepherd
is genuine faith in Christ and the spiritual substance of the gospel which in response is then underpined by gratitude, love, grace, humility, self-control, material, social & relationship contentment, and the intentional desire for righteous thinking and behaviour, all of which honours God and teaches the church.
Anything else, is down the track and at best, secondly.
Religious entrepreneurs are more suited at “leading” “great” food & beverage franchises or motor vehicle dealerships where they can tell staff what to do, push back on any award wages for staff, while also boasting about how many franchisees and dealerships they own and money they make.
What creeps me out about these independent churches and ministries is that many have no accountability to a larger group of elders or leaders. Many can reinstate themselves or other leaders after they are found to be unqualified with no say from others.
I know it’s cynical, but it really was just a matter of time until someone attempted to re-platform Bickel. He is just too big a money maker for the “Kingdom of God.”
Yes, “restoration” is about money, power, prestige, and the rush of being in front of adoring audiences. One thinks about Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker, both who continued on television although not as strong as in their glory days.
Any restoration at all should be heart-felt repentance and penance. For example, volunteering as a custodian in a church cleaning toilets and mowing the grass. And giving away the big money they acquired over the years to the poor, and living simply with basic housing and expenses.
I totally agree with Ron Cantor. I believe once someone has shown themselves to be corrupt spiritually, they gave up any opportunity to minister. I’ve heard Rick Joyner off and on for a long time and I’m astonished that he so readily always admonishes for reinstating these men, so I think Joyner himself has a real problem. The way he thinks is bazaar.
If Bickle can be restored to salvation, that’s one thing, but to ministry-NEVER.
“We can’t just throw away great people like that” he says while throwing away all of Bickle’s victims and disregarding all of the other members of his congregation who were sexually abused at one point in their life.
Of course, that means Joyner is concerned about Bickles cash flow… Good for him, sheesh. Both need to take a seat and shut up.
I highly respect Ron Cantor to be a true man of God. I believe him and his empathy for the victims! Joyner is off in his mind and operates in the dark side. All these men in the news lately need to do as Tiff Shuttlesworth preached at Church of His Presence Dec. 8, 2024 “Sin, Scandal, and Secrets” and stop the damage control. They need to fall on their faces before our great and mighty God and repent, he said, and I say rend their garments, put ashes on their heads and sincerely ask God for his Blood to wash them clean. THEN an option is get a REAL job. I just watched the YouTube podcast of Robyn Torgrimson’s Mega Maniacs about the issues at Rod Parsley’s church and the woman “Miss Dolly” who is in her 70s told of the spiritual and emotional abuse she, her family, and the students have endured while working there. She is a Proverbs 31 woman. My heart was broken watching the program and listening to her testimony. I wept for her! She endured even after falling on the job and breaking her hip. Parsley and Ashton treated her and her worship leading son like trash. They are liars, money launderers, abusive, narcissistic, and operate in the dark side, not in the shining, brilliant light of the HOLY Spirit. It’s all money, money, money. How will the church get cleaned up? By people who keep uncovering the filth and revealing the truth about these unclean workers of darkness. I pray for Miss Dolly and her family. I pray for people’s eyes be open to the truth.
I think there is a complete lack of the fear of God. One day Rick will stand before God and give an account. What will he say? I should think that after the visions that he had that he wrote about ( The Final Quest) he would be even more careful, aware, and fear God more?
Pitiful. Pathetic. I would have left it at “pitiful” but there’s a 5-word minimum for comments.
Sadly, while millions of followers don’t think critically and gobble up this NAR, culture of honour nonsense, there will always be a platform for Bickle, Joyner etc.
Whilst the term ‘ woke’ has been used to discredit those of us calling for accountability and more rigorous prevention measures, these creepy controlling men continue to destroy and damage lives.
Protecting the perpetrators, ignoring the victims.
Trust The Prophetic.
And, keep sending those offerings, folks.
(Narcissism pays well.)
As God has been cleansing the church over the past few years, these “spiritual leaders” who have been exposed need to step aside. Your time is past. I don’t care who you are, if you disqualified yourself in such a manner, its over. Yes, please repent and be restored to fellowship but stay off the platform and out of the public eye. I don’t want to hear one thing you have to say. This isn’t about you anymore, its about a pure and spotless bride and making room for those that God is raising up who will not compromise. Repent and be restored to Christ and fellowship but you aren’t a leader anymore.
Joyner needs to step down himself after all that happened at Morningstar. He knew and did nothing. Doesn’t he care about the victims? When his congregation complained about his lack of action, he just told them to leave, he will find new people. Is that how a pastor should act?
Grief…this morning in my prayer room I lamented the fact I was alone…but the fact is now I understand why. We live in darkness with only the light of Jesus to guide us. I am like the theif on the cross. He was the only one who identified with Jesus as He died. The cross is the answer…the blood of Jesus atones for my sin. Thank you Jesus.