God's Got a 'Real Long History of Loving People Until the End': Mike Bickle Says It's Not Over for Joshua Harris, Marty Sampson

Pastor Mike Bickle, founder of International House of Prayer (IHOPKC) says all is not lost for "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" author and former pastor Joshua Harris, and Hillsong worship leader Marty Sampson after they publicly questioned the Christian faith.

Harris completely rejected Christianity in an Instagram post while Sampson turned his private skepticism into a public discussion. 

In a video posted to YouTube, Bickle expressed that most people grapple with their faith and he hopes that Harris and Sampson will turn back to God. 
 

"Good guys have hard moments," Bickle explained. "I don't look at this and say 'This is that. It's over.' I say, 'No, Marty, Jesus loves you. We love you. We're standing with you as a human being, as a believer in the body of Christ all these years."

"So this isn't the end of the story. We continue like we've always done. We show love and support," he added.

Harris was the first to announce that he no longer believes in the tenets of the Christian faith. 

"I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus," he wrote on Instagram. "The popular phrase for this is 'deconstruction,' the biblical phrase is 'falling away.' By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian."

Sampson, in a now-deleted Instagram post, said he was "genuinely losing his faith" but later backtracked on that statement and said his faith was "on incredibly shaky ground." 

Bickle spoke with two other IHOPKC leaders and explained that in his nearly 45 years of ministry he has grappled with some tough questions regarding his faith. 

"I hit some real hard questions and did double-takes...and a lot of my friends have, that are my age...so yes, some are stumbling and grabbing onto wrong answers but millions are not," he added. "If we are grounded in the Word, in a Biblical community of godly relationships...lots of mercy, lots of hugging and sticking together...we can make it through those hard times together."

In the now-deleted Instagram post, Sampson wrote that he has wrestled with some hard questions and can not find real answers. 

"This is a soapbox moment so here I go," he wrote. "How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all 'coz they don't believe? No one talks about it."

Bickle says it is okay to ask tough questions and seek answers, but give yourself time to find the answers. 

"There are big issues at hand that are worth 4, 5, or 10 years of struggling without all the clear answers. Don't conclude too quickly. We are only on the earth one time and you only got one human spirit, so be careful with it," he said.

"We don't throw God on trial because we are confused by some questions we have tensions with," Bickle added.