The Perilous Path of Doctrinal Deviation
By Steven Lambert
Doctrinal deviation, degeneration, and denigration is a perilous path leading not to genuine unity of the Spirit, as posited by its propagators, but rather disunity with the Spirit, apostasy, perdition, and ultimately hell itself!
Not All Unity is of the Spirit
Not all unity or unanimity is a good thing or a God-thing. The first would-be world dictator, Nimrod, exercising supernatural leadership abilities, was able to cajole the entire population of the world into coalescing under his rulership in complete unanimity and to participate in the building of a tower dedicated to his worship that would reach into heaven. But it wasn’t a God-thing, in fact it was an anti-God thing, and He personally came down and confused the language of the people, with the result that they could no longer be in unity, and thereby brought a halt to the building of the Tower of Babel.
King David also learned the hard way that unity/unanimity among the people is not always a God-thing, nor does it affirm God’s approval of your plans; rather God killed David’s chief armor-bearer, which cast him into a several month long cavernous depression and despondency.
Anyone who ever heard much of the teaching messages of the late Kenneth Hagin undoubtedly heard him tell the story of how his calling to the pastorate of a church regarding which he told the Lord that he would only accept the congregation’s call if the vote was 100% in agreement, and that he was basing his prayer on the story of Gideon and the “fleece” he put before God. The result was a hard lesson learned. The congregation voted 100% in agreement, but it took him two years to finally resign the church because, he would say, both he and his wife and the church got fleeced! Unity of the people did not equal unity with God; it never was God’s will for Hagin to pastor that church. All the human unanimity involved did not modify or affect in any way the will of God.
“The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” is a good, Godly, Scriptural, righteous, and worthy objective, but what trips up many in the church today in their journey to apprehend it is the faulty thinking that “unity of the Spirit” is unanimity among people, or in the case of the church, believers, and in the case of “Full Gospel” or Pentecostal/Neo-Pentecostal churches, Spirit-baptized believers. In fact, that mindset is the premise of modern “seeker-friendly” concepts that may sometimes result in human unity, but does not infer or indicate unity with God. “Unity of the Spirit” is NOT people in agreement and walking in lockstep with one another. Rather, “unity of the Spirit” is being in agreement with GOD! It is a Holy-Spirit-inspired and orchestrated concord or agreement that is based on the foundation of the Word of God rather than the whims and opinions of men. Thus, the roadway to “unity of the Spirit” cannot possibly be the spiritually perilous path of “doctrinal deviation.”
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This article is an adaptation from a chapter of the book, Charismatic Captivation, by Dr. Steven Lambert. Click on one of the links below to learn more about the book.
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Dr. Steven Lambert was ordained in 1977 and holds several earned graduate/post-graduate degrees. Over more than four decades in ministry, he has served as a pastor, radio/TV host, adjunct-professor, Board Certified Doctoral Diplomate Christian Therapist/Counselor, and a speaker/commentator on a range of social, political, and theological issues, particularly as a recognized authority on the matter of ecclesiastical authoritarian abuse. He is the founder/Overseer of Ephesians Four Network (ephesiansfour.net) and its subsidiary, Ephesians Four Network of Deliverance Counselors (efndc.ephesiansfour.net). Dr. Lambert authored several books (catalog at realtruthpublications.com), many published articles, and is the founder/editor of Spirit Life Magazine (spiritlifemag.com). His bio, extensive blog, and scheduling information are available on his ministry website at: http://www.slm.org. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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