Thread by @hlgriffin

Yesterday, after Mike Bickle of @IHOPKC released his tortured fauxpology/concession, the next phase of a smear-campaign began to unfold on a Twitter account with the handle of @lucabrasi_ & the name of Mike Brown began to release old emails from Jane Doe to Mike Bickle.

The @Lucabrasi_ account also partially released the real name of Jane Doe before taking down both the screenshots of the emails & the name, but he did set up a classy little quiz as to whether her name should be released, also since taken down.

I have heard different theories about who @Lucabrasi_ /Mike Brown is & what his ties are to the tribe of manifestly godly Bickle men, but whoever he is, the account has been steadily smear-campaigning Bickle survivors & their advocates since the allegations went public.

@LucaBrasi_ Whatever his ties are to the Bickle family, they are close enough for him to have access to screenshots of Jane Doe's older emails to Mike Bickle of @IHOPKC.

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc You may also recall that in Mike Bickle's creepy early October of 2023 spiral emails to Jane Doe & Jane Doe's husband released to the Roys Report, Mike makes this weird, veiled threat regarding the emails of Jane Doe to Mike Bickle.

julieroys.com/woman-says-int…

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc Let's break down some of what Mike Bickle of @IHOPKC is doing in this ever- classy email snippet.

First off, Mike needs Jane Doe's husband to know about the email stash he has in which she *gushes* about how helpful he has been to her her & how "righteous" he has been.

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc Here are some things that somehow were never explored in the mighty healing tradition of IHOPKC when they strangely neglected train their healing ministers on how predators groom victims of sexual abuse and insure their silence.

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc The brainwashing & trauma-bonding of the abuse is often worse than the sexual violation. Some people never come out of the confusion & fantasy world of the abuser. This is part of why cases of clergy sexual abuse are typically reported decades later.

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc Here is a brief definition of Trauma Bonding on the @MisconductAbuse website.

Nothing was stopping the godly leaders of @IHOPKC from either learning about this or developing their own wisdom tradition from careful observation about this phenomenon.
clergysexualmisconduct.com/definitions

@LucaBrasi_ @ihopkc @MisconductAbuse If, hypothetically, someone were groomed & manipulated & sexually abused by a much older man who was in a position of tremendous spiritual authority (claiming even to be a Prophet & Kind David figure), I imagine the trauma-bonding would be quite intense, wouldn't you?

The brainwashing of being under the coercive control off a powerful abuser is like being under a spell. It can take decades for the hold the abuser has over the minds of victims to loosen, if it does at all.

It shifted for Jane Doe in March of 2023.

julieroys.com/woman-says-int…

Even after the sexual relationship ends, the brainwashing & trauma-bonding of the abuser can still be active, controlling the world & shaping the story of the victims.

And the longer the fantasy world continues, the harder the reckoning later.

Mike Bickle apparently espouses some sort of theology in which he can, as a married, 42 year old man & Powerful Prophet, enter into an "inappropriate relationship" with a 19 year old & just Press Delete & Move On & it is all under the blood.

And this narrative, among others, probably shaped what he told Jane Doe about their relationship. And she probably believed it, because she still would have believed that Mike was a prophet & like King David & was righteous.

Abusers can be "tender" toward their victims. They can, hypothetically, frame soul-destroying relationships as poignant love affairs between a passionate King David & one of his many wives whose unions are blessed by God, though others wouldn't understand so it has to be a secret

Victims can continue to feel empathetic & protective of the abuser for decades, caretaking them emotionally & sending them encouragement. They can continue to feel like they are "special" to their abuser, even if the "inappropriate relationship" changes to "friendship."

In addition to maintaining brainwashing trauma-bonds over their victims to insure they will never tell, abusers will usually financially bind the victims to them if they can.

For instance, during the active sexual abuse, the victim may be financially dependent on the abuser as an employee. In the case of Jane Doe, Bickle allegedly paid for a private apartment so she could dedicate herself to prayer. She was also his secret research assistant.

Abusers make their victims feel special & indispensable-- like the abuser is depending on them & needs their help & nurture. Meanwhile, the abuser is isolating them from other relationships, sealing off the fantasy-world as the abuse escalates.

Imagine that you are in a confusing relationship with a man you believe to be The Greatest Prophet of the age & that God somehow ordains this relationship in ways others wouldn't understand. Imagine that he tells you that you have an important role to play in the End Times.

Your own calling, communicated by the Prophet, depends on not falling away from this great ministry & in continuing to fulfill your role. Meanwhile, you aren't getting any other job skills or earning income that could make you independent.

So imagine that this confusing relationship changes so that it is no longer physical, but you still believe that the Man of God is a Great Prophet & that fulfilling your calling means you still are a part of this wider world of ministry.

And that this man, whom you still are deeply attached to & admire & whose humanity you fiercely defend even if he likely abandoned it himself long ago, offers to Bless You as you try to get back on your feet, reeling from the confusion that he wrought in your life.

And imagine that everyone in your network is in his network, & that the only way you have to fulfill your calling is in a ministry networked with his ministry, and that for years, you still can't bring yourself to name how badly he violated his power & authority over you.

And imagine what it would be like to slowly begin to sense, first in your gut and then to gradually in your mind, that your entire life is still under this man's control decades later, & that he is still sinking his claws into other women.

And imagine what people will say if you come forward.

Imagine how little effort people will put into trying to understand.

Imagine the slut-shaming.

Imagine how quickly he will be restored.

And now imagine that you have begun to tell the truth to yourself & know you have to stop him from doing this.

And imagine seeing this email from the man you used to emotionally protect & whom you basically thought was good, but just Too Passionate Like King David.

Imagine looking back on all the years of thinking that he was a Nurturing King David protecting you & cultivating his ministry & caring for you (perhaps like a favorite wife whom he had to let go for her own good because he loved her so much), & you realize it was all about power

And just when you think you've come to terms with how sick this man is, your realize that he is actually threatening you, that he will try to destroy you if you expose what sort of man he actually is, and that he has an army of twisted people who will back him up.

And you know how immaculate his Sincere Voice is, how the tones are just right, how he will strike a noble pose that he will Not Defend Himself.

As a sheep before its shearer's is silent, so is noble Mike Bickle, Davidic Christ Figure, in the face of the Accusers of the Brethren

And you will know that he doesn't need to overtly defend himself, because the ministry he built will pay men like Eric Volz and Stuart Greaves to do so; because he has a network of powerful enablers whose own reputation will be damaged if he is exposed...

...and because all he has to do is to give other people in his family access to his emails, taking no effort to prevent this, and call it "human nature" as they do his dirty work for him, ripping up Jane Doe as she finally breaks free from him.

The cruelty of this behavior is the point, beloved.

The cruelty is aimed to not only destroy Jane Doe, but to silence and intimidate the other victims, so tearful & poignantly sincere men like pastor @bennettisaac can assure themselves that Jane Doe is Just One Data Point.

@bennettisaac People like @LucaBrasi_, who SOMEHOW has Jane Doe's emails from Mike Bickle, will be part of a nameless, faceless army defending the Great Prophet, who, with great nobility, continues to claim that he will Not Defend Himself.

@bennettisaac Much of Mike Bickle's adoring audience, trained for decades never to doubt anyone who sounds sufficiently sincere, will continue to never consider whether it is, indeed, possible for someone to project a different image on stage or in books than how they live in real life.

@bennettisaac And the other Jane Does will know exactly what awaits them if they come forward.

They know how Mike Bickle's adoringly loyal followers will treat them.

They know how many women can be sacrificed to the @IHOPKC Family Idols & the Image of Mike Bickle.

@bennettisaac @ihopkc Somehow, these women are always painted as Out For Money, even though Jane Doe could have lived the rest of her life being "Blessed" by Bickle's ministry support.

Her entire ministry support network is likely organized around Bickle.

@bennettisaac @ihopkc The incentive structures for going public do not benefit survivors of abuse.

Everything is weighed in favor of their abuser.

Women know exactly what will happen to them if they seek to hold their abuser & his enablers accountable.

@bennettisaac @ihopkc And I would say, having seen this before, that large portions of @IHOPKC network of enablers are as nasty or nastier than the worst parts of the SBC Good 'Ole Boy's Network.

There are some beautiful people in the IHOPKC world, but there are also some disgustingly wicked ones.

@bennettisaac @ihopkc And there is a lot of money & wealth to protect from exposure- not just from civil lawsuits, but from exposure of anything that was not quite above board during the many years in which there was no real financial scrutiny & accountability for IHOPKC or Forerunner.

@bennettisaac @ihopkc I pray for Jane Doe & the other Jane Does, as well as for every other person who has been crushed by wicked people who abused the name of Jesus in order to abuse the vulnerable sheep under their power.

May God vindicate them. May God judge the wolves & the wicked shepherds.

For a much more informed analysis on the manipulation on Mike Bickle's emails to Jane Doe & her husband, please see this series by a therapist who specializes in narcissistic & spiritual abuse.

Part 3 & Part 4 of this series discuss Mike's veiled threats about Jane Doe's emails SOMEHOW getting out.

@threadreaderapp unroll