A Pastor has the responsibility to instruct his sheep with sound doctrine and to ensure that those under his leadership develop a sound theological system. This is one of a Pastor’s most important responsibilities. For you see, what you believe will determine your future and destiny. In particular, what you believe about Jesus Christ and His blood sacrifice for your sins will determine where you will spend eternity.

It is not enough to just believe that Jesus “exists”. I mean, the Bible says that “even the demons believe and tremble”. What this verse means on this point is that just believing that Jesus exists is not enough to save the soul. Because, we know that demons cannot ever be saved (unless you are of the universal salvation camp).

What you believe about Jesus and exactly who you believe He is will determine where you spend your eternity. The Bible makes it very clear that Jesus is the only way to get to Heaven. Jesus himself says this. So, if you are of the new and emergent church camp, then you had better check your doctrine. Here’s the point. If you are going to say that there are more ways than Jesus to get to Heaven, then, which way is best (or, should I say the easiest way with the least responsibility)? Furthermore, if you are going to reduce Jesus to a mere choice among many options, then, in fact, you do not have revelation of the Jesus of the Bible, but rather, you are believing on someone other than the Jesus of the Bible. This is why doctrine is so important. Yes, your salvation does depend on your doctrine about Jesus.

So, we now see Pastors who are going along with the Lakeland Revival. They are sending members of their flock there and many are going themselves. These Pastors are doing this even though they know there are very serious shortcomings in the doctrine being promoted in Lakeland. The tragedy is that some of these Pastors don’t care. They don’t care that they are sending their flock into the mouth of a serpent. They don’t care as long as it all makes them look like they are keeping up with the most recent theological trend. They know the truth but are choosing to capitulate their position on the ancient path in order that they might appear “hip and mod” with their congregation. Even worse, there are some Pastors who understand the financial dynamic of Lakeland and are choosing to endorse the Lakeland Revival to keep themselves and their ministries in favor with those going along with this new trend. Some of these Pastors know that they are exposing their flock to serious doctrinal error, and they are choosing to do so for financial purposes. To put it in street, these Pastors say to themselves “Hey, here is a chance to get a few more people coming to church, a chance to bring in more money. I know that the doctrine coming forth in all of this has some real problems, but hey, it’s a chance to get a boost in my church in a hurry without having to do any work. Besides if I choose to take a stand against this, it could cost me in people and money. Plus, if I choose to take a stand against Lakeland, then I will have to read and study my Bible, pick up a concordance, and even spend time in prayer so I will be able to explain to my congregation what is going on theologically”. These are the worst Pastors on the planet. And, I might add, according to the Bible, these Pastors will face some of the most severe punishment of all (that is, after all things Lakeland, if people even believe there is a Hell anymore – it’s there whether a person chooses to believe it is or not).

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There is a story in I Kings chapter 22 about two Kings of old who had a discussion between themselves concerning the prospect of going to war against an enemy. There was Ahab, the King of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah. They consulted between themselves about combining forces to fight the Syrians. In the process of this meeting the prophets of Israel were summoned to give a word from the Lord about whether or not they should go into battle.

The story tells us that there were around 400 prophets gathered together. They all said “go up and fight” and they assured the Kings of victory should they pursue this campaign. Then, King Jehoshaphat makes a very striking statement and says “Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?”

Upon reading this, one might think “but wait a minute Jehoshaphat, there are 400 prophets here and they are all saying the same thing. And, now you are suggesting that all 400 of them might not be giving a true prophecy”. That is exactly what King Jehoshaphat was saying. In street vernacular, Jehoshaphat was saying “I don’t believe a word of any of these prophets. Go find me someone that I can trust is truly speaking a word from God.”

Then, in a theatrical way, one of the false prophets whose name was Zedekiah made a set of iron horns for himself. It is indicated that he “put them on” and began to act as a goring bull, full of force and rage, and in the process of acting this out, he states “With these you shall gore the Syrians until they are destroyed”.

But, King Jehoshaphat still wasn’t impressed. Finally, and reluctantly, King Ahab brings forth the prophet named Micaiah. In short order, Micaiah speaks the true word of the Lord and tells of a meeting in Heaven before the throne of God. At this meeting, God is looking for someone to deceive King Ahab in order to execute judgment against him. Lo and behold, the Lord God recruits a demonic spirit to deceive King Ahab. This demonic spirit is commissioned by God to go forth and be a “lying spirit” in the mouths of all the prophets of King Ahab. Notice the word all. All means all, not part of. So, if you are a student of the Bible, you know how this story plays out. Bad things happen to King Ahab. I encourage you to read this for yourself. It is a very, very good lesson in understanding how the spiritual realm operates.

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I was meditating this morning about all that is going on in the Body of Christ and the Holy Spirit brought to my memory the time and the season of the Cabbage Patch Doll. Remember the Cabbage Patch Doll. Well, the Cabbage Patch Doll was a bizarre sort of looking thing that was very simply made and was so strange looking that it could momentarily appear to be even cute to the onlooker.

This particular doll became an overnight rave among a large stratum of our society. You had people camping out overnight at stores where shipments of these dolls had just arrived, hoping that upon store opening the following day, the camper might get to buy one. It was a sensational thing. It was a national thing. Even major news networks began covering the long lines that streamed outside through the parking lots of major department stores. There were interviews of waiting customers in which the customer was asked why he or she would go to such an extent to get something like a Cabbage Patch Doll. And, even worse, the customers would attempt to give a reasonable and logical answer.

Inside the stores it was worse as there were reports of some customers actually getting into physical confrontations with each other over the few remaining dolls that were left.

That was years ago. Today, ask a young person what a Cabbage Patch Doll is. Most won’t even know or at best will say “Oh, yea, I think I heard about that”. The Cabbage Patch Doll is but a distant memory and a reminder of a time when normal human beings had abandoned all reason and acted in a way that was quite irrational and unbecoming.

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