The Pathway That Leads to Death
| Name: | Craig Etheredge |
| Organization: | First Colleyville |
| Address: | 5300 Colleyville Boulevard |
| City, State, Zip | Colleyville, Texas 76034 |
| Website: | http://www.firstcolleyville.com/ |
| Facebook: | https://www.facebook.com/firstcolleyville/ |
Craig Etheredge describes himself as a “gifted communicator, author, and Bible teacher.” He advertises his many theological degrees presuming that earthly, carnal accomplishment establishes spiritual authority. He does many “good works” for his community including broadcasting Morning Thrive devotionals on his radio program, which impacts thousands of souls in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. However, in his preaching, he teaches many false doctrines that contradict the life and testimony of Jesus Christ and His saints.
Craig Etheredge’s church, First Colleyville, is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, and have adopted their doctrine from the SBC’s statement of convictions, titled The Baptist Faith and Message.
The fact that Craig is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention immediately tells us he is not a man sent of God. God does not appoint denominationalists as His messengers. Where in Scripture do you find men of God partisan or members of a denomination? Indeed, the apostle Paul condemns denominationalism:
1 Corinthians 3:3-9 MKJV
(3) For you are yet carnal. For in that there is among you envyings and strife and divisions, are you not carnal, and do you not walk according to men?
(4) For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal?
(5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each?
(6) I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
(7) So then neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
(8) So he planting, and he watering, are one, and each one shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
(9) For of God we are fellow-workers, a field of God, and you are a building of God.
Consider also how Etheredge’s denomination by its very name emphasizes water baptism. Isn’t it all about the spiritual baptism, the spiritual birth? John the Immerser said:
“I indeed baptize you with water to repentance. But He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire; whose fan is in His hand, and He will cleanse His floor and gather His wheat into the storehouse; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12 MKJV).
He was saying, “Yes, I’m immersing you in water, BUT, that’s nothing compared to what HE’S going to do, baptizing you in the Spirit – and fire!”
The apostle Paul said to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:14-17 MKJV
(14) I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
(15) lest any should say that I had baptized in my own name.
(16) And I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides these, I do not know if I baptized any other.
(17) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel; not in wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
But as a Southern Baptist disciple, Craig says, “Hey! I’m going to baptize as many as I know how to. Y’all gotta be baptized in water or we won’t have fellowship with you. It’s the only way you can be part of the local Church or Body of Christ – water baptism.”
Far cry from what Paul was saying, isn’t it? Southern Baptists recoil from the term, “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” not because Christendom has seen the abuse of the term but because the vast majority of Christendom has never experienced the new birth and what’s more, wants nothing to do with the Lord.
Wasn’t it denominations, such as the Pharisees and Sadducees that persecuted the Lord and His followers? As Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, those believing on the Lord Jesus Christ must, and will, leave their “kingdoms” for the Kingdom of the Lord, leaving behind the kingdoms of men, as did Saul of Tarsus:
Philippians 3:1-11 MKJV
(1) Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is indeed not grievous to me, but for you it is safe.
(2) Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision party.
(3) For we are the circumcision who worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh;
(4) though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other thinks that he has reason to trust in the flesh, I more.
(5) I was circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews. As regards the Law, I was a Pharisee;
(6) concerning zeal, persecuting the church; regarding the righteousness in the Law, blameless.
(7) But whatever things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
(8) But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ
(9) and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness, which is of the Law, but through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith,
(10) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death;
(11) if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.
So much for man’s credentials and honors, which are abomination in God’s sight.
False Doctrines Taught
1) You Can "Accept" Jesus Christ as Your Personal Savior
From http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp:Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.
Response:Essentially First Colleyville teaches that salvation is directed by man’s willingness to accept God’s free gift of salvation. In contrast, The Lord Jesus Christ states that truly ‘no man seeks after God’. Craig is attributing righteousness to man – that he can accept the gift of salvation, when the Lord states that there is none that does right, none seek after Him. The Lord Alone is the one who calls sinners to repentance as He did with Saul of Tarsus and all others.
“You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you..” (John 15:16 MKJV).
“And John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from Heaven” (John 3:27 MKJV).
See the diabolical doctrine of “Accepting” Jesus Christ as Your Personal Savior
2) Never-ending Torment
From http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp:God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.”
Response:Craig teaches that the wicked are resurrected in new bodies only to burn for eternity in an everlasting, burning, fiery pit.
See the diabolical doctrine of Never-ending Torment.
3) Christmas Is a Biblical Christian Celebration
From https://vimeo.com/194850169:At the 3:38 mark, Craig says “The real meaning of Christmas is not the gifts under the tree, but the gift of Jesus Christ.”
Response:It sounds rather virtuous and Christ-pleasing to proclaim the “true meaning of Christmas,” but God wants us to have nothing to do with such mixture that the world so loves (tell me the world doesn’t love Christmas). The reality is that Christmas, according to pagan custom, which came long before Christ, is the celebration of the birth of the anti-Christ at the winter solstice. The “Christmas” event goes all the way back to Semiramis, widow of Nimrod and mother of “born again” Tammuz.
And oh, people, what a curse there is on partakers of this terrible event, yet they so enjoy their death and destruction as though it were very life. And Easter celebrates pagan queen Semiramis, commonly known as Easter/Ishtar/Ashtoreth, the “queen of Heaven” and “mother of God.”
Notice who’s called “mother of God” today? Yes, none other than Mary, mother of Jesus. It is a sleight of hand by heathendom, a substitution, an act of smoke and mirrors, deceiving the naïve and ignorant into “worshipping they know not what,” as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well.
See Diabolical Doctrine: Christmas Is a Biblical Christian Celebration
4) The Trinity (God Is Three Persons)
From http://www.firstcolleyville.com/mission-beliefs:There is one, and only one, living and true God. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Response:As light immediately dispels darkness, so when a man comes to the Life, the Light of men, Jesus Christ, the darkness and confusion of the doctrine of the Trinitarians will be forever dispelled as his mind becomes the Mind of Christ.
See the diabolical doctrine, The Trinity (God Is Three Persons), and read in our section, The Trinity.
5) Some Are Predestinated to Burn in Hell Forever
From http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp:The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.
Response:See the Christ-defamatory, character assassinating diabolical doctrine of Never-ending Torment.
Marks of a Cult
1) Money Solicitation
From http://www.firstcolleyville.com/give:Giving tithes and offerings is an act of worship that makes it possible for us to show God’s love and minister according His calling. All gifts are subject to our gifts acceptance policy.
Response:2) Government Registration
From http://charitycheck101.org/report/?id=751369356:| Organization name | FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF COLLEYVILLE |
| EIN (employer identification number) | 751369356 |
| Street address | 5405 Pleasant Run Rd |
Summary
Craig is just another preacher who presents his message with big lights, ‘worship bands’, and extravagant baptism events. To attract crowds, the show must go on. After all, it’s all about numbers; the more congregants baptized, the more Godly is the church. And is it God or the pastor who is glorified? And it’s not about “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved,” but men by all their glorious machinations.
Being in his position ordained of men and not God, Craig teaches several false doctrines and has deceived many naive souls to believe he is sent by God. He solicits financial gain from his followers while teaching them abominable, yet well-known and accepted lies about their Creator. He advocates for the celebration of pagan gods in the Name of Jesus Christ. He perverts the Blessed Gospel of Grace, turning it into a highly deceptive gospel of iniquity. Of Craig and his church:
“‘Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.’ With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him. All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.” (Proverbs 7:18-23 ESV)