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Domestic Violence and the New IFB
Domestic Violence and the New IFB
The violence and hatred inherent in the New IFB movement is not limited to Steven Anderson’s pulpit messages and the plethora of assault videos on YouTube, as can be seen in the following examples.
On July 17, 2016, Richard Miller, an early protégé of Steven Anderson gave a sermon titled, “What A Time To Be Alive” while at Anderson’s church. During this sermon, Miller talked about what he called the “manly things”, such as shooting guns, hunting food, and fighting. According to Miller, these are what men and only men do. “It’s a manly thing to fight! It’s something that men do,” Miller said. He went on to exclaim, “if you’re a man, you oughta love to fight!”1 Miller gave this sermon after attending Anderson’s church for several years, and shortly before Anderson ordained Miller to the ministry. It seems odd that Anderson would ordain Miller as a pastor after giving a sermon such as this one, especially considering God’s word clearly states in Titus 1:7 that one of the qualifications for being a pastor is that the man is not a “striker” meaning he cannot be a contentious or pugnacious person. And, in 1 Timothy 3:3, God’s word states that a pastor can not only not be a “striker,” but also cannot be a “brawler” which is from the Greek word, amachon, meaning the person is peaceable, not prone to fighting, not contentious. In other words, Anderson’s protoge is saying one thing, and the Bible is saying the complete opposite with regard to being violent.
In spite of his obvious lack of biblical qualifications, Anderson ordained him anyway, and sent him out to Tennessee to begin “Soul Winning Baptist Church”.2 According to Anderson, with a name like that it cannot do away with soul winning, otherwise it might just as well shut down. And that is exactly what happened. Within months of being ordained and opening his new church, Miller simply walked away from the church, severing all affiliation with Anderson and his New IFB movement.3
Pastor Jonathan Shelley of Pure Words Baptist Church and the Stedfast Baptist Church group of churches, and also a protégé of Steven Anderson, takes the violence to an entirely new level, and brings it into the home when he teaches that beating and killing children is mandatory. In a sermon he gave titled, “Honour Thy Mother and They Father,”4 Shelley points to Proverbs 23:12-15 which states,
“12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. 15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.”
In his “exposition” of this passage, Shelley states that parents who refuse to discipline and correct their children are disobedient to God and actually hate their children. He claims that beating children is just as mandatory as the Ten Commandments. After reading this passage from Proverbs, Shelley goes on to say, “If ya don’t want your kids to go to hell, ya gotta beat ‘em! Ya gotta train ‘em, ya gotta chasten ‘em, ya gotta scourge ‘em! And we see very clearly from this passage, it’s not a suggestion. Verse 14, ‘Thou Shalt Beat Him,’ that’s the same as all the other Ten Commandments.”
While the passage does say a child is to be “beat...with the rod,” while the words “beat” and “rod” quite literally mean what they say, and the passage is teaching the importance of corporal punishment, the “rod” is not to be taken literally, but metaphorically. As Tedd Tripp writes in his book, “Shepherding a Child’s Heart,” “The rod is a parent, in faith toward God and faithfulness toward his or her children, undertaking the responsibility of careful, timely, measured, and controlled use of physical punishment to underscore the importance of obeying God, thus rescuing the child from continuing in his foolishness until death.”5 This would naturally refer to spanking the child. Not slapping or punching or kicking. Not hitting them in the face, the head, the back, the legs, etc. It means an open handed spank, on the bottom, with force sufficient to teach and appropriate for the age and size of the child. Texas pastor Dan Phillips says, “God has thoughtfully provided parents with a ‘bull’s-eye’ that is a well-padded area which He kept free from sensitive internal organs.”6
The late theologian R.C. Sproul wrote, “Pain can be a great teacher indeed. As any parent of a toddler will tell you, there are lessons that very young children will not learn without a spanking...Properly administered physical discipline is an act of love, and as the Bible indicates, those who spare the rod are hating their children and not showing them love and affection (Prov. 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; Heb 12:7-11)”7
The operative phrase here is “properly applied.” As noted, this means an appropriate spanking, not leaving red marks, welts, broken bones, and worse. The responsible Christian parent is able to express their love for their child through both praise and encouragement and also appropriate meaningful discipline and punishment.
Shelley, on the other hand, when preaching this passage is screaming, yelling, pounding the pulpit with full force almost as if he is imagining himself wailing on a child, with spittle frothing at the corners of his mouth. It is a frightening scene to be sure. And his admonition to his congregation, “YA GOTTA SCOURGE ‘EM!!!” is not biblical at all. To scourge someone is to whip them with a small multi-thonged whip which has pieces of wood and glass embedded in the braided leather thongs. It is designed to inflict maximum pain and blood loss as it rips pieces of flesh and muscle from the victim (in Shelley’s case a child) being scourged.
Jesus was beaten and scourged to such a degree that He was no longer recognizable as a human being. Pastor Shelley would have no doubt been very familiar with that Bible passage (Matt. 20:19; 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 18:33; John 19:1, cf. Isa. 52:14), and thus he would know exactly what scourging entailed. That he would command – not suggest, but command – that any child be scourged is beyond reprehensible. Why he, or anyone, who commands that children be beaten severely with wooden rods and whipped with a scourge as necessary to keep them from hell; who in essence is commanding child abuse from the pulpit, is even allowed to have custodial rights over any child is beyond comprehension.
And, as if beating and scourging children isn’t bad enough, Shelley goes on to tell his congregation (and every viewer of the YouTube video of his sermon) that if the beating and scourging doesn’t knock the rebelliousness out their children, then kill them. He says that lazy, video game playing, rebellious children are to be put to death. Of course, he later adds a qualifier by saying they “should” be put to death by the government. This seems to the standard qualifier used by Anderson and his New IFB movement followers when calling for the deaths of whatever group of people they are railing about at any given time. They must be put to death, but the government should do it. The death penalty is mandatory, it’s required, but the government should do it.
And this is apparently the same method of child rearing employed in the Anderson household as well. Mrs. Anderson has written extensively about problems with modern child rearing methods. In one of her blog posts she points out the benefits of the “rod of correction” and looks back longingly at her own upbringing in East Germany with “old-school grandparents.” She writes, “Not like Germany is the bedrock of strict parenting these days or even was in my days, but being from East Germany and having had 'old-school' grandparents, I was raised in times and circumstances that were decades 'behind the times'. When we were newlyweds and young parents, I was often dumbfounded by permissive American parenting, where it is a virtue among many to let kids walk rough-shod over their parents and suffer it patiently.” She goes on to write, “Kids do not turn out right overnight, and they are not lost overnight. They continue for many years on the path of right, lit by God's word, or they continue down the way of transgressors, unchecked for many years. There are a thousand parenting decisions made over the course of many years that keep kids on one path, or the other.”8
Former Faith Word church member, and executive producer of Anderson’s New World Order Bible Versions “documentary,” Paul Berg, related in a YouTube video that when Anderson was told two of his sons had bullied another boy by drawing a picture of the boy with feces on his face and calling him “poop face,” Anderson responded by beating his two sons.9 Granted, bullying should never be tolerated, but drawing a picture of another boy and calling it “poop face” is not all that unusual for young elementary school children and hardly warrants much punishment at all, much less a beating.
While Mrs. Anderson is correct in her blog post that it is important to keep children on the proper path when they are growing up, it is almost certain that beating them as her husband allegedly does, or scourging them as Jonathan Shelley does, are not proper parenting methods. Why Child Protective Services allows beatings and scourgings (which they apparently do since both the Anderson’s and the Shelley’s still have their children in their homes) is beyond understanding.
As has been briefly noted elsewhere, Zsuzsanna Anderson, the wife of Steven Anderson, has made it a point to condone spousal abuse. At least implicitly. While she does say in one of her videos that she does not recommend a woman remain in a home where the she and her children are in physical danger. She says, “obviously, if you are in danger of life or limb get out of there. Protect yourself, protect the children.” She goes on to say, “But it is a very sad situation, it is a lose-lose situation, and unfortunately I have no advice for that. I don’t know what you should do, or what would be prudent to you, other than protect yourself from physical harm.”10 This is about the extent of Zsuzsanna Anderson’s advice for someone who is in “physical danger...danger of life or limb.” Just get out and protect yourself and your children. Sound advice. But this is the limit of her sound advice to women who are married to abusive men.
According to the United States Department of Justice, there are five types of abuse possible in the home.11 They are:
1. Physical Abuse, which consists of striking someone, shoving them, or otherwise intentionally causing some form of physical injury, regardless of how slight.
2. Sexual Abuse, which consists of rape, unwanted touching of sexual areas of the body, forcibly kissing, or any forced and unwanted encounter of a sexual nature.
3. Emotional Abuse, which consists of constant unwarranted criticism, repeated name calling, repeated mockery and belittlement, undermining the victim’s relationship with their children and/or family friends and/or relatives, intentional dismissing and diminishing of the victim’s abilities and accomplishments, and other forms of verbal abuse.
4. Economic Abuse, which consists of manipulating the victim in such a manner as to make them completely financially dependent upon the abuser, by asserting complete and total control over all finances and all financial decisions, requiring the victim to request and account for any money needed for household or personal supplies, and similar behaviors involving finances.
5. Psychological Abuse, which consists of threats of harm to the victim and/or the victim’s children and or the victim’s family members and friends, destroying the victim’s property, killing or otherwise removing the victim’s pet(s) from the victim, intimidation, forced isolation from family and/or friends and/or school or work associates, or any other fear inducing behavior.
In her video, Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, Mrs. Anderson addresses all of these forms of abuse, though not in the manner you might expect from the wife of someone who is ostensibly a Christian pastor. As we have seen, she does advise those who are in physical danger of life and limb to remove themselves and their children from the abuser. And again, this is sound advice. But it is the end of her sound advice, because when she addresses the other forms of abuse, she suddenly switches gears and rather than blame the abuser for their intentionally abusive behavior, she blames the victim, the person receiving the abuse.
In her video, Mrs. Anderson says, “The short answer of what to do if you’re married to a jerk, take a long hard look in the mirror, because chances are you are the problem. … Chances are, if you are married to a jerk, the problem is you.”
If that isn’t enough of a slap in the face to the victims of spousal abuse, Mrs. Anderson goes on to say, “If you are married to a jerk, look in the mirror, because no good wife thinks, ‘I’m married to a jerk.’ Only a haughty, prideful, arrogant person who has the wrong feelings in their heart, and who does not know how to be a godly Christian would even think that. What if a child said, ‘Well, what do you do if your parent is a jerk?’ You would think, well it sounds like you have the wrong attitude toward your parents. ’Cause she [the victim] could have phrased it any which way, you know, she could have said, ‘I’m struggling in my marriage, my husband is withdrawn from me,’ but no, she decided to phrase it the way she did. If your husband is withdrawn from you it might be because you’re driving him to the corner of the housetop.”
Her video is based primarily on a woman who wrote to her asking for help. A woman who was married to an abusive man. A man whom she referred to as a jerk. The woman tells Mrs. Anderson that she and others have been trying to get her husband into counseling, and although he is now going, he does not cooperate with the counseling. This is typical behavior for an abuser once their abuse is made public. In order to “save face” and attempt to make their victim appear as if they are “making it all up,” they will go to counseling, but it only for appearances as they do not cooperate with what the counselor asks of them.
Mrs. Anderson responds by not only telling this woman that she is to blame for her husbands abusive behavior, but that she does not have to be a victim. That she is one by choice. Mrs. Anderson says all the woman has to do, all any woman has to do when they are involved in an abusive relationship that isn’t physically abusive, is understand that they have the power to influence their husbands by simply submitting. Submit to the abuser and just do what he says. Mrs. Anderson says that when a husband is abusive (again abusive though not physically so), it is usually the wife’s fault because she is not being the kind of wife her husband wants, and is therefore in rebellion against his authority, and her answer is to submit to the abuser.12 To boil down her advice to victims of emotional abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and economic abuse to a single line, it would be, “just suck it up buttercup because it’s all your fault anyway.” Lovely.
Many of those viewing Mrs. Anderson’s video are apparently so enamored with Mrs. Anderson, or her husband, or both, and apparently believe they can do no wrong, and can say no wrong. They speak glowingly of Mrs. Anderson’s advice to submit to an abusive bully spouse. One woman commented on this video, “That's something that has changed my way of seeing life and problems: i try to be the culprit (guilty party) because, then, the solution is on my hands! How liberating it is and how powerful makes you feel!!” Another person wrote, “Beautiful advice! Thank you so much for this. It was truly inspiring to me.”13 One has to wonder what flavor the Anderson Kool-Aid is that they drank.
While her video was live streamed to YouTube in July 2019, it is really nothing more than the video version of a blog post she wrote in January 2011, similarly titled, “So You’re Married To A Jerk.” In this blog article, Mrs. Anderson writes, “Chances are that the ‘victim’ in this situation made their own bed. … my personal observation has been that those who complain about their spouses...or think all the time what a jerk he is, maybe are not a pleasant person to be around themselves. Maybe it’s them who is the problem? Just hypothetically, let’s assume that a sweet, godly lady marries a nice godly guy. After they are married, completely out of the blue, he changes personalities and turns out to be a complete jerk. What should she do? Does she have any ‘recourse’?...The only biblical recourse for a horrible marriage, or any marriage for that matter, is death. If your husband is an abusive, mean, hateful, fill-in-the-blank jerk in spite of you doing your best as a wife, God can kill him whenever He wants to. If he is still alive, God must still want you to be married to him. ...If nothing else, it will be a great lesson for the kids, who hopefully will grow up and make wiser and more careful choices regarding their future spouse...”14
If this isn’t an approval, and even encouragement, of spousal abuse and violence in the home, then nothing is.
Another example of violence and hatred in the home can be seen in a video produced by Jonathan Guzman, who apparently attends Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Although the church is pastored by Steven Anderson protégé Jonathan Shelley who presents sermon after sermon filled with hatred and violence, the fact that Jonathan Guzman’s sermon was allowed and even approved of (as demonstrated by the number of hearty “amen!” and “preach it!” comments from the congregation), is evidence that the hatred and violence inherent within the New IFB is not confined to Steven Anderson’s church or his home.
Jonathan Guzman is a child. While his actual age is unknown, based on his September 2018 sermon video, he appears to be between the ages of 10 and 13. Just a child. In his sermon, young Guzman screams and rants and pounds the pulpit like any other New IFB preacher, so that is almost expected. But what he says in his eight minute “sermon” is very disturbing. He literally screams that “all scientists are sodomites” and “reprobates.”15
As noted in this work, it is a common, and almost core doctrine of the New IFB, that all homosexuals (whom they almost exclusively refer to as sodomites) are reprobate – meaning they are beyond any hope of salvation; and, that all homosexuals are to be put to death. They deserve death, they should be put to death, and the world would be a better and safer place as soon as they all die. This is standard New IFB rhetoric.
But apply that rhetoric to Jonathan Guzman’s “sermon,” which it almost certainly does apply given the New IFB influence on Guzman, and you begin to see the disturbing message that this young child is screaming from the pulpit: “All scientists are beyond the hope of salvation, and should be put to death.” This is a call, from a child, to return to the dark ages; and, it completely ignores the scientific contributions made by Christians, and the scientific aspects of Scripture itself.
That Jonathan Guzman even developed this mentality cannot be attributed solely to his attendance in a New IFB church, or even his exposure to Steven Anderson and Jonathan Shelley. It must either come from his home, or at the very least is encouraged by his parents who have allowed him to both preach this “sermon” and post it to YouTube.
Welcome to the next generation of hate and violence.
Another of Steven Anderson’s protégés, the newly ordained pastor Bruce Mejia has tried his best to excuse all the violent hatred in the New IFB, by placing the blame on God. He teaches that all of the violent hatred in the New IFB is justified because, as he puts it, God hates. So if God hates, then so can they. In his video, “Hell is Proof that God Hates” (which is a clip from his sermon “Waging War Against the Sodomites” – a typical New IFB rant), Mejia says,
“Now look. When is a time, when is it a time to love? At our church it’s Sunday afternoon. It’s on Thursdays, it’s on Saturdays. What is that? Preaching the gospel. Spend a good amount of hours out there, you know, talking about the love of God. Look, the Bible tells us, ‘Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee, and-that-I-gree* with those that rise up against thee, I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies.’ Now don’t miss this. The Bible tells us here that David – this is a very bold statement – he hates them with perfect hatred. What does perfect mean in the Bible? It means complete.
“Now look. I’ve known preachers of times past, they hated some things. But their hatred was incomplete. You know why? Because we’re supposed to hate sin, amen? Supposed to hate sin. We’re supposed to hate what sin does to people. But you know what? A perfect hatred also includes hating those who hate the Lord. [several in the crowd say, “that’s right!”] And what David’s basically saying here is, he has a complete mature hatred! He hates sin. He hates evil. He hates those who hate the Lord. ‘[you say] I don’t believe God hates.’ Have you heard of hell? [most of the crowd says yeah, yeah, and chuckle] You think it’s like just all roses and daisies, it’s just, the heater’s turned on [crowd laughs]. It’s hell [more laughing and people saying “yeah”].
“We need to recognize and stop, you know, having this weird perception that God is only love but He’s no hate. Hey, God is love and heaven is the expression of that. Everlasting life is the expression of that. Jesus Christ coming to die for us is the expression of that. But you know what? God also hates! Hell’s the proof! [crowd raises its voice with “Yeah” and “That’s right!”] God also hates! Damnation is proof! [Crowd gives its agreement] The Bible says in Psalm 97, verse 10, ‘Ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the souls of th..the saints, He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.’ Romans 12:9 says ‘let love be without dissimulation! Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.’ You know what this is telling us? That a hypocritical love is a love that claims that it don’t, that they don’t hate. That’s what that’s saying.
“You know, I forgot what preacher said, he’s like, ‘Oh, you can’t say that you love everyone, if you love everyone, if you said you love everyone, you love nobody [crowd shares its agreement with, yeah, yeah, that’s right] and that’s fact [crowd: that’s right]. Because in order to love someone, there has to be an equal amount of hatred for those who would even desire to harm them.”16
[*One would think a preacher, a so-called “evangelist” (and recently ordained pastor) such as Bruce Mejia, would not slur his words when reciting God’s word. He should have said, “and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?” instead of “and-that-I-gree* with those that rise up against thee.”]
But are we to hate others with “a perfect hatred,” a “mature hatred,” as Bruce Mejia claims? Perhaps the best person to answer this question is our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
This was not a new teaching that Jesus was introducing here in His Sermon on the Mount, but rather a reiteration of God’s law as found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”
“Thou shalt”. Not a suggestion, but rather a command. “Love thy neighbour” which means not just the person living next door, but fellow citizens, other people.
And Jesus again reiterated this when He gave what the Bible calls the two greatest commandments:
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
Again, “Thou shalt” demonstrates that this is not simply a suggestion, but rather it is a commandment. “Love thy neighbour.” The word here is, plēsion, which means any other person. It is the same word used in the Apostle Paul’s exposition of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:36-40. Paul writes, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)
Again, the word used here is plésion (πλησίον), and refers not simply to someone living in the house next door, but as Thayer’s Greek Lexicon points out, “any other person, … thy fellow-man, thy neighbor, … according to the teaching of Christ, any other man irrespective of race or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet (which idea is clearly brought out in the parable Luke 10:25-37).”17
As with many passages of Scripture, the New IFB gets biblical hate all wrong. They simply don’t understand it; or, don’t want to understand it. They prefer their own understanding, their own definition of biblical hate because they can apply it to their favorite past time which seems to be hating others. Unfortunately, they are using the Bible, or at least their faulty understanding of the Bible, to justify their sinful hatred. And sin is exactly what it is, for it is in direct contradiction to God’s repeated command to love their fellow human beings.
Biblical hatred is not an expression of emotion such as with the New IFB, but rather it is to count someone as an enemy and show them disfavor. This is not to say you don’t help them if they need help, nor is it to say you should not love them. You simply do not love them as you love someone close to you such as a family member or a friend or a brother or sister in the Lord. You favor them with fellowship, but you do not show that kind of favor with an enemy, and that is what biblical hatred is. And this is what Psalm 139:21-22 teaches:
“Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”
Hating with a perfect hatred does not mean hating with a complete hatred as Bruce Mejia teaches; it means hating with the same kind of hatred that God has (“Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?). And how does God “hate” them that hate Him? He counts them as His enemies, and that is what the Psalmist clearly states. Those that hate God are those who are at enmity with Him, and those that hate God are also at enmity with God’s children. This is what the Psalmist is saying in Psalm 139:21-22. Those who treat God as an enemy will soon learn that God will treat them as an enemy as well.
It is disfavor that God exhibits when Scripture teaches that God “hates” someone. It means He is at odds with them, they are His enemy, and He does not show them any favor. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated” (Romans 9:13). This does not mean that God harbored some emotional dislike for Esau, but rather that Esau was His enemy. Just as Esau still received general blessings such as good weather, good crops, etc.; those whom God counts as an enemy, those He disfavors, God does not favor them with fellowship and the love He has for His children. God does not rant and rail against homosexuals, and Mormons, and Calvinists, and Jeff Durbin, and James White, and Adam Fannin, and scientists calling them all reprobate that He hopes they all get brain cancer and die slow horrible deaths.
Yet that is what Steven Anderson and his New IFB do, and they try to justify their hatred by saying God hates they way they do, that they are simply reflecting God’s hatred, that they are hating the way God hates. No. No they are not. They are hating more the way Satan hates, than the way God hates, as Scripture clearly teaches. They are in sin with their hatred. Grossly immoral sin. They are living in open rebellion against God, in direct disobedience to God. They are hating the way the world hates. They are being just exactly like the world in this regard, and Scripture speaks about that as well. James 4:4 states, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” And the New IFB, by acting like the world, is living in enmity with God, and is, therefore, an enemy of God.
Now let’s review that CABQ (Christian Attitude & Behavior Quotient) which we examined at the beginning of this section, and determine just were Steven Anderson and his New IFB rate. Remember this is based on Romans 12:14-21, which states,
“14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Does Steven Anderson, or anyone else in the New IFB exhibit these God-commanded attitudes and behaviors? Romans 12:14-21 can be broken down into thirteen questions we can call the “Christian Attitude and Behavior Quotient” test. Of course, this particular test is based only on this particular passage. If we were to employ all of Scripture the test would be significantly longer, and likely biased against Anderson and his New IFB. Therefore, we will stick with this “abbreviated” version. A quotient is a degree or amount of a specified quality or characteristic. So the higher the score on this “CABQ” test, the more Christian, or Christlike, the subject is.
1. Do they bless those who persecute them?
2. Do they refrain from cursing those who persecute them?
3. Do they rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep?
4. Are they impartial and of the same mind toward one another?
5. Do they avoid self-seeking, prideful attitudes?
6. Do they associate with the humble?
7. Are they wise in their own conceits, thinking themselves better or more spiritual or more righteous than others who profess Christ?
8. Are they vindictive and vengeful, repaying evil with evil?
9. Are they honest and respectful, providing these things to ALL men?
10. Do they live peaceably with ALL men?
11. Are they content to trust the Lord to avenge any and all wrongdoing done to them?
12. Do they care for the physical and spiritual needs of their enemies?
13. Do they overcome evil with good?
To score this Christian Attitude and Behavior Quotient, or CABQ test, each correct answer is awarded one point, and each incorrect answer is awarded one negative point. Therefore, the best possible score is 13 (indicating the most Christlike based on this passage), and the worst possible score is 13 (indicating the least Christlike based on this passage). For example, if you are able to answer twelve questions correctly, you would have a score of 12; but by answering one question incorrectly, you would deduct one point, leaving you with a score of 11. If you answer ten questions correctly you would have a score of 10; but, answering the remaining three questions incorrectly means you deduct three points, leaving you with a score of 7. Christians should be able to answer yes to all of these questions except for numbers 7 and 8, which should be answered no. Granted, no one is perfect, and each Christian will be at a different level of maturity. Therefore, having even a low CABQ of 1 or 2 might indicate a relatively low level of Christian maturity, while a CABQ of 12 or 13 might indicate a very high level of Christian maturity. It is clear, that based on Romans 12:14-21, Steven Anderson and his New IFB would score at about -13. The worst possible score. This is not a personal determination alone, but a comparison of the teachings and behaviors of Anderson and the New IFB.
Other passages which can be used to compare Steven Anderson and his New IFB to Scripture, which also reveal just how far removed the New IFB actually is from God and the Bible, are: Proverbs 25:21; Philippians 2:14-15; Ephesians 4:29; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 John 3:7-10; 1 John 4:21; Luke 10:25-37; Luke 6:28; Romans 8:7-8; Proverbs 17:5; Psalms 1:1; 1 Corinthians 5:11,13; 1 Peter 3:8-12; Romans 1:28-32; Romans 14:1.
Part 3h Sources:
1. Christian Men Should Love to Fight
Elliott Ray
Published on Jul 18, 2016
A clip from the sermon, "What a Time to be Alive", preached by brother Richard Miller at Faithful Word Baptist Church on the night of 07-17-16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hl3Da6n-a4
Accessed 29 September 2019
2. Richard Miller Pastor Ordination (Faithful Word Baptist Church)
Wendy Davis
Published on Oct 16, 2016
Sunday Night October the 16th of 2016 Richard Miller is officially ordained as a pastor and will be pastoring in Nashville Tennessee and his First Service will be a week from today. We wish you the best and will keep you in our prayers and most definitely plan on a visit. God Bless you Brother.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76XT0GT32v4
Accessed 29 September 2019
3. We Need More Soul-winning Churches
By Steven Anderson, Wednesday, November 9, 2016
http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2016/11/we-need-more-soul-winning-churches.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20190930022959/http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2016/11/we-need-more-soul-winning-churches.html
Accessed 29 September 2019
In April 2017, Anderson wrote a blog article for his online blog titled, Don't Quit the Ministry [by Steven Anderson, Friday, April 21, 2017, http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2017/04/dont-quit-ministry.html, accessed 29 September 2019, archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20190930023110/http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2017/04/dont-quit-ministry.html] which he clearly aimed at Richard Miller. In the article Anderson wrote, “A lot of guys go out and start a church and then quit, and it’s a tragedy because we need more churches. If you are a young man who wants to become a pastor or missionary, you need to decide right now that you are going to finish what you start. When I started Faithful Word Baptist Church, it was hard. I had to knock a lot of doors to get visitors, and most of them didn’t stick.” In an ironic twist, an anonymous commentor wrote, “It was sad to see what happened with Soulwinning Baptist Nashville. ...Richard Miller preached some excellent sermons even back at FWBC.... The problem that I saw throughout all his sermons, which I now believe to be a pointer to what happened in Nashville, is that he never did lift up his voice like a trumpet. He stuck out like a clarinet between Pastor Romero's piercing bugle and Pastor Manly's booming tuba. I'm not knocking Richard as a Christian, but I just think his voice style pointed to his ability (perhaps not his willingness) to stand up and fight the good fight. I have more confidence in Brother Tyler's chances of success in Jacksonville because he does cry out loud indeed.” As we have seen in this series, both Tyler Baker and Donnie Romero failed in their ministries. And, like Richard Miller, both were hand picked and ordained and sent out by Steven Anderson.
4. Honour They Father and Thy Mother
Stedfast Baptist Church
Published January 20, 2019
https://youtu.be/5KWOXWg7UYo
Accessed 29 September 2019
Parents Are Commanded By God to Spank Their Children
Stedfast Baptist Church [Jonathan Shelley]
Published on Jan 21, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3vBKX-8vao
Accessed 29 September 2019
Rebellious Teenagers Are Worthy of Death
Stedfast Baptist Church
Published on Jan 21, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIns-wVlrw4
Accessed 29 September 2019
5. Shepherding a Child's Heart Paperback, by Tedd Tripp (Author), Published by Shepherd Press (1995)
6. God's Wisdom in Proverbs by Dan Phillips Published by Kress Biblical Resources (September 15, 2011)
7. “Discipline’s Cleansing Rod” by R.C. Sproul, First published in Tabletalk Magazine, an outreach of Ligonier. For permissions, view our Copyright Policy. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/disciplines-cleansing-rod/
8. Radical Unschooling
By Zsuzsanna Anderson, Tuesday, December 19, 2017
http://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2017/12/radical-unschooling.html
Accessed 29 September 2019
9. ARE THEY ALL YOUR BULLIES Pastor Steven Anderson Raising Bullies
Tylah Baker
Published on Jun 13, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnu70-FWeHU&feature=youtu.be
Accessed 29 September 2019
10. Video: Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, by Zsuzsanna Anderson, Streamed live on Jul 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BEgyE3uug, accessed 29 September 2019
11. Article: 5 types of abuse, Domestic Violence FAQ, Published April 9, 2015, Updated April 16, 2015, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/features/domestic-violence/2015/04/09/5-types-of-abuse-domestic-violence-faq/25520519/, contains information from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Center for Victims of Crime, and WomensLaw.org. Accessed 29 September 2019
12. Video: Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, by Zsuzsanna Anderson, Streamed live on Jul 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BEgyE3uug, accessed 29 September 2019
13. Ibid comments section
14. Article: So you're married to a jerk…, by Zsuzusanna Anderson, January 18, 2011, https://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/so-youre-married-to-jerk.html, accessed 29 September 2019
15. Science Falsely so Called Bro Jonathan Jr
Stedfast Baptist Church
Sep 12, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnzSqmVUywY
Accessed 29 September 2019
"Science Falsely So Called" 10 min Sermon by Jonathan Guzman
Guzman 1611
Oct 26, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQlE2t_IIjU
Accessed 29 September 2019
To his credit, at least somewhat, young Guzman makes an attempt to soften his stance by stating in the video description, “I miss spoke [sic] when I said, ‘All these scientists are sodomites.’ But of course most are, but there are plenty of Bible believing scientists.”
16. Hell is proof God hates
sanderson1611
Published on Jun 19, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NREhKg0VlhY
Accessed 29 September 2019
This is an excerpt from “Waging War Against The Sodomites”
Faithful Word Baptist Church
Published on Jun 19, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kma7wIP81ZI
Accessed 29 September 2019
17. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by Joseph Henry Thayer, American Book Company, 1889, pp 518-519
On July 17, 2016, Richard Miller, an early protégé of Steven Anderson gave a sermon titled, “What A Time To Be Alive” while at Anderson’s church. During this sermon, Miller talked about what he called the “manly things”, such as shooting guns, hunting food, and fighting. According to Miller, these are what men and only men do. “It’s a manly thing to fight! It’s something that men do,” Miller said. He went on to exclaim, “if you’re a man, you oughta love to fight!”1 Miller gave this sermon after attending Anderson’s church for several years, and shortly before Anderson ordained Miller to the ministry. It seems odd that Anderson would ordain Miller as a pastor after giving a sermon such as this one, especially considering God’s word clearly states in Titus 1:7 that one of the qualifications for being a pastor is that the man is not a “striker” meaning he cannot be a contentious or pugnacious person. And, in 1 Timothy 3:3, God’s word states that a pastor can not only not be a “striker,” but also cannot be a “brawler” which is from the Greek word, amachon, meaning the person is peaceable, not prone to fighting, not contentious. In other words, Anderson’s protoge is saying one thing, and the Bible is saying the complete opposite with regard to being violent.
In spite of his obvious lack of biblical qualifications, Anderson ordained him anyway, and sent him out to Tennessee to begin “Soul Winning Baptist Church”.2 According to Anderson, with a name like that it cannot do away with soul winning, otherwise it might just as well shut down. And that is exactly what happened. Within months of being ordained and opening his new church, Miller simply walked away from the church, severing all affiliation with Anderson and his New IFB movement.3
Pastor Jonathan Shelley of Pure Words Baptist Church and the Stedfast Baptist Church group of churches, and also a protégé of Steven Anderson, takes the violence to an entirely new level, and brings it into the home when he teaches that beating and killing children is mandatory. In a sermon he gave titled, “Honour Thy Mother and They Father,”4 Shelley points to Proverbs 23:12-15 which states,
“12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. 15 My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.”
In his “exposition” of this passage, Shelley states that parents who refuse to discipline and correct their children are disobedient to God and actually hate their children. He claims that beating children is just as mandatory as the Ten Commandments. After reading this passage from Proverbs, Shelley goes on to say, “If ya don’t want your kids to go to hell, ya gotta beat ‘em! Ya gotta train ‘em, ya gotta chasten ‘em, ya gotta scourge ‘em! And we see very clearly from this passage, it’s not a suggestion. Verse 14, ‘Thou Shalt Beat Him,’ that’s the same as all the other Ten Commandments.”
While the passage does say a child is to be “beat...with the rod,” while the words “beat” and “rod” quite literally mean what they say, and the passage is teaching the importance of corporal punishment, the “rod” is not to be taken literally, but metaphorically. As Tedd Tripp writes in his book, “Shepherding a Child’s Heart,” “The rod is a parent, in faith toward God and faithfulness toward his or her children, undertaking the responsibility of careful, timely, measured, and controlled use of physical punishment to underscore the importance of obeying God, thus rescuing the child from continuing in his foolishness until death.”5 This would naturally refer to spanking the child. Not slapping or punching or kicking. Not hitting them in the face, the head, the back, the legs, etc. It means an open handed spank, on the bottom, with force sufficient to teach and appropriate for the age and size of the child. Texas pastor Dan Phillips says, “God has thoughtfully provided parents with a ‘bull’s-eye’ that is a well-padded area which He kept free from sensitive internal organs.”6
The late theologian R.C. Sproul wrote, “Pain can be a great teacher indeed. As any parent of a toddler will tell you, there are lessons that very young children will not learn without a spanking...Properly administered physical discipline is an act of love, and as the Bible indicates, those who spare the rod are hating their children and not showing them love and affection (Prov. 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; Heb 12:7-11)”7
The operative phrase here is “properly applied.” As noted, this means an appropriate spanking, not leaving red marks, welts, broken bones, and worse. The responsible Christian parent is able to express their love for their child through both praise and encouragement and also appropriate meaningful discipline and punishment.
Shelley, on the other hand, when preaching this passage is screaming, yelling, pounding the pulpit with full force almost as if he is imagining himself wailing on a child, with spittle frothing at the corners of his mouth. It is a frightening scene to be sure. And his admonition to his congregation, “YA GOTTA SCOURGE ‘EM!!!” is not biblical at all. To scourge someone is to whip them with a small multi-thonged whip which has pieces of wood and glass embedded in the braided leather thongs. It is designed to inflict maximum pain and blood loss as it rips pieces of flesh and muscle from the victim (in Shelley’s case a child) being scourged.
Jesus was beaten and scourged to such a degree that He was no longer recognizable as a human being. Pastor Shelley would have no doubt been very familiar with that Bible passage (Matt. 20:19; 27:26; Mark 15:15; Luke 18:33; John 19:1, cf. Isa. 52:14), and thus he would know exactly what scourging entailed. That he would command – not suggest, but command – that any child be scourged is beyond reprehensible. Why he, or anyone, who commands that children be beaten severely with wooden rods and whipped with a scourge as necessary to keep them from hell; who in essence is commanding child abuse from the pulpit, is even allowed to have custodial rights over any child is beyond comprehension.
And, as if beating and scourging children isn’t bad enough, Shelley goes on to tell his congregation (and every viewer of the YouTube video of his sermon) that if the beating and scourging doesn’t knock the rebelliousness out their children, then kill them. He says that lazy, video game playing, rebellious children are to be put to death. Of course, he later adds a qualifier by saying they “should” be put to death by the government. This seems to the standard qualifier used by Anderson and his New IFB movement followers when calling for the deaths of whatever group of people they are railing about at any given time. They must be put to death, but the government should do it. The death penalty is mandatory, it’s required, but the government should do it.
And this is apparently the same method of child rearing employed in the Anderson household as well. Mrs. Anderson has written extensively about problems with modern child rearing methods. In one of her blog posts she points out the benefits of the “rod of correction” and looks back longingly at her own upbringing in East Germany with “old-school grandparents.” She writes, “Not like Germany is the bedrock of strict parenting these days or even was in my days, but being from East Germany and having had 'old-school' grandparents, I was raised in times and circumstances that were decades 'behind the times'. When we were newlyweds and young parents, I was often dumbfounded by permissive American parenting, where it is a virtue among many to let kids walk rough-shod over their parents and suffer it patiently.” She goes on to write, “Kids do not turn out right overnight, and they are not lost overnight. They continue for many years on the path of right, lit by God's word, or they continue down the way of transgressors, unchecked for many years. There are a thousand parenting decisions made over the course of many years that keep kids on one path, or the other.”8
Former Faith Word church member, and executive producer of Anderson’s New World Order Bible Versions “documentary,” Paul Berg, related in a YouTube video that when Anderson was told two of his sons had bullied another boy by drawing a picture of the boy with feces on his face and calling him “poop face,” Anderson responded by beating his two sons.9 Granted, bullying should never be tolerated, but drawing a picture of another boy and calling it “poop face” is not all that unusual for young elementary school children and hardly warrants much punishment at all, much less a beating.
While Mrs. Anderson is correct in her blog post that it is important to keep children on the proper path when they are growing up, it is almost certain that beating them as her husband allegedly does, or scourging them as Jonathan Shelley does, are not proper parenting methods. Why Child Protective Services allows beatings and scourgings (which they apparently do since both the Anderson’s and the Shelley’s still have their children in their homes) is beyond understanding.
As has been briefly noted elsewhere, Zsuzsanna Anderson, the wife of Steven Anderson, has made it a point to condone spousal abuse. At least implicitly. While she does say in one of her videos that she does not recommend a woman remain in a home where the she and her children are in physical danger. She says, “obviously, if you are in danger of life or limb get out of there. Protect yourself, protect the children.” She goes on to say, “But it is a very sad situation, it is a lose-lose situation, and unfortunately I have no advice for that. I don’t know what you should do, or what would be prudent to you, other than protect yourself from physical harm.”10 This is about the extent of Zsuzsanna Anderson’s advice for someone who is in “physical danger...danger of life or limb.” Just get out and protect yourself and your children. Sound advice. But this is the limit of her sound advice to women who are married to abusive men.
According to the United States Department of Justice, there are five types of abuse possible in the home.11 They are:
1. Physical Abuse, which consists of striking someone, shoving them, or otherwise intentionally causing some form of physical injury, regardless of how slight.
2. Sexual Abuse, which consists of rape, unwanted touching of sexual areas of the body, forcibly kissing, or any forced and unwanted encounter of a sexual nature.
3. Emotional Abuse, which consists of constant unwarranted criticism, repeated name calling, repeated mockery and belittlement, undermining the victim’s relationship with their children and/or family friends and/or relatives, intentional dismissing and diminishing of the victim’s abilities and accomplishments, and other forms of verbal abuse.
4. Economic Abuse, which consists of manipulating the victim in such a manner as to make them completely financially dependent upon the abuser, by asserting complete and total control over all finances and all financial decisions, requiring the victim to request and account for any money needed for household or personal supplies, and similar behaviors involving finances.
5. Psychological Abuse, which consists of threats of harm to the victim and/or the victim’s children and or the victim’s family members and friends, destroying the victim’s property, killing or otherwise removing the victim’s pet(s) from the victim, intimidation, forced isolation from family and/or friends and/or school or work associates, or any other fear inducing behavior.
In her video, Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, Mrs. Anderson addresses all of these forms of abuse, though not in the manner you might expect from the wife of someone who is ostensibly a Christian pastor. As we have seen, she does advise those who are in physical danger of life and limb to remove themselves and their children from the abuser. And again, this is sound advice. But it is the end of her sound advice, because when she addresses the other forms of abuse, she suddenly switches gears and rather than blame the abuser for their intentionally abusive behavior, she blames the victim, the person receiving the abuse.
In her video, Mrs. Anderson says, “The short answer of what to do if you’re married to a jerk, take a long hard look in the mirror, because chances are you are the problem. … Chances are, if you are married to a jerk, the problem is you.”
If that isn’t enough of a slap in the face to the victims of spousal abuse, Mrs. Anderson goes on to say, “If you are married to a jerk, look in the mirror, because no good wife thinks, ‘I’m married to a jerk.’ Only a haughty, prideful, arrogant person who has the wrong feelings in their heart, and who does not know how to be a godly Christian would even think that. What if a child said, ‘Well, what do you do if your parent is a jerk?’ You would think, well it sounds like you have the wrong attitude toward your parents. ’Cause she [the victim] could have phrased it any which way, you know, she could have said, ‘I’m struggling in my marriage, my husband is withdrawn from me,’ but no, she decided to phrase it the way she did. If your husband is withdrawn from you it might be because you’re driving him to the corner of the housetop.”
Her video is based primarily on a woman who wrote to her asking for help. A woman who was married to an abusive man. A man whom she referred to as a jerk. The woman tells Mrs. Anderson that she and others have been trying to get her husband into counseling, and although he is now going, he does not cooperate with the counseling. This is typical behavior for an abuser once their abuse is made public. In order to “save face” and attempt to make their victim appear as if they are “making it all up,” they will go to counseling, but it only for appearances as they do not cooperate with what the counselor asks of them.
Mrs. Anderson responds by not only telling this woman that she is to blame for her husbands abusive behavior, but that she does not have to be a victim. That she is one by choice. Mrs. Anderson says all the woman has to do, all any woman has to do when they are involved in an abusive relationship that isn’t physically abusive, is understand that they have the power to influence their husbands by simply submitting. Submit to the abuser and just do what he says. Mrs. Anderson says that when a husband is abusive (again abusive though not physically so), it is usually the wife’s fault because she is not being the kind of wife her husband wants, and is therefore in rebellion against his authority, and her answer is to submit to the abuser.12 To boil down her advice to victims of emotional abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, and economic abuse to a single line, it would be, “just suck it up buttercup because it’s all your fault anyway.” Lovely.
Many of those viewing Mrs. Anderson’s video are apparently so enamored with Mrs. Anderson, or her husband, or both, and apparently believe they can do no wrong, and can say no wrong. They speak glowingly of Mrs. Anderson’s advice to submit to an abusive bully spouse. One woman commented on this video, “That's something that has changed my way of seeing life and problems: i try to be the culprit (guilty party) because, then, the solution is on my hands! How liberating it is and how powerful makes you feel!!” Another person wrote, “Beautiful advice! Thank you so much for this. It was truly inspiring to me.”13 One has to wonder what flavor the Anderson Kool-Aid is that they drank.
While her video was live streamed to YouTube in July 2019, it is really nothing more than the video version of a blog post she wrote in January 2011, similarly titled, “So You’re Married To A Jerk.” In this blog article, Mrs. Anderson writes, “Chances are that the ‘victim’ in this situation made their own bed. … my personal observation has been that those who complain about their spouses...or think all the time what a jerk he is, maybe are not a pleasant person to be around themselves. Maybe it’s them who is the problem? Just hypothetically, let’s assume that a sweet, godly lady marries a nice godly guy. After they are married, completely out of the blue, he changes personalities and turns out to be a complete jerk. What should she do? Does she have any ‘recourse’?...The only biblical recourse for a horrible marriage, or any marriage for that matter, is death. If your husband is an abusive, mean, hateful, fill-in-the-blank jerk in spite of you doing your best as a wife, God can kill him whenever He wants to. If he is still alive, God must still want you to be married to him. ...If nothing else, it will be a great lesson for the kids, who hopefully will grow up and make wiser and more careful choices regarding their future spouse...”14
If this isn’t an approval, and even encouragement, of spousal abuse and violence in the home, then nothing is.
Another example of violence and hatred in the home can be seen in a video produced by Jonathan Guzman, who apparently attends Stedfast Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Although the church is pastored by Steven Anderson protégé Jonathan Shelley who presents sermon after sermon filled with hatred and violence, the fact that Jonathan Guzman’s sermon was allowed and even approved of (as demonstrated by the number of hearty “amen!” and “preach it!” comments from the congregation), is evidence that the hatred and violence inherent within the New IFB is not confined to Steven Anderson’s church or his home.
Jonathan Guzman is a child. While his actual age is unknown, based on his September 2018 sermon video, he appears to be between the ages of 10 and 13. Just a child. In his sermon, young Guzman screams and rants and pounds the pulpit like any other New IFB preacher, so that is almost expected. But what he says in his eight minute “sermon” is very disturbing. He literally screams that “all scientists are sodomites” and “reprobates.”15
As noted in this work, it is a common, and almost core doctrine of the New IFB, that all homosexuals (whom they almost exclusively refer to as sodomites) are reprobate – meaning they are beyond any hope of salvation; and, that all homosexuals are to be put to death. They deserve death, they should be put to death, and the world would be a better and safer place as soon as they all die. This is standard New IFB rhetoric.
But apply that rhetoric to Jonathan Guzman’s “sermon,” which it almost certainly does apply given the New IFB influence on Guzman, and you begin to see the disturbing message that this young child is screaming from the pulpit: “All scientists are beyond the hope of salvation, and should be put to death.” This is a call, from a child, to return to the dark ages; and, it completely ignores the scientific contributions made by Christians, and the scientific aspects of Scripture itself.
That Jonathan Guzman even developed this mentality cannot be attributed solely to his attendance in a New IFB church, or even his exposure to Steven Anderson and Jonathan Shelley. It must either come from his home, or at the very least is encouraged by his parents who have allowed him to both preach this “sermon” and post it to YouTube.
Welcome to the next generation of hate and violence.
Another of Steven Anderson’s protégés, the newly ordained pastor Bruce Mejia has tried his best to excuse all the violent hatred in the New IFB, by placing the blame on God. He teaches that all of the violent hatred in the New IFB is justified because, as he puts it, God hates. So if God hates, then so can they. In his video, “Hell is Proof that God Hates” (which is a clip from his sermon “Waging War Against the Sodomites” – a typical New IFB rant), Mejia says,
“Now look. When is a time, when is it a time to love? At our church it’s Sunday afternoon. It’s on Thursdays, it’s on Saturdays. What is that? Preaching the gospel. Spend a good amount of hours out there, you know, talking about the love of God. Look, the Bible tells us, ‘Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee, and-that-I-gree* with those that rise up against thee, I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies.’ Now don’t miss this. The Bible tells us here that David – this is a very bold statement – he hates them with perfect hatred. What does perfect mean in the Bible? It means complete.
“Now look. I’ve known preachers of times past, they hated some things. But their hatred was incomplete. You know why? Because we’re supposed to hate sin, amen? Supposed to hate sin. We’re supposed to hate what sin does to people. But you know what? A perfect hatred also includes hating those who hate the Lord. [several in the crowd say, “that’s right!”] And what David’s basically saying here is, he has a complete mature hatred! He hates sin. He hates evil. He hates those who hate the Lord. ‘[you say] I don’t believe God hates.’ Have you heard of hell? [most of the crowd says yeah, yeah, and chuckle] You think it’s like just all roses and daisies, it’s just, the heater’s turned on [crowd laughs]. It’s hell [more laughing and people saying “yeah”].
“We need to recognize and stop, you know, having this weird perception that God is only love but He’s no hate. Hey, God is love and heaven is the expression of that. Everlasting life is the expression of that. Jesus Christ coming to die for us is the expression of that. But you know what? God also hates! Hell’s the proof! [crowd raises its voice with “Yeah” and “That’s right!”] God also hates! Damnation is proof! [Crowd gives its agreement] The Bible says in Psalm 97, verse 10, ‘Ye that love the Lord hate evil. He preserveth the souls of th..the saints, He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.’ Romans 12:9 says ‘let love be without dissimulation! Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.’ You know what this is telling us? That a hypocritical love is a love that claims that it don’t, that they don’t hate. That’s what that’s saying.
“You know, I forgot what preacher said, he’s like, ‘Oh, you can’t say that you love everyone, if you love everyone, if you said you love everyone, you love nobody [crowd shares its agreement with, yeah, yeah, that’s right] and that’s fact [crowd: that’s right]. Because in order to love someone, there has to be an equal amount of hatred for those who would even desire to harm them.”16
[*One would think a preacher, a so-called “evangelist” (and recently ordained pastor) such as Bruce Mejia, would not slur his words when reciting God’s word. He should have said, “and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?” instead of “and-that-I-gree* with those that rise up against thee.”]
But are we to hate others with “a perfect hatred,” a “mature hatred,” as Bruce Mejia claims? Perhaps the best person to answer this question is our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45)
This was not a new teaching that Jesus was introducing here in His Sermon on the Mount, but rather a reiteration of God’s law as found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”
“Thou shalt”. Not a suggestion, but rather a command. “Love thy neighbour” which means not just the person living next door, but fellow citizens, other people.
And Jesus again reiterated this when He gave what the Bible calls the two greatest commandments:
“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40)
Again, “Thou shalt” demonstrates that this is not simply a suggestion, but rather it is a commandment. “Love thy neighbour.” The word here is, plēsion, which means any other person. It is the same word used in the Apostle Paul’s exposition of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 22:36-40. Paul writes, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10)
Again, the word used here is plésion (πλησίον), and refers not simply to someone living in the house next door, but as Thayer’s Greek Lexicon points out, “any other person, … thy fellow-man, thy neighbor, … according to the teaching of Christ, any other man irrespective of race or religion with whom we live or whom we chance to meet (which idea is clearly brought out in the parable Luke 10:25-37).”17
As with many passages of Scripture, the New IFB gets biblical hate all wrong. They simply don’t understand it; or, don’t want to understand it. They prefer their own understanding, their own definition of biblical hate because they can apply it to their favorite past time which seems to be hating others. Unfortunately, they are using the Bible, or at least their faulty understanding of the Bible, to justify their sinful hatred. And sin is exactly what it is, for it is in direct contradiction to God’s repeated command to love their fellow human beings.
Biblical hatred is not an expression of emotion such as with the New IFB, but rather it is to count someone as an enemy and show them disfavor. This is not to say you don’t help them if they need help, nor is it to say you should not love them. You simply do not love them as you love someone close to you such as a family member or a friend or a brother or sister in the Lord. You favor them with fellowship, but you do not show that kind of favor with an enemy, and that is what biblical hatred is. And this is what Psalm 139:21-22 teaches:
“Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? And am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.”
Hating with a perfect hatred does not mean hating with a complete hatred as Bruce Mejia teaches; it means hating with the same kind of hatred that God has (“Do I not hate them, O LORD, that hate thee?). And how does God “hate” them that hate Him? He counts them as His enemies, and that is what the Psalmist clearly states. Those that hate God are those who are at enmity with Him, and those that hate God are also at enmity with God’s children. This is what the Psalmist is saying in Psalm 139:21-22. Those who treat God as an enemy will soon learn that God will treat them as an enemy as well.
It is disfavor that God exhibits when Scripture teaches that God “hates” someone. It means He is at odds with them, they are His enemy, and He does not show them any favor. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated” (Romans 9:13). This does not mean that God harbored some emotional dislike for Esau, but rather that Esau was His enemy. Just as Esau still received general blessings such as good weather, good crops, etc.; those whom God counts as an enemy, those He disfavors, God does not favor them with fellowship and the love He has for His children. God does not rant and rail against homosexuals, and Mormons, and Calvinists, and Jeff Durbin, and James White, and Adam Fannin, and scientists calling them all reprobate that He hopes they all get brain cancer and die slow horrible deaths.
Yet that is what Steven Anderson and his New IFB do, and they try to justify their hatred by saying God hates they way they do, that they are simply reflecting God’s hatred, that they are hating the way God hates. No. No they are not. They are hating more the way Satan hates, than the way God hates, as Scripture clearly teaches. They are in sin with their hatred. Grossly immoral sin. They are living in open rebellion against God, in direct disobedience to God. They are hating the way the world hates. They are being just exactly like the world in this regard, and Scripture speaks about that as well. James 4:4 states, “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” And the New IFB, by acting like the world, is living in enmity with God, and is, therefore, an enemy of God.
Now let’s review that CABQ (Christian Attitude & Behavior Quotient) which we examined at the beginning of this section, and determine just were Steven Anderson and his New IFB rate. Remember this is based on Romans 12:14-21, which states,
“14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Does Steven Anderson, or anyone else in the New IFB exhibit these God-commanded attitudes and behaviors? Romans 12:14-21 can be broken down into thirteen questions we can call the “Christian Attitude and Behavior Quotient” test. Of course, this particular test is based only on this particular passage. If we were to employ all of Scripture the test would be significantly longer, and likely biased against Anderson and his New IFB. Therefore, we will stick with this “abbreviated” version. A quotient is a degree or amount of a specified quality or characteristic. So the higher the score on this “CABQ” test, the more Christian, or Christlike, the subject is.
1. Do they bless those who persecute them?
2. Do they refrain from cursing those who persecute them?
3. Do they rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep?
4. Are they impartial and of the same mind toward one another?
5. Do they avoid self-seeking, prideful attitudes?
6. Do they associate with the humble?
7. Are they wise in their own conceits, thinking themselves better or more spiritual or more righteous than others who profess Christ?
8. Are they vindictive and vengeful, repaying evil with evil?
9. Are they honest and respectful, providing these things to ALL men?
10. Do they live peaceably with ALL men?
11. Are they content to trust the Lord to avenge any and all wrongdoing done to them?
12. Do they care for the physical and spiritual needs of their enemies?
13. Do they overcome evil with good?
To score this Christian Attitude and Behavior Quotient, or CABQ test, each correct answer is awarded one point, and each incorrect answer is awarded one negative point. Therefore, the best possible score is 13 (indicating the most Christlike based on this passage), and the worst possible score is 13 (indicating the least Christlike based on this passage). For example, if you are able to answer twelve questions correctly, you would have a score of 12; but by answering one question incorrectly, you would deduct one point, leaving you with a score of 11. If you answer ten questions correctly you would have a score of 10; but, answering the remaining three questions incorrectly means you deduct three points, leaving you with a score of 7. Christians should be able to answer yes to all of these questions except for numbers 7 and 8, which should be answered no. Granted, no one is perfect, and each Christian will be at a different level of maturity. Therefore, having even a low CABQ of 1 or 2 might indicate a relatively low level of Christian maturity, while a CABQ of 12 or 13 might indicate a very high level of Christian maturity. It is clear, that based on Romans 12:14-21, Steven Anderson and his New IFB would score at about -13. The worst possible score. This is not a personal determination alone, but a comparison of the teachings and behaviors of Anderson and the New IFB.
Other passages which can be used to compare Steven Anderson and his New IFB to Scripture, which also reveal just how far removed the New IFB actually is from God and the Bible, are: Proverbs 25:21; Philippians 2:14-15; Ephesians 4:29; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 John 3:7-10; 1 John 4:21; Luke 10:25-37; Luke 6:28; Romans 8:7-8; Proverbs 17:5; Psalms 1:1; 1 Corinthians 5:11,13; 1 Peter 3:8-12; Romans 1:28-32; Romans 14:1.
Part 3h Sources:
1. Christian Men Should Love to Fight
Elliott Ray
Published on Jul 18, 2016
A clip from the sermon, "What a Time to be Alive", preached by brother Richard Miller at Faithful Word Baptist Church on the night of 07-17-16.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hl3Da6n-a4
Accessed 29 September 2019
2. Richard Miller Pastor Ordination (Faithful Word Baptist Church)
Wendy Davis
Published on Oct 16, 2016
Sunday Night October the 16th of 2016 Richard Miller is officially ordained as a pastor and will be pastoring in Nashville Tennessee and his First Service will be a week from today. We wish you the best and will keep you in our prayers and most definitely plan on a visit. God Bless you Brother.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76XT0GT32v4
Accessed 29 September 2019
3. We Need More Soul-winning Churches
By Steven Anderson, Wednesday, November 9, 2016
http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2016/11/we-need-more-soul-winning-churches.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20190930022959/http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2016/11/we-need-more-soul-winning-churches.html
Accessed 29 September 2019
In April 2017, Anderson wrote a blog article for his online blog titled, Don't Quit the Ministry [by Steven Anderson, Friday, April 21, 2017, http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2017/04/dont-quit-ministry.html, accessed 29 September 2019, archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20190930023110/http://sanderson1611.blogspot.com/2017/04/dont-quit-ministry.html] which he clearly aimed at Richard Miller. In the article Anderson wrote, “A lot of guys go out and start a church and then quit, and it’s a tragedy because we need more churches. If you are a young man who wants to become a pastor or missionary, you need to decide right now that you are going to finish what you start. When I started Faithful Word Baptist Church, it was hard. I had to knock a lot of doors to get visitors, and most of them didn’t stick.” In an ironic twist, an anonymous commentor wrote, “It was sad to see what happened with Soulwinning Baptist Nashville. ...Richard Miller preached some excellent sermons even back at FWBC.... The problem that I saw throughout all his sermons, which I now believe to be a pointer to what happened in Nashville, is that he never did lift up his voice like a trumpet. He stuck out like a clarinet between Pastor Romero's piercing bugle and Pastor Manly's booming tuba. I'm not knocking Richard as a Christian, but I just think his voice style pointed to his ability (perhaps not his willingness) to stand up and fight the good fight. I have more confidence in Brother Tyler's chances of success in Jacksonville because he does cry out loud indeed.” As we have seen in this series, both Tyler Baker and Donnie Romero failed in their ministries. And, like Richard Miller, both were hand picked and ordained and sent out by Steven Anderson.
4. Honour They Father and Thy Mother
Stedfast Baptist Church
Published January 20, 2019
https://youtu.be/5KWOXWg7UYo
Accessed 29 September 2019
Parents Are Commanded By God to Spank Their Children
Stedfast Baptist Church [Jonathan Shelley]
Published on Jan 21, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3vBKX-8vao
Accessed 29 September 2019
Rebellious Teenagers Are Worthy of Death
Stedfast Baptist Church
Published on Jan 21, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIns-wVlrw4
Accessed 29 September 2019
5. Shepherding a Child's Heart Paperback, by Tedd Tripp (Author), Published by Shepherd Press (1995)
6. God's Wisdom in Proverbs by Dan Phillips Published by Kress Biblical Resources (September 15, 2011)
7. “Discipline’s Cleansing Rod” by R.C. Sproul, First published in Tabletalk Magazine, an outreach of Ligonier. For permissions, view our Copyright Policy. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/disciplines-cleansing-rod/
8. Radical Unschooling
By Zsuzsanna Anderson, Tuesday, December 19, 2017
http://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2017/12/radical-unschooling.html
Accessed 29 September 2019
9. ARE THEY ALL YOUR BULLIES Pastor Steven Anderson Raising Bullies
Tylah Baker
Published on Jun 13, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lnu70-FWeHU&feature=youtu.be
Accessed 29 September 2019
10. Video: Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, by Zsuzsanna Anderson, Streamed live on Jul 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BEgyE3uug, accessed 29 September 2019
11. Article: 5 types of abuse, Domestic Violence FAQ, Published April 9, 2015, Updated April 16, 2015, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/features/domestic-violence/2015/04/09/5-types-of-abuse-domestic-violence-faq/25520519/, contains information from the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Center for Victims of Crime, and WomensLaw.org. Accessed 29 September 2019
12. Video: Mothering Moment - What to do if you're married to a jerk, by Zsuzsanna Anderson, Streamed live on Jul 19, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5BEgyE3uug, accessed 29 September 2019
13. Ibid comments section
14. Article: So you're married to a jerk…, by Zsuzusanna Anderson, January 18, 2011, https://stevenandersonfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/so-youre-married-to-jerk.html, accessed 29 September 2019
15. Science Falsely so Called Bro Jonathan Jr
Stedfast Baptist Church
Sep 12, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnzSqmVUywY
Accessed 29 September 2019
"Science Falsely So Called" 10 min Sermon by Jonathan Guzman
Guzman 1611
Oct 26, 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQlE2t_IIjU
Accessed 29 September 2019
To his credit, at least somewhat, young Guzman makes an attempt to soften his stance by stating in the video description, “I miss spoke [sic] when I said, ‘All these scientists are sodomites.’ But of course most are, but there are plenty of Bible believing scientists.”
16. Hell is proof God hates
sanderson1611
Published on Jun 19, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NREhKg0VlhY
Accessed 29 September 2019
This is an excerpt from “Waging War Against The Sodomites”
Faithful Word Baptist Church
Published on Jun 19, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kma7wIP81ZI
Accessed 29 September 2019
17. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament by Joseph Henry Thayer, American Book Company, 1889, pp 518-519
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