I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. - Galatians 1: 6-9 (ESV)
Prosperity gospels. Hyper-grace. Word-faith. False signs and lying wonders. Dominionism. Joel's End Time Army. Seeker friendly. Purpose driven. Watered down. Sugar coated. Star Wars sermons. Secular music as worship. Sometimes amidst the absurdities we see in the church we lose sight of why these things are such a big deal. We can begin to become numb to them. So Joel Osteen butchered Romans 4:17 again; who cares? So Joseph Prince told everyone that to repent means to consent to be loved; what's the big deal? So Mike Bickle claims direct revelation from God, teaches contemplative prayer, eastern mysticism, the bridal paradigm, the New Apostolic Reformation Seven Mountains heresy, and dominionism; who is keeping record of such things? Beloved, God is keeping record of such things:
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. - Revelation 20: 15 (ESV)
Every now and again we have to stop the lunacy train and remind ourselves why this is important. The Bible teaches this life is but a vapor. A mist that is here one second and gone the next. What follows however lasts forever. Eternity is a very long time. It is a very long time to be drastically wrong about it. There is no door number three. There is no third option. Your name is either in the Lamb's Book of Life or you spend eternity in the lake of fire. If you want to have a philosophical debate about God regarding His righteous judgment, find someone else. There is not a lot of time left because Jesus is coming back soon. If you want to continue to play church and pretend these things do not matter be my guest. If not, pay attention because doctrine is what will save you, nothing else:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. - 1Timothy 4: 16 (ESV)
Why doctrine? Because Jesus is His Word. When one walks away from the correct Gospel they walk away from the correct Christ. The Bible clearly teaches that one may very well believe but believe in vain. Think about that sobering fact for a second. The people Jesus speaks about saying "Lord Lord" are people who believed. Yet they believed in vain. Their belief was useless because it was in an incorrect doctrine, a false gospel, the wrong Christ. How do people not see this? The Bible is explicitly clear that narrow is the way that leads to eternal life and few are those who find it. Few! Read through the Pauline letters and you will consistently see that anyone who strays from doctrine is removed from the fellowship. Of what possible fellowship can light have with darkness beloved? None! Yet in modern Christendom we have convinced ourselves that if someone merely says the name Jesus correctly then we can agree to disagree on those pesky doctrinal matters. I know many people who clearly see the utter falseness in Joel Osteen or Joseph Prince yet still consider them brothers in Christ. That is ridiculous! Someone who leads people to believe in false doctrine leads people to a false Christ. He leads them to believe in vain. He assures them that their name will not be in the Lamb's Book of Life. Are we starting to connect the dots here? Jesus makes this point abundantly clear when His own natural family were trying to see Him one day:
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." - Matthew 12: 46-50 (ESV)
Do we really think this is about His mother and brother? The point Jesus is making is that our fellowship is based upon the will of God, which is the Bible. Doctrine is the unity that must bind us. Not this loosey-goosey carnal sense of love. Francis Chan stood at IHOP in 2013 and declared his love for the false prophet Mike Bickle and in doing so removed himself from any serious consideration as a preacher of God's Word. Unity can only be based upon doctrine. The Bible actually teaches that disunity is caused by false doctrine:
I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. - Romans 16: 17-18 (ESV)
Contrary to the doctrine you have been taught! How many these days are led astray by the smooth talk and flattery of false teachers. How special you are. What wonderful plans God has just for you! How every story in the Bible is about you. How God wants you wealthy beyond your greediest dreams. You're the head and not the tail! More than a conqueror! The hearts of the naïve are constantly led astray by the people who were supposed to lead them. With this as the backdrop, let us turn our attention to the IHOP Onething Conference, which just occurred this week. Francis Chan did speak there again, further cementing the fact that no one with discernment should ever listen to him again unless he repents. Besides Chan this year saw the President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Ronnie Floyd, as a main speaker. The SBC has long been considered a bastion of decent discernment and theology. Names like Albert Moehler come to mind. But the end times draw tighter around us we see the great apostasy intensify. As it does we see major fellowships and denominations getting on board with the anti-Christ system. We see the once proud Assemblies of God in bed with blatant heretics such as Bill Johnson and Roma Downey. So it is no wonder that Ronnie Floyd and the SBC may be heading down the road to biblical irrelevance as well. What is telling is that Floyd must have realized on some spiritual level and his opening remarks reveal how flawed thinking is becoming in these last days about the matters we laid out in the backdrop as being crystal clear scripturally. Floyd said:
"I'm not here tonight to highlight our theological differences, but to bend my knee, next to yours, and to ask God to have mercy on America. I also know that my being here is not an endorsement of your theology or your endorsement of my orthodoxy, I did not get asked to this gathering tonight because the leaders agree with all of my theological convictions. In fact, if we're totally honest with one another we know that thousands of us who are filling this convention center and thousands more who are streaming live around the world, we're not in total agreement about a lot of the secondary matters of life, ministry, and even the bible. Yet my being here is a clear indication that these are times when people must come together and pray." - Ronnie Floyd
Beloved Satan and God do not just have theological differences. Remember there are only two roads and two endpoints. You are either on the road that leads to the narrow gate or the broad path that leads to destruction. The reason it is a broad path is there are a lot of people on it. Anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ has no fellowship with IHOP. The list mentioned earlier is accurate. They teach the heretical bridal paradigm, which leads to the over sexualization of Christ. They teach dominionism, which is the heresy that says we have to prepare the earth for the second coming of Christ. Along with Dominionism often comes the Seven Mountains Mandate teaching which is proffered by the New Apostolic Reformation. The notion that Christians must take over the "seven mountains of culture." IHOP also is heavy into eastern mysticism and contemplative prayer. Visualization techniques and the chanting of mantras. Their own worship music is designed as such and incorporates much of the bridal paradigm as well with lyrics that may as well be secular love songs with a "R" rating. Their leader is a self proclaimed prophet who claims to hear directly from God. He preys on the young, encouraging them that they are an "end times army." Now maybe some hear things like this and think what's the big deal? The big deal is that none of this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and only serves to distract from the Gospel. It means that people who have placed their faith in this doctrine are actually following doctrines of demons
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. - 1Timothy 4: 1 (ESV)
So why would the head of the SBC choose to align with such heresy? Why would he view the clear teachings of Scripture as mere theological differences? Why is the Gospel secondary? Because something else has become primary for Ronnie Floyd. Something else has become more important than doctrine and that something has become an idol. Something he must bow down to before he considers the Bible. That idol is America. He admits it right there in his opening remarks. He admits to not even endorse the theology of IHOP but somehow thinks it is still valuable to bow his knee with them to pray for this idol. He admits that IHOP would never endorse the SBC orthodoxy but still thinks it is more important to join forces with darkness in order to pray for some form of revival in the idol he loves so dearly. Perhaps the most telling portion of his remarks though is this:
In fact, if we're totally honest with one another we know that thousands of us who are filling this convention center and thousands more who are streaming live around the world, we're not in total agreement about a lot of the secondary matters of life, ministry, and even the bible. - Ronnie Floyd
