A Fishy Story
Recently a reader reminded me of a teacher by the name of - yes, it's his real name - Darwin Fish. He pastors a small church called, strangely enough, A True Church, formerly called God's Word Fellowship. His view of salvation is so narrow that he says
If you are involved with the kind of Christianity that views the "church of Christ" or Billy Graham, or Rick Warren, or Joel Osteen, or James Dobson, or Pat Robertson, or John MacArthur, or Tony Evans, or Greg Laurie, or Charles Stanley, or Chuck Smith, or Fred Price, or Vernon McGee, or Charles Blake, or Chuck Swindoll, or T. D. Jakes, or David Jeremiah or Charles Spurgeon or Dave Hunt or David W. Cloud or Robert Schuller...or Chuck Colson, or C. S. Lewis...or any of the like (or any of the likes on "Christian" TV or radio) as godly men, you are not saved. Why? Because, you are on the broad way (Matthew 7:13; 2 Peter 2:2; 2 Timothy 4:3). You have not the characteristic of Christ's sheep (John 10:5). And, men such as these are wells without water (2 Peter 2:17).
...False teachers, like those mentioned above, teach that amongst saved Christians there is a wide spectrum of conflicting doctrines and this manifests itself as differing forms of Christianity....False teachers create this delusion by holding to some form of creed, creeds, essentials, fundamentals, or core belief that supposedly unifies all true believers. If one stays within the bounds of this central belief, often called "orthodox Christianity," or "historic Christianity" (e.g. Christianity In Crisis, p. 31, 43), then a person is considered to be in the truth. And, other doctrines that the Bible addresses are counted as peripheral issues (or "secondary" or "non-essential") and are perceived as matters that do not pertain to salvation (e.g. ibid., p. 47).
Check out his website a little further, and he cannot name any other teachers in the history of the church who were saved. Under Frequently Asked Questions, he writes:
1. Are you the only true church/believers?
We do not know. There was a church in Murfreesboro, TN, but that has since dissolved. Other than that, we have not yet, as of this date, found another church that is in the truth (1 John 4:6), and we have been to many. Will we find one? Actually, the real question is, will Christ find one?
In regards to other Christians, we believe there may be at least one Rechabite (Jeremiah 35:18-19) and other believers on the planet (Romans 11:2-5). But, we have yet to meet any other disciples of Christ who we are convinced are among those who continue in the faith (Romans 2:7; 1 John 2:3-5). We long to meet other saints, but the days we live in are dark (Revelations 12:9), and most are deceived (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3; 2 Peter 2:2). To our recollection, we have only met one believer that was already in the truth before they met us, and in this case, they had just recently repented. Other than this one exception, everyone we have met has been in some way caught in the deceit of this age (2 Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3; 2 Peter 2:2). We ourselves were caught in such deception, but the Lord delivered us from those who speak perverse things; and He continues to deliver us (Proverbs 2:12).
Q2. Is Darwin Fish the only true pastor in the world?
Please read question #1.
Q3. Can you name any other true believers/teachers in history since the early church (100 AD) until now?
No, and some are aghast that we would answer in such a way. They erroneously conclude, therefore, that we must be a cult. But, here again is another man-made standard by which fools judge (Matthew 7:1-2). Where in the Word of God does it say we should be able to name true believers of the past? Nowhere. For a more detailed response to this question, see our article, Believers Of The Past.
He reminds me of the Westboro Baptist Church (God Hates Fags), but we can't have that, can we? So he speaks out against them as well. Apparently a former Jehovah's Witness, he condemns the celebration of Christmas, and maintains that the Trinity "Falls Short of the Glory of God."
posted by Bob Hunter @ Tuesday, November 14, 2006
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