The Gospel of Hate

Earlier I posted a short audio clip of Steve Anderson preaching against gospel recording artist Bill Gaither. What I said about him there was just the tip of the iceberg. Steve (I can't muster enough respect to call him Mr. Anderson, and he is certainly no pastor, so I will not call him Pastor Anderson, either) is a perfect example of a leader in the gospel of hate.

For those of you who have never heard of Steve, you can find out more about him and his "church" at this website. That is, if you can stomach it. Steve is, among other things, a King James Version Only advocate, an opponent of such "false" doctrines as Calvinism, Lordship Salvation, Predestination, etc., a firm believer in "manliness", and a man who truly believes that all gay people are destined for Hell, regardless of whether or not they repent.

I'll respond to a few of his points in seperate posts, but this post is mainly about Steve himself. I honestly didn't think that men like Steve existed, or if they did, they were old and set in their ways. Not so. Steve was born in 1981. He's never been to seminary, in fact believes seminary to be evil, but does have most of the Bible memorized. Somehow he thinks this qualifies him to be a pastor. I'm gonna memorize Grey's Anatomy and then demand to be made Surgeon General.

Steve is a modern-day Pharisee whose chief accomplishment is arming himself with a large-enough shield of false interpretation that he'll never listen to what anyone has to say that differs from his opinion.

First of all, he starts off with the assumption that the 1611 KJV is the only true word of God. He will except no argument on the matter, and will automatically reject anyone who teaches from any other translation as evil and corrupt. Secondly, he states that no one can teach you to understand the Bible except the Holy Spirit. This means that even if you use the 1611 KJV, if your opinion differs from his, then you are not truly listening to the Holy Spirit and are leading people astray. Then he reads from the Bible, makes a huge leap in translation from what's actually being said to what Steve would like it to say, and then says that if you want to get mad at him for saying it, you should instead get mad at God because "it's in the Bible".

Finally, he loves 1 John 3:13, which says "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." He believes that this is a commandment of God that being "loved by the World" is in itself proof that you aren't really saved. "Loved by the World", as interpreted by Steve, means "appreciated by any large group of people." So, if you attack him, then by Steve's logic, he's all that more blessed of God, because the World hates him. If he ever reads this blog, it will roll right off his back. The fact that I'm against him just makes me worldly.

Now, the logic of that is a real doozy of a circular argument. So...Steve is right because everyone's against him. What does that say about his congregation? Is the fact that some people obviously DO agree with him not an indication that Steve's doing something wrong? Or are they just not worldly? By what definition are they not worldly, while I and others like me are? I don't look that different from men in Steve's church. My hair is short, my clothes are conservative, I sing and appreciate many of the hymns that Steve's church does. I even own, and read, a King James Bible. But I also listen to modern-sounding music and am not afraid to watch movies or television, so therefore I'm worldly. Bet you anything others in Steve's congregation also own and watch a television. If they love Steve, Steve must not be saved.

Plus, what about people who don't love Steve, but he later leads them to Christ? How does he know that these people didn't just lead him astray by loving him? For that matter, what about all those churches he's linked to who all agree with his teaching? That's...what, over 1000 people? Clearly Steve isn't saved, then.

Steve, that verse you love so much isn't trying to say that being hated by the World is proof you're saved, nor is it proof that you're not if you do have large numbers of people who agree with you. That verse is a warning that those who hate God will hate you for preaching Him. It's a preparation for those who are going into ministry. Steve has twisted it into a ruling by God that if too many people like what you have to say, then by definition you're saying the wrong thing. It's a defense, because Steve knows he's being "persecuted" by a LOT of people. As long as he believes this, he'll never be persuaded to listen to someone else.

Let's talk for a minute about Steve's idea that his memorization of scripture is all that's necessary. First of all, memorization is not the same as exegesis, and secondly, learning the words doesn't at all mean you understand the spirit. When Steve twists a Bible passage around and then says "don't get mad at me, it's in the Bible", he's misleading people into believing the Bible actually says what he twists it to say, or takes verses out of context to try and make them say.

For example, in one of Steve's more infamous "sermons", he takes the passage in 1 Kings 14:10, which says "Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall..." Now, one who has studied this verse, rather than just being aware of it thanks to memorization, will understand that God is saying he's going to DESTROY "he that pisseth against the wall", which is a degrading term for men. Yes, other translations do translate this as "all the men" or "all the sons" of Jeroboam, which does sort of dampen the impact of just how little regard God had for the men of the house of Jeroboam, but Steve misses the point entirely.

In Steve's little world, this is a call by God for men to pee standing up. At no point are they allowed to sit down, or they're not really men. He rips on the New American Standard version for changing this to "male persons", because he sees the word "male" as somehow less masculine than "man". He says "I'm a man, I'm not just a 'male'", and says that what is wrong with a majority of the world is that men aren't allowed to pee standing up.

What's strange is, Steve himself reads the part that says God's going to DESTROY these men, cut them off from their house. This is not an encouragement to "piss against the wall", this is an INSULT from God to the men of the house of Jeroboam. He reads this, loud and strong like he likes to do...and then he ignores it. He ignores EVERYTHING about the verse except "he that pisseth against the wall."

What further proof do we need that mere memorization does not make one an authority on a given subject? One should particularly not treat a subject like the Bible so lightly as to believe that mere memorization can provide understanding.

Going on, Steve is obsessed with manliness, to the point of calling anyone he feels isn't manly enough a "wuss, "sissy" or "pansy." This includes a fictional character, the pastor on Little House on the Prairie. In his sermon against Little House, Steve does not elaborate on why that pastor is a pansy, nor does he provide scripture reference as to why the pastor is a pansy, or why Steve is able to call him one, he just simply says "That pansy of a pastor is the worst thing on TV". His version of "manliness" apparently means showing no kindness or gentleness. He criticizes TV pastors as being "not manly" because they're always so nice. I fear for his wife and children.

I could go on and on about Steve's lack of true Biblical preaching, and in some future posts I will expound on some of his more egregious statements, but the main thing I want to point out in this post is total absense in Steve's "ministry" of the love of Christ. Steve's gospel is the gospel of hate. In his hands, the Bible becomes a weapon with which he can attack those he hates, which include, basically, everybody. All his sermons are preaching "against" something, and reminding us of what we need to get rid of in our daily lives. He preaches against nearly every other pastor or Christian speaker, author, songwriter, etc., that exists, or once existed. He has a whole webpage dedicated to attacking any pastor who believes in Lordship Salvation, which seems to include nearly every pastor in the world that isn't him. I have never once seen him preach about God's love, what God's calling us to do, what wonders God can work in our lives. I never hear him talk about grace, mercy, compassion or forgiveness. In Steve's world, the Fruit of the Spirit is apparently hate, anger, war, impatience, judgement, condemnation, arrogance, pitilessness, and rowdy behaviour. He is a picture of these things. There is no love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness or self control about him.

He is the total opposite of everything this blog is promoting. He places himself before God, his own goodness before grace, and claims sinlessness. He is a picture of everything this blog was created to fight against: The gospel of hate.