(All Scripture references are from the KJV unless otherwise stated. I do not advocate "KJV Only", but rather "KJV Preferred".)
(Matthew 23:9 forbids calling people on earth their "father". This I struggle with, because how else am I to honor Douglas Crawshaw SR? Thus, the asterisks. I do not deny he is so, it is only because of Matthew 23:9. [Besides, when Jews use asterisks to refer to God, as in "G*d", they're not ashamed of him, they don't want to use his name in vain. Now, that's not what I'm doing here. I'm just trying to obey Matthew 23:9. Correct me if I'm wrong.])
I wanted to talk about something that's been on my mind for quite a while, and it's going to eat at me unless I let it out publicly, so here goes.
Firstly, I profess faith in Jesus Christ. That's not what's been eating at me. I'm gladly willing to share my faith with anyone and everyone.
Secondly, for about ten years now, my faith has been shaken by the wild west of the Internet. Years earlier than that, I started having intrusive blasphemous thoughts, and I greatly feared that I was going to Hell. This began my taking Christianity and The Bible seriously. Anyway, this really got into high gear with some particular extreme preaching, basically saying that practically every denomination and every preacher is false and leads people to Hell. There are many small groups of people who say this, and I just came across one of them (whose name is Darwin Fish of A True Church, it took me years to finally reveal who he is, but please read on).
Anyway, this led me to stick my nose to the grindstone and read the Bible for myself, because I wanted to really find out for myself. That, and I wanted my discovery of theology to be MY OWN, and not that of the likes of Darwin Fish, even if we're both in agreement. Also, see Psalm 118:8, Jeremiah 17:5, and James 2:9, all of which are in this post, and all of which condemn partiality.
I indeed found many false teachers within today's Christian world. And yes, false teachers (Galatians 1:8-9) and their followers (John 10:5) are going to Hell because they don't follow Christ (Acts 4:12), the Word of God (John 1:1, John 1:14, I John 1:1-2, I John 5:7, Revelation 19:13). And yes, there were the obvious ones like Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, and the like. And there are obvious false churches, like Catholicism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and the like. But upon investigation, I found heresy in Billy Graham (look up “Billy Graham Denies Christ”, it shows him speaking a heresy with Robert Schuller on Hour of Power), Dave Ramsey (advocating building up treasure for yourself), James Dobson (advocating self-esteem), Greg Laurie (I've read his study Bible, it's full of 'God didn't really mean that' stuff), John Calvin and his followers (advocating limited atonement), J. Vernon McGee (examples of his heresies include age of accountability and twisting of Hebrews 10:26), Chuck Swindoll (advocating the essentials lie, see Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4), and many others. Those are just some of the people whose stuff I've examined.
Then there's D*d. First, an introduction: As you've guessed, his name is Douglas Crawshaw Sr., and he, at the time, preaches at First Baptist Church of Waverly, KS. He and this church are American Baptist, the denomination I grew up in, which I later renounced (Click here for what I've learned about ABC-USA).
I know what you're thinking: You're not really going to expose (Ephesians 5:11) YOUR OWN D*D, are you? Don't you believe in honoring him (Exodus 20:12)?
On the first question, I've studied his sermons, and the evidence seems clear that he is a false teacher, which is unfortunate.
On the second question, yes I do. I would never intentionally, personally say a harsh word towards him. After all, didn't Jesus repeat this verse to the Pharisees:
Mat 15:4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
(Update: I saw the Greek word for "curseth". It means to "revile". Young's Literal Translation renders this as to "speak evil of", the Hebrew of Exodus 21:17, the source text Jesus was using, renders "curseth" as to "make light of", YLT renders that as "reviling")
Yet, there is also this verse:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
(respect to persons meaning "partiality")
Despite trying to avoid partiality, in light of Matthew 15:4, do you see why I'm not so quick to denounce D*d's teachings as false, even if Scripture proves it true? However let me say this: He is not alone in these teachings. I have heard these teachings from many mainline pastors. So if Scripture proves D*d a false teacher, then Scripture also proves similar pastors as heretics.
Now, no one must ever simply denounce someone because someone else said they were false. Again, James 2:9.
On the same token, no one must ever simply take them at their word because they're family (or an extreme preacher), says the following:
Jer_17:5 Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Psa 118:8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
So, now that all that's out of the way, here are some teachings of Doug Sr., compared to Scripture:
1. Twisting of "airo" in John 15:2 To Defend Eternal Security (plus Exposing Bruce Wilkinson as a False Teacher)
(This was a private exposure I wrote a few years ago.)
As a kid, I've learned from D*d, particularly about the doctrine of
Eternal Security, or “once saved, always saved”. He cites Bible
verses like John 10:28-29 (like so many others who adhere to OSAS
do):
Joh
10:28
And
I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither
shall any
man
pluck
them out of my hand.
Joh
10:29
My
Father, which gave
them
me,
is greater than all; and no
man
is
able to pluck
them
out
of my Father's hand.
In fact, I don't
know when I heard it, but I have heard D*d say that this doctrine is
so irrefutable to him that he will take it to his grave. In other
words, he will never recant the notion that once a person believes in
Christ, no act, no lifestyle, good or ill, nothing they do, will
render that person unsaved. He has a saying “It's grace that saves
us, and it's grace that keeps us.” Now, he also acknowledges that
no believer in Christ will live like the devil, for a such a person
wasn't saved in the first place.
But is it true that a
legitimate believer can never, ever, even be considered to be going
to Hell, even if that believer is unforgiving (Matthew 18:35),
willfully living in sin (Hebrews 10:26), bearing no fruit (John
15:2), etc?
The
Teaching
D*d preached on John
15:1-8 on September 26, 2021 titled “The True Vine”. Here is the
verse in question (John 15:2):
Joh
15:2
Every
branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch
that
beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Here are the key
quotes:
21:16 Start of John
15:2 commentary
21:52 “The
branches are true believers who are in Christ and who are
legitimately part of the vine.”
22:16 (on unfruitful
branches being taken away) “The way it sounds, if a branch
doesn't produce fruit, tough cookies, the vine dresser is just going
to cut you off and be done with you. One screw-up and you're gone.”
22:29 “But the
situation is not as dire as it may seem if we look at the Greek word
which is translated as “takes away” really means. The word in
question is airō
(αἴρω
),
which literally means to “lift up”, “to take away”, or “take
up”.
Strong's dictionary says the following of the
word in question:
A
primary verb; to lift;
by implication to take
up
or away;
figuratively to raise
(the voice), keep
in suspense
(the mind); specifically to sail
away (that is, weigh
anchor);
by Hebraism (compare [H5375])
to expiate
sin: - away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt,
put away, remove, take (away, up).
So,
this is correct.
22:59
“So
what does all this mean? Well, if you permit me, let's have Dr.
Bruce Wilkinson
explain:
'In both Bible and in Greek literature, airo
never means “to cut off”. Therefore, when some Bibles render the
word as “takes away” or “cut off”, in John 15, it is an
unfortunate interpretation rather than a clear translation.'
'lift
up' suggests the image of the vine dresser leaning over to lift up a
branch.”
Let me
pause here. Mr. Wilkinson is wrong when he says that "airo"
never means "to cut off". Because Matthew 9:16 and Mark
2:21, which describes a new cloth on an old garment tearing up the
garment, also uses the Greek word "airo". The suggested
English word is "to tear". And in John 19:31 and 38, the
word "airo" is used to mean "take away", meaning
taking away the body of Jesus after His crucifixion. Now, "airo"
can be used as "lift" (John 11:41, as in "Jesus lifted
up his eyes", context nullifies Jesus "tearing" or
"taking away" his eyes in order to speak to His Father in
v. 41 and 42.), but the same Greek word is also used for many other
purposes.
September
25, 2022: I stumbled upon another use of the word "airo"
that contextually does mean "take away":
Luk
6:30
Give
to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy
goods ask
them
not
again.
Does
Luke 6:30b say "and of him that lifts up thy goods ask them not
again"? No! If, for argument's sake, the goal is to steal
something from another, what's the point of merely lifting up if
you're not going to take it with you?
Besides
all this, every other time fruitlessness is mentioned, it doesn't end
well! In the Parable of the Sower (I am using Luke's account), four
groups are mentioned. The first group never even gets a chance to
receive the Word and thus are never saved (Luke 8:12), the second
group emotionally receive the Word, but because they have no root,
they fall away in the time of temptation (v. 13), the third group
hears the Word but worldliness chokes the Word and no fruit ripens (v.
14), and the fourth group hear and understand the Word and produce
fruit (v. 15). Only the last group are those who are saved. So
based on that context, "takes away", which, by the way, is
repeated in multiple English Bible translations, is correct.
Let's
continue.
24:57
“If
for whatever reason that we're not producing fruit, the first thing
that the Father does is not to just cut us off and throw us away.
The first thing He does is to lift us up, wash the dirt from us, and
put us in a position where we might be fruitful. Granted, if we are
covered in dirt, the dirt of sin, which is preventing us from being
fruitful, the washing off is going to take a good dose of repentance
and forgiveness by God to get back to where we ought to be. And that
process might hurt, depending on how our stubbornness, my
stubbornness. As it says in Hebrews chapter 12:
'My
son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord or be weary
when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the ones He loves,
and chastises every son or daughter who He receives. It is for
discipline that you have to endure, God is treating you as His
children. For what child is there that the Father does not
discipline? For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than
pleasant. But later it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness
to those who have been trained by it.'
Luke
13:6-9 says the following:
Luk
13:6
He spake also this parable; A
certain
man
had
a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit
thereon, and found none.
Luk
13:7
Then
said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I
come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why
cumbereth it the ground?
Luk
13:8
And
he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I
shall dig about it, and dung
it:
Luk
13:9
And
if it bear fruit,
well:
and
if not,
then
after
that thou shalt cut it down.
Verses
8-9 show the intercession of the vinedresser, so it is possible that
the unfruitful (the text doesn't mention whether or not they are
believers) are worked on before they are "cut down".
Still, it misses the point: John 15:2 doesn't talk about what God
does immediately or first, it just says that God takes away the
unfruitful. No mention of when, or even how.
26:25 “Above
all else, please remember this: God does not abandon His children
when they fail. Like the vine dresser, God's main goal is, if at all
possible, to restore His children, not to destroy, and get them back
to fruitfulness. Besides, as we said earlier, these vines, these
branches are legitimately part of the vine; they are in Christ. To
be taken away implies a loss of salvation for the believer, which is
contrary to the whole notion of grace, not to mention the fact that
we are now new creatures in Christ, as Paul says. And what did Jesus
Himself say in John 10:27 and 28 in His discussion of Himself:
'I
am the Good Shepard. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never
perish, and NO ONE will snatch them out of my hand.'
Here's
the problem: "loss of salvation" is not contrary to the
notion of grace, for in Matthew 18:27, the master gave grace to the
debtor of 10,000 talents. Yet when the man showed no mercy to the
one who owed him 100 denarii in v. 30, the master reversed the grace
decision in v. 34. Jesus then says:
Mat
18:35
So
likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your
hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
And
besides, those who are of Christ will FOLLOW him (John 10:27), and
indeed shall never perish, followers are those whom Christ speaks of.
As
for being new creatures in Christ, even THEY are warned againt
apostasy ("If WE sin wilfully", as in Hebrews 10:26). Even
if salvation can never be lost among them, they are still warned.
Remember,
the WHOLE Bible must be true, and cannot be broken (John 10:35). It
must be true that a believer never perishes nor is snatched from the
hand of Christ (John 10:27-28), is sealed by the Holy Spirit
(Ephesians 1:13-14) and has forgiveness withheld, or even reversed,
if we are not forgiving towards others (Matthew 6:15, Matthew 18:35,
Mark 11:26).
Other
Examples of Truth
John
The Baptist says in Matthew 3:10:
Mat
3:10
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore
every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.
This
next passage doesn't mention unfruitfulness, but it does mention
branches of a tree, which illustrates our inclusion in Christ. Paul
says in Romans 11, concerning the grafting in of the Gentiles:
Rom
11:19
Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be
graffed in.
Rom
11:20
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by
faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom
11:21
For
if God spared not the natural branches, take
heed
lest he also spare not thee.
Rom
11:22
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which
fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if
thou continue in his
goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Look
at verse 21: It is not impossible for God to not spare wicked
branches within the tree. Again, it is true that such a fate is
impossible for true believers, but only because God makes it
impossible for them to fall away (I John 3:9). Yet, the possibility
exists, and we are to believe this because it is written.
Now
look at v. 22: The condition for staying in the tree is continuing
"in this goodness", that is, staying in the faith.
Otherwise, as it is written, we will also be "cut off".
It's that simple.
Those
destined for Heaven are eternally secure, even though they slip up
from time to time and may be slack in bearing fruit at first. And
also those who bear no fruit show that they are not even Christ's
disciples anyway (John 15:8), and in fact no true believer can bear
any fruit apart from Christ anyway (v. 4), and in fact is promised to
bear much fruit (v. 5). Those who don't abide may indeed believe
(Luke 8:13) and may indeed have present grace (Matthew 18:27), but
later on, they abandon the means of grace and end up receiving the
wrath of God (Matthew 18:35). The warnings against apostasy are for
ALL believers (like in Hebrews 10:26), however only true believers
will heed them.
2. Giving An Exception To "Turning The Other Cheek"
This issue is of how literal and how far we are to take Scripture, especially difficult parts of Scripture. For example, the teaching of "turning the other cheek":
Mat 5:38 Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
Mat 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mat 5:40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
Mat 5:41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Mat 5:42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Many people have said that this doesn't mean "becoming a doormat". D*d has said this too, many times. On September 13, 2020 (start at marker 29:21), when speaking against the revenge of Samson, D*d said the following about Matthew 5:38-42:
Now Jesus is obviously using some hyperbole here. So Jesus is not saying that we should become doormats and let people just walk over us. He's not saying, women, that you should just stay there and take it when a man is beating you. He's not saying that we have to allow ourselves to stay in a situation that is harmful to us.
Firstly, I don't single D*d out for this interpretation of Matthew 5. He's not alone in this. Many people would come to the same conclusion. The problem is that it's still heresy. To be a doormat IS turning the other cheek, and such attitude is correct.
This is why teaching that "turn the other cheek" does not mean to be a doormat or to accept abuse is heresy: Didn't not verse 39 of the "turn the other cheek" passage clearly say "resist not evil"? Isn't fighting back "resisting"? Now, don't get me wrong. Pay attention: I do NOT condone, encourage, nor accept, abuse of any kind, by man or woman. Such abuse violates I Peter 3:7, Ephesians 2:5, and the like.
However, the Word of God is the Word of God. To say that Jesus is not saying that women (or men) should just take it when someone is beating you is twisting Scripture! (similar to Proverbs 30:6)
Am I saying that the victim (woman or man) should never ask for help? Of course not! Jesus certainly never said that you can't seek help. There is certainly a time to seek help (see Deuteronomy 22:25-27 and Ecclesiastes 3:1). In the Matthew 5 passage, Jesus is simply saying "do not resist". If that means take abuse, then take abuse. I'm sorry, the Scripture is clear.
I am willing to be corrected if I am wrong in any of this. (Proverbs 6:23)
3. Promoting A Female Pastor
I Timothy 2:12 makes it clear:
"But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence." (KJV)
On November 15, 2020, when discussing the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30, v. 30 was not preached on), Doug Sr. said the following as an example:
"One of our own region, Central Region ministers Jan Smith (you may know her),
wrote one time 'I've reached a point in my life where I didn't want to
meet my lord and say, 'I never got around to that.', so I finally went
to Seminary.'"
Doug Sr. is actually promoting a female pastor,
in defiance of clear Scripture, and using her as an example to not
waste your "talents"! This emboldens the congregation to tolerate such
defiance.
That's pretty much all I got, that I'm sure of for now. (I Corinthians 13:9). Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself. (Acts 17:11) Just remember: Trust Jesus, the Word of God, for He is the only one who can save you from the fires of Hell.
