The Necessity of Bible Doctrine

Too many people hear the word "doctrine" and envision boredom and dead formality. However, the necessity of having correct doctrine can help eliminate errors such as that occurred in Lakeland with Todd Bentley. Again it must be stressed that it is not my intent to harm Mr. Bentley; only that we learn from his experience. We need to pray for him and his family. Many extra Biblical events were occurring in this "revival:" leg drops, kneeing stage IV cancer victims, "signs and wonders" that were not Biblical and a lack of verification of supposed miracles. Anyone that mentioned these facts was seen as opposing the Holy Spirit and bringing danger to their soul by doing so. A personal example speaks to this concern. I personally know a man that was intent on receiving an impartation of the "Lakeland anointing." This man professes to be a Christian yet relies on impressions and the voices he hears to determine his doctrine. For example,he believes that if someone wrongs him, they cannot be healed without apologising to him first because that is what the voice said to him. Despite my best efforts, "he knows what he has heard and it is his truth." You will find it difficult to convince someone of Bible truths when experience is viewed as the ultimate source of revelation. Once the Bible is departed from, only imagination serves as a boundary to what people will call "God." Let us adhere to the Bible as our sole source of revelation. It is safe and Godly to do so.

John Arnott of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship (center of the "laughing revival" and "river" movement) wrote the following on his web site on August 17, 2008 referencing Todd Bentley:
"I am working now with Bill Johnson and Che Ahn to listen to each person who is close to the situation in order to give godly counsel and confront the presenting issues in God’s love. We are all receiving many phone calls and reading much correspondence about all these matters at the moment. Some of it is quite hopeful and some of it is not. However, I believe that God can break through. We all want to provide any help we can to preserve the fruit of this outpouring. We are doing this for several reasons. First, we love the Body of Christ and the work God does through times of revival. We care very deeply about the impact of the church’s leaders and role models on the body of Christ and the world. We also care about Todd and Shonnah, the Fresh Fire Ministries staff and all who have been a vital part of the Lakeland Revival. They are our friends.

Todd has chosen to do something that is wrong according to Scripture, and his timing to announce it was equally inappropriate. Everyone is asking, "What happened?" "Why didn't anyone see this coming?" We are making the answers to those questions a matter of prayer, and are as shocked and saddened by what has just happened as you are. Furthermore, it has now come out that there has been some inappropriate behavior, both with excessive drinking and also with a female member of his staff. Please don't jump to conclusions or assume the worst, but this behavior is wrong before the Lord."

I would suggest that much of this could have been avoided if the Bible was the sole source of revelation. The Reformers had the cry of sola scriptura ("Scripture alone")and now more than ever in this great age of deception, it needs to be ours also. It will prevent a lot of problems.