Review of Sam Storms’ ‘The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets’

Should we scrap or sift through the prophetic history and movement and the International House of Prayer in Kansas City?

Here is the link to the book: The Rise and Fall of the Kansas City Prophets (2026, Kindle edition). Sam Storms’ website is here. His new church is here and his church network here.

I write this review because, sitting in the church audience long ago, I witnessed the goings on among the prophets and the crossover with Mike Bickle’s main church (or churches) and the KC prophets on the one side and the Anaheim Vineyard, on the other side (where I attended). But I was never in church leadership or on staff at any time with any Vineyard. I was just an observer and now a book reviewer.

In his book Dr. Sam Storms has chosen to sift through the prophetic history and movement and the associated prophets, prophecies, and revelations that propped up the movement and history and its main leader, Mike Bickle (pp. 29-30). This means he zigzags between describing them (zig) and then critiquing them (zag). Does he succeed? Or does his zigzagging mean that he loses his credibility? That is, should he have scrapped the prophetic movement and history in Kansas City?

This review is long because the book is complex, but orderly and thorough. Dr. Storms is an excellent researcher. This review is long, also because I want to help people who were caught up in this hyper-charismatic prophetic movement and prophetic history.

So buckle up. You’re in for a bumpy ride. I get a little harsh and hard-hitting. But this surgery has to be done.

But believe it not, I’m only hitting a few of the highlights (or lowlights).

Let’s begin.

In the book, so much (but not all) of the prophecies and the rise of the prophets occur within this timeframe: 1980 to 1991. What else happened then? Bickle was abusing Tammy Woods shortly after her fourteenth birthday in 1980 until she got married in July of 1988 (p. 61). An independent report says he was seducing or trying to seduce seventeen or more women all the way up to his exposure in October 2023. I have to believe he had other victims in the 1980s. (For example, what was he really doing alone in Cairo, other than receiving a mighty vision for himself?)

Let me write those dates in bold font: 1980-1991.

Dr. Sam Storms was not there in Kansas City at this time. He was on staff at Kansas City Fellowship from 1993 to 2000, and was in Kansas City when IHOP KC was going strong, from 2004 to 2008, though not on staff (p. 41). Therefore the supernatural words and events were told to him by Mike Bickle and video and audio tapes (see below). But is Bickle a reliable reporter and informant?

One thing I’m grateful for in the book is all the dates Storms includes. An in-depth researcher could build a timeline on them, and, I believe, see very troubling patterns of instability and charismania. But this timeline goes beyond the scope of this review, even though I underlined every one of the dates (or so I tried). It’s a defensive history (of sorts) of the movement with lots of original documents and letters. (I can easily picture a Master’s thesis coming from this book alone, from an enterprising seminarian.)

Further, who showed up at Kansas City in that period? Augustine Alcala, Bob Jones, and Paul Cain. What do they have in common besides being prophets? All of them struggled with sexual sins (Alcala and Cain with homosexuality), and all of them committed clergy sexual abuse in one form or another, and Cain struggled with alcoholism. It is naive to think that those men did not take detours from the straight and narrow path to engage in their sins throughout that decade and afterwards. Alcala was excluded from Bickle’s ministry in 1984 (p. 235) and died of AIDS in 2007.

I was surprised to learn that Jones confessed his lust in 1991 (p. 99). I had wrongly thought he had gotten in trouble at the end of his life, just before he passed away on February 14, 2014. Further, a report, which Storms does not reference (or I could not find it in his book), says Jones told Bickle that Bickle could keep his “anointing” if he did not consummate his sexual escapades. Wow. If true, a degraded spiritual environment.

In any case, I was glad to read that Pastor John Wimber, the main leader of the Vineyard denomination, wrote on November 4, 1991 (Storms provides the transcript of the letter), to all the Vineyard churches, warning them never to platform Jones. He can only be restored to his relationship with Christ. And he told the pastors to be on the lookout for wounded sheep (pp. 99-100). Too bad Wimber did not have the web back then, for he could have warned the entire church on a Vineyard website.

Wimber also rebuked Bickle in the context of the vision or dream of a huge black horse and little white pony (see below) for his pride and promoting prophets too fast and too far. Bickle accepted the rebuke (p. 152).

In the whole book, Wimber is the only one who comes out in one piece, showing common sense and wisdom (though I say his conclusions about the ‘phenomena’ is off, pp. 171-75. I never did accept the wackiness at all and still don’t. But I’ll save that topic for another post.)

What 1 Corinthians 14 Really Teaches

In the large black horse vision or dream (let’s call it a vision), in September of 1984 (pp. 149-52), the claim is that Alcala had a vision of a black horse, sent by Satan or represented Satan himself. The horse was storming towards the prophetic movement, when a small white pony stood in its way. The black horse kicked the little pony on the right knee, which tossed him off to the side. At that moment Bickle, who was sleeping in the same room as Alcala, woke up from a sharp pain in his right knee. We learn very shortly later that the little white pony symbolized Bickle. (What a symbol of him!). So who was the black horse? They eventually decided it was Pastor Ernie Gruen (p. 151), who will draw up a long document exposing the entire prophetic movement and KC church in May of 1990, long after the vision in September of 1984 (see Chapter 13). (Or Gruen may have been warning people about KCF before his long document was published.)

In any case, the prophetic history is fluid and can be applied and reapplied, wherever the leader (Bickle) of the movement wants the application to go. No matter what, though, the vision is interpreted to promote and protect the movement and turn Bickle into the victim who overcame the satanic attack.

Later, Bickle claimed he’s the one who had the vision (p. 153). No stability of soul. He shifted other stories around, also. Truth is a slippery thing for some.

I don’t accept this vision, but let me interpret it in a different (or better) way. God himself sent the satanic black horse as a judgment on the corruption of Bickle and the other prophets. Bickle got kicked off to the side, but God did not allow the black horse to attack the people (the archangel Michael stopped it) because good Christians sincerely joined the prophetic movement and Bickle’s church. God spared them. The only regret I see is that Bickle got exposed in October 2023 and not earlier. That’s when he got kicked off to the side, and deservedly so, but people were impacted, after all. So my interpretation of the self-serving vision needs more adjustments. But no biggie. I believe the vision was false anyway.

Dreams and Visions: How to Interpret Them

Review of “7 Simple Ways to Test Prophecy” by Joshua Lewis of Remnant Radio

In another major section, towards the end of his book (pp. 230-44), Dr Sam Storms defends Bickle and the prophetic movement and prophetic history from the long exposure document by Pastor Ernie Gruen, published in May 1990. Storms’ defense seems weak to me in many places.

One example: He defends against the alleged sexual unfaithfulness of (prophet) John Paul Jackson, by writing: “I knew John Paul Jackson well before his untimely death on February 18, 2015, and can personally testify to his godly character. His prophetic gift, although not perfect, was among the most accurate I have ever witnessed” (p. 243). In other words, trust me, bro. However, he also writes of Bickle’s “purity”: “During my time in Kansas City there wasn’t a scent or hint of sexual sin in Mike Bickle’s life” (p. 22). On the same page he goes on to extol Bickle in the most glowing terms and highest praise.

My point is not about Jackson’s fidelity (I know nothing of it), but Storms’ absence of self-awareness. He’s a victim of irony because he writes with seeming clarity and authority about these men’s private lives, but he has had very little discernment about Bickle’s. He wrote those words about the two men without a hint or scent of irony because recall that throughout the KC prophetic history and movement Bickle is reported as seducing or attempting to seduce seventeen+ women. In 2024, Jack Deere admitted his friendship with Bickle skewed his perspective on Gruen’s report, though he still called the report deeply flawed (p. 229). Dr. Deere drew the right conclusion. Storms did not and is not.

Gruen died on June 1, 2009 (p. 227, n. 1) but had run off with his church secretary. In the worst example of irony, Bickle claims that he could have exposed Gruen’s adultery before he passed, but did not because God told him to keep quiet (p. 244). Where’s the irony? As noted, Bickle himself was reportedly seducing or attempting to seduce seventeen or more women at various times. Did Dr. Storms see the irony? I cannot find that he wrote about it in this section of his book. Instead, he portrays Bickle as generous and merciful when he did not expose Gruen. It’s baffling that Dr. Storms had this deficient perspective even today when he wrote his book. Too little self-reflection and self-awareness

Another example of Dr. Storms’s unconvincing defense of Bickle against Gruen’s report: This one is particularly egregious. Gruen claims that a Christian psychologist working for him counseled around a hundred people who were disillusioned with Kansas City Fellowship. How does Storms refute this? Even though he published his book in 2026, he accepts Jack Deere’s old defense at the time, as follows. The counselor was not yet a psychologist but was working on his degree (= he’s a liar), he was on staff at a church associated with Gruen (= he is bought and sold), and he was Gruen’s close personal friend (= he’s prejudiced). Also, maybe the emotional state of the one hundred people was so weak that they had problems at other churches (= it’s their fault they’re so weak). And one hundred people out of 3000 is not so many (p. 237)! (= no biggie).

My reply: One hundred people needed counseling after attending Bickle’s KC church? Wow! That’s significant and dispositive. It proves the church was a mess and even spiritually dangerous. And victim shaming is completely tone deaf. Maybe the psychologist had not yet earned his degree, but I let’s not get distracted from the one hundred victims. He actually listened to them. But for some reason this huge number of victims was not a gigantic red flag flapping in the wind for Storms not to join the staff at KCF when he did.

I’m sure Storms read the report before he got on staff, but must have believed Deere’s defense of Bickle. (If he did not read it, then that’s on him.) Once again Storms’ acceptance of Deere’s old defense today is tone deaf; his “discerner” is dull. And so was Deere’s, who admitted as much (p. 229).

Just to be clear: those one hundred victims had more discernment than Dr. Sam Storms and Dr. Jack Deere had. And so did the Christian psychologist who heard their stories without dismissing them. I honor them and knock Deere and Storms.

And why was Storms so keen on refuting Gruen’s report in 2026, while writing his book, long after the report came out in May 1990? An objective history would not refute the criticisms today, but simply report them. But then Storms is not writing an objective history but a defense of the movement and history, with some critical thinking long after the events. Or maybe it is fairer to say that an historian would report on the controversial elements in the report, and leave it at that. But Dr. Storms produces a thirty-five point refutation of the (now irrelevant) report. This baffles me.

Next, I don’t believe in the visions and words from Cain, Jones, and Alcala (and any other prophets) in the 1980s and into the 1990s as they relate to the alleged awesomeness of KCF (or whatever names it had during the decade+). And I don’t believe the whole prophetic movement and self-serving prophetic history of KCF. Evidently Jack Deere now agrees with me (p. 124), or I agree with him. Scrap it. Dr. Storms should have taken a (metaphorical) page from Dr. Deere. Prophetic self-promotion of Bickle and his movement is entirely suspect. Prophetic history can be manipulated.

This manipulation is confirmed. Storms writes that when he did not personally observe the words from the Lord and divine coincidences, he got them from listening to video and audio tapes and “personal conversation with Mike Bickle, who provided me with the most intimate [really?] and intricate details possible of each prophetic word and event. Given these and other facts [whose facts?], I believe this book will meet a need in the body of Christ as yet unfulfilled” (p. 41). Yes, the book does meet a need of sorts, but I’m not sure what the benefits are, other than a history of this hyper-charismatic movement. Recall that the bulk of the prophetic words and miracles and divine coincidences happened from 1980 to 1991, when Storm was not there. So it looks like by his own words he heard of the events from Bickle himself “in the most intimate and intricate details possible.”

I quote those words from Sam’s book to inform the readers of my review and even of his book that the prophetic history and movement–the whole storyline–depends mostly on a corrupt and unstable leader and unreliable informant of the movement and history, named Mike Bickle. He is definitely the hero and focus of the whole thing. His trip to heaven in a chariot to meet Michael the archangel, a claim which he reportedly used to seduce women (You were in the chariot with me!) or trips to the third heaven and divine visitations from angels and even Jesus himself always seem to shine the hero’s light on him. One exception seems to occur during one of Bickle’s trips to the third heaven in 1986, when Jesus rebuked him for his impatience that will ruin people’s lives (p. 186). (Maybe that one trip was true!) Of course Bickle interpreted this word in self-serving ways, but Storms says he does not believe Bickle was being intentionally deceptive (p. 187).

In my experience, no legitimate man or woman of God has ever claimed so many heavenly visits, not even the famous missionaries of long ago, nor Paul the apostle himself (I don’t recall Wimber reporting that he took even one trip to heaven). All these numerous (alleged) heavenly visits and angelic revelations are red flags. Many youtube prophets today claim they too can visit heaven any time they want. But they far exceed even Bickle’s trips. And for the record, I believe angels (messengers) can visit people either in dreams or in person. And sometimes God may allow a visit to heaven or hell.

Dreams and Visions: How to Interpret Them

Review of “7 Simple Ways to Test Prophecy” by Joshua Lewis of Remnant Radio

Further, I believe that God allows, in his judgment, lying spirits to infiltrate churches that are led by men who displease him (see 1 Kings 22 and 2 Chron.18), particularly the strange prophets named Alcala, Jones, and Cain and the degraded Bickle. God’s judgment came crashing down on them, at long last. Some courageous victims of the seventeen (or more) women finally exposed it all, their discernment outdoing Sam’s and even Jack Deere’s. And those one hundred disillusioned victims, out of their personal experience, also exercised more discernment than Storms (and Deere) did at the time when the bad things actually happened, not decades later.

To balance out my hard-hitting review, I must emphatically repeat that Storms does have major critical sections inserted between his positive and defensive descriptions of the prophetic movement and history (his zigzags). He often asks whether the movement and history were legitimate in some of its aspects, when there was so much sin and corruption in the main leaders. In one section he rightly points out that if Bickle had gotten caught abusing a minor, he would have been put in prison, and then the mighty words promoting him and propping up the prophetic movement and history would have been null and void and even would never have been spoken or happened for Bickle (p. 96).

But in the numerous positive descriptions and defensive passages, which make up the huge bulk of his book, Dr. Storms still seems at times giddy about the miraculous prophecies and events and coincidences (see for example pp. 132-38 and 201-05). I don’t share his extra-enthusiasm or any low-key enthusiasm.

Time to wrap this up.

So it seems Bickle fooled Dr. Storms. Forgive me, but Dr. Storms does in fact come across in his book as gullible and easily led around by Bickle and his miracle stories, during the considerable amount of time Storms was there. He even praised Bickle and the prophetic movement and history as late as April 1, 2023, in the American Gospel discussion, with Dr. Michael L. Brown, Jim Osman, and Justin Peters. (Storms and Brown did terribly, by the way. Many times I cringed. A lot of zigzagging. Countless words with little content. Confused.)

Half-Truths in Dr. Brown’s Interview at Mercy Culture Church

Disturbing Allegations against Dr. Michael Brown

But you should buy Dr. Storms’ book only for its historical value, not for anything else, like his going back and forth between defending the prophetic history and movement and then criticizing some aspects many years after the fact. For me, the overall impression is that he lacked discernment back then for me to admire or trust his critiques today. Critiquing those past events today takes no effort and very little discernment. Where was his discernment back then?

Too little, too late.

Hindsight is 20/20. Too easy.

Nevertheless, Dr. Storms put in a good effort to promote or defend or explain the charismania at Kansas City, but ultimately he needs to reevaluate his soul and capacity to discern. He should have scrapped the whole thing, as Deere seems to have wisely done (p. 124). Storms’ sifting and zigzagging today, many years later, after Bickle was exposed in October 2023, did not succeed (for me, at least). The one hundred victims who rightly left the KC church in the past long ago prove him wrong.

His book does him no favors.

After reading it, I would not join any of Dr. Sam Storms’ organizations, linked at the top of this post. And if I attended his church or belonged to his network, I would leave them. Such an obvious absence of wisdom and discernment from an older leader who should know better is a warning (to me, at least).

I forewarned the readers of this post that things will get harsh and hard-hitting, but I believe this is necessary for clarity and the security and healing of the victims.

So, the bottom line, once again: I don’t believe in the church (or churches) Bickle planted with the endless name changes. (The name changes would have been a massive red flag flapping in the wind of instability.) I don’t believe the prophetic words and visions and trips to heaven endorsing him. Alcala, Jones, Cain and Bickle himself are bad, self-serving informants to prop up the prophetic movement and history of KCF. All four of them were under judgment in the timeframe of 1980 to 1991, and beyond. Because of their terrible sins against his Son’s church, his temple, his body, God allowed them to come under satanic attack and delusion, in the bigger picture of the movement and history.

So what can I learn from Storms’ thorough book? It’s time now to completely reject and never repeat the hyper-charismatic nonsense and scrap the whole movement and history in KC and move forward. Too many victims of abuse, to keep KC alive, either in writing or in fact. Leave it in the past.

But I like how some podcasters are helping with healing the victims today.

The only redeemable aspect to the whole movement is the wonderful people who sincerely joined it because they loved the Lord.

I can only trust and pray that if they are now disillusioned, they will receive help and mercy before God’s throne of grace, during their time of need (Heb. 4:16).

Addendum: A Personal Side Note

Can corrupt prophets receive some legitimate words now and again on a personal, individual level? All I can say is that I got a word from Cain at Anaheim Vineyard in 1994. Cain did not know where I lived, so he could not look me up in a phone book, and we did not register for a conference, so my name or data were unknown to the public. It was a Sunday evening service. I sat in the audience among 2500-3000 people. No data mining was available. Instead, I was seeking God hard because I had just finished my doctorate and needed direction. God had mercy on me because of Hebrews 11:6b: […] “he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (The word I got was accurate and a blessing to me. It was personal and only for that moment, so I won’t share it here. It is irrelevant now.)

Analogy: people get healed at conferences led by a wacky healing evangelist, because God rewards those who diligently seek him, not because of the evangelist.

And so prophecies for individuals are another category from big-picture prophecies that promote a movement and its leader. But Shawn Bolz’s data mining is now calling into question even personal prophecies, though I still believe private words can be a blessing. I have received many over the years, but most have been put on a back shelf and never been taken down (so far).

My Take on the Shawn Bolz Situation

Honestly, though, to speak personally again, I’m glad I was never in leadership at any church, whether the one (or ones) Bickle planted or even a Vineyard, during this chaotic time. Maybe I too would have been caught up in the charismania and made bad decision. It was God’s mercy to keep me off to the side. Thank you, God!

My only glimmer of hope for my own discernment back then is that when I heard Bickle speak for the first time at Anaheim Vineyard, in the late 1980s (or maybe in the early 1990s), he said his dad had trained him to become an Olympic boxer. When he finished his sermon, my only thought was that he got punched in the head too many times. I was not impressed. There’s no way I would have attended his church, had I lived in Kansas City.

Further, while at Anaheim Vineyard, I heard one “pilgrim” say in the early 1990s he was going to Kansas City to join the movement and the exciting times. I thought about it, but never felt led to become a pilgrim to the “holy place.” Just the opposite. I was still working on my doctorate (though I could have gone rogue and hyper-charismatic and irresponsibly dropped out), but I still had no desire to go there. And I now recall that God clearly directed me to stay away. So it seems this was, once again, God’s protection and mercy on me. I’m grateful.

Observations on the Early Vineyard Movement

The New Apostolic Reformation

Observations on New Apostolic Reformation and Christian Nationalism

Calling Leaders by Name to Repent

True Church Leaders Do Not Lord It over God’s People

True Church Leaders Do Not Weaponize Matthew 18 against Victims of Abuse

Mature Disciples Do Not Make Excuses for Unsound Christian Leaders

10 Apostleship

11 Two Genuine Apostles

12 Prophets and Prophecy

New Testament Restricts Authority of Modern Prophets

Review of C. Peter Wagner’s Book ‘Apostles and Prophets’