Exposing the IFB: Pastor Steven Anderson

Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Phoenix is no stranger to controversy or militant rhetoric.

He is a pastor in the loosely organized Indepdent Fundamental Baptist network, and his teachings and public statements are the most extreme and bizarre I have ever seen from any leader in the IFB cult.

In 2009 he said that he prays for the death of President Obama:

"I hope that God strikes Barack Obama with brain cancer so he can die like Ted Kennedy and I hope it happens today,"

He is militantly homophobic, saying that not only should homosexuality be illegal, but that gays should be executed, and that gays supposedly "recruit" children into homosexuality through rampant sexual abuse:

You want to know who the biggest hypocrite in the world is? The biggest hypocrite in the world is the person who believes in the death penalty for murderers and not for homosexuals. Hypocrite.

The same God who instituted the death penalty for murderers is the same God who instituted the death penalty for rapists and for homosexuals - sodomites, queers! That's what it was instituted for, okay? That's God, he hasn't changed."

They recruit through rape. They recruit through molestation. They recruit through violation. They are infecting our society.

They are spreading their disease. It's not a physical disease, it's a sin disease , it's a wicked, filthy sin disease and it's spreading on a rampage. Can't you see that it's spreading on a rampage?

 He is very anti-government, and has links to the militant "Patriot" and "sovereign citizen" movements, and was tasered after refusing a request to search his car by Border Patrol agents.

He also refused to follow local officer's commands during a traffic stop in separate incident,  he recorded the events and posted the video to Youtube.

Like the rest of the IFB cult, he doesn't have a very high view of women, here's a few quotes from a sermon of his, credit to prominent atheist blogger The Friendly Atheist for posting the video with highlights:

Some women don’t even spend 40 hours a week taking care of their family! Their children and husband suffer!

 The Bible says cooking for your family is what you’re supposed to be doing! What else are you doing that’s so important, anyway? “Farmland”?! “Bejewel me”?! Facebook?!

Listening to women who talk back and argue with you is like experiencing Chinese water torture and Waterboarding. Given the choice, I’d rather experience Chinese Water Torture.

 He also condemns public schools in this video, IFB members always home school their children, or send them to private schools ran by their churches, to avoid what they see as cultural decadence, anti-Christian teachings and "brainwashing":

You’re too busy to homeschool your kids? “I don’t even understand why you even have children if you’re gonna just drop ‘em off at the government school so they can be brainwashed to be a wicked, god-hating pervert. And I’m not saying that’s how they’re gonna turn out, but that’s the goal of that system, to make ‘em turn out that way!”

Like other IFB ministers, he is opposed to any form of modern media or music. he even takes issue with the rather bland and family friendly TV of the 1950's-1970's, here's his rant about of all shows, The Andy Grffith Show,  and The Odd Couple, :

From the beginning, the producers of television have had an agenda. Even in the most “harmless” of shows, alternative lifestyles are being promoted. Consider, for example, “The Andy Griffith Show.” The show centers around a single parent who lives with his aunt. Admittedly, his wife supposedly died, and he is not divorced. However, we are still being desensitized to the idea of a single parent which is neither the norm nor God’s plan. The show also features a character, Gomer Pile, who is played by a man who is a homosexual in real life.

Consider the show “The Odd Couple” from the 1960’s. Aside from sinful content, we are being exposed to an alternative lifestyle of two men living together as roommates. Genesis 2:24 tells us God’s normal plan, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Although neither man in the show is a homosexual, this show was obviously a forerunner of the sitcoms of today which feature homosexual characters.

If you can see what is wrong with the above examples from forty years ago, you probably do not need me to go into what is wrong with the themes found in today’s television programming.

 As is typical with fundamentalists, he is very obsessed with sex. In a 2006 statement on the church website, he makes it clear that he thinks that the only reason a man would become a gynecologist is because, well of course, he must be a pervert!

Jeremiah 17:9 reads, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”  What kind of a man would go into a profession of examining women’s private parts?  Don’t tell me that he is not made of the same sinful flesh that every other man is made of.  No man can look at pornographic images and not be affected.  This is why God commands us repeatedly to set no wicked thing before our eyes.

Because of years and years of looking at and touching scores of women inappropriately, the male gynecologist no doubt has a seared conscience and a perverted mind (I will not go into detail of what goes on in the doctor’s office for decency’s sake, but any woman who has been there knows what I am referring to.).  His view of women and the marital bed has certainly been warped by his indecent involvement with countless women.

Pastor Anderson believes that god is concerned about how men urinate, and urinating in certain ways is "sinful"  (yes I'm serious):

 For more about the Independent Fundamental Baptist cult, check out these past posts of mine on churches, institutions and prominent leaders, or check out my page blog page on this group, with past posts and resources for more information:

Bill Gothard and Advanced Training Institute

Bob Jones University

A 20/20 Report on the IFB

Micheal and Debi Pearl

Credit to Bruce Gerencser and The Friendly Atheist for some of the links and information contained in this post. Read Bruce's report on Steve Anderson here.