The Sinful Ministry of Steven Anderson
If you haven't heard yet about the monstrous sermon by "Pastor" Steven Anderson of the Faithful Word Baptist Church, you may be of a rapidly decreasing minority. The unapologetic, eagerly confessed hate speech that spews from this man who proclaims himself to be a vessel for the word of god had some rather vile and at times downright ignorant things to say about the events in Paris this past Friday. The most popular of which is this near six minute diatribe that could possibly be the most misinformed sermon I have yet to hear in my life.
For starters, Mr. Anderson seems to be pretty bent out of shape on the naming conventions of musical groups. He seems confused over the title 'Queens of the Stone Age' because it is an all male group, and holds some particular concerns about the band that performed at the Bataclan the night of the attacks, 'Eagles of Death Metal'. Poor Pastor Anderson seems to have a predisposition to take things quite literally when he speaks here, which is coincidentally also one of the most obvious characteristics of extreme fundamentalists - specifically the types that like to go blowing things and people up - but I digress.
A good deal of this fluff is a wide eyed critique of fans in skinny pink jeans being drawn into a party atmosphere with the lead singer of EODM, and proclaiming how he is evidently a self confessed meth and marijuana user. (I also need to mention that I found it hilarious that Anderson was later stuck on these skinny pink jeans. He mentions them a few times again toward the end of the sermon with no real significance other than possibly trying to emphasize that even the fans of the band were likely "hillbilly faggots", which is what this self proclaimed man of god refers to Jesse Hughes as being.)
Whether Hughes is gay or not, I neither know nor care. After the events, and the stupidity of this pastor, I took the time to listen to some of Eagles of Death Metal's songs and honestly found them to be quite charming, if a little overly hyped sexually (the videos are at least; the songs by themselves are a lot of fun). There's not a shred (pun not intended) of "death metal" elements in their music at all. This goes to show me and hopefully others that Anderson did not even give a quick second to research this superbly small detail of his sermon about how death metal music warrants the violence it supposedly inspires. (I'm sure if we were able to ask any of the ISIS attackers, not a single one of them had ever heard a EODM song - yet they were the proprietors of the attack.)
With such little (or no) research dedicated to this detail, which could have easily been offset by a three minute viewing on YouTube, one must wonder how little research Anderson does on larger concepts that he preaches on, such as the abortion rates of France, which he later goes on about because this, among other things, is what makes France a 'wicked nation, deserving of these attacks.'
Anderson quickly and somewhat confusingly devolves into a proclamation of equating the attendance of a death metal concert to worshipping Satan. I presume we, and to a smaller extent, the congregation, are to believe that the concert goers were then deserving of having been injured or killed because... one, the lead singer enjoyed Meth, and two, he revealed that the best time and place to obtain said substances was around 5AM at a gay bar.
"There's something about when you go to a concert of death metal... somebody might get killed! You're worshipping death!"
Evidently, god will punish you based entirely upon your associations even if you have absolutely no knowledge of the past of the person(s) in question. As it were, I highly doubt most of the concert goers knew any of this. It was a Friday night in one of the oldest and most popular cities in the world. Chances are very high that this concert was just a place for the youth of the city to enjoy while celebrating the beginning of the weekend. I don't know this for sure, but I'm not so old as to have forgotten what the youth of major urban areas like to do in their spare time. Regardless, to state that these people deserved what happened to them based on this is beyond reprehensible. No one deserves to die for attending a concert regardless of the genre of music. Very few human beings deserve to die period, and even on those very few who probably do deserve death, I'm not terribly eager to deal out that judgement - unless I find myself stuck behind them in early morning traffic.
Apparently the Bible dictates that "just hanging around with the wrong people can get you destroyed". By this measure of logic then, you're probably best just walling yourself away from society entirely. Don't associate with anyone out of fear that you will be punished for their dark and insidious past, even if you have no prior knowledge of it. Don't we all wish that Pastor Anderson had taken this to heart?
Question, Pastor Anderson: if our deaths are acceptable based on the company that we keep, is it perhaps possible that Jesus did not die for our sins, but was simply crucified/put to death because he failed to keep the Sabbath and was often found in the company of lepers, harlots, tax collectors and thieves? Perhaps then, Jesus got what he deserved based on biblical law, and we/you have been living steeped in a lie ever since?
Anderson goes on in the full sermon that you can see here.
At 15:50 the sermon becomes disconcertingly xenophobic, and then heavily blanketed with irrelevant yet constant criticisms on adultery - as if this is the biggest sin to ever be committed, or even applicable in this instance. He goes so far as to make the asinine statement that he would rather be dead than have his wife cheat on him, and demonizes France further by citing incorrect poll results about public opinion of the topic in that and other relatively comparable countries. This flares up the suspicion that not only is Steven Anderson gay, but he's likely already partaken of - and enjoyed - the sinful fruits of the 'other tree'.
My favorite line in all of this is towards the end of the sermon where, if you listen closely, Anderson can clearly be heard saying France "is a bad example of what not to do." I suppose double negatives and the irony of their application is likely lost to him and his congregation here.
For starters, Mr. Anderson seems to be pretty bent out of shape on the naming conventions of musical groups. He seems confused over the title 'Queens of the Stone Age' because it is an all male group, and holds some particular concerns about the band that performed at the Bataclan the night of the attacks, 'Eagles of Death Metal'. Poor Pastor Anderson seems to have a predisposition to take things quite literally when he speaks here, which is coincidentally also one of the most obvious characteristics of extreme fundamentalists - specifically the types that like to go blowing things and people up - but I digress.
A good deal of this fluff is a wide eyed critique of fans in skinny pink jeans being drawn into a party atmosphere with the lead singer of EODM, and proclaiming how he is evidently a self confessed meth and marijuana user. (I also need to mention that I found it hilarious that Anderson was later stuck on these skinny pink jeans. He mentions them a few times again toward the end of the sermon with no real significance other than possibly trying to emphasize that even the fans of the band were likely "hillbilly faggots", which is what this self proclaimed man of god refers to Jesse Hughes as being.)
Whether Hughes is gay or not, I neither know nor care. After the events, and the stupidity of this pastor, I took the time to listen to some of Eagles of Death Metal's songs and honestly found them to be quite charming, if a little overly hyped sexually (the videos are at least; the songs by themselves are a lot of fun). There's not a shred (pun not intended) of "death metal" elements in their music at all. This goes to show me and hopefully others that Anderson did not even give a quick second to research this superbly small detail of his sermon about how death metal music warrants the violence it supposedly inspires. (I'm sure if we were able to ask any of the ISIS attackers, not a single one of them had ever heard a EODM song - yet they were the proprietors of the attack.)
With such little (or no) research dedicated to this detail, which could have easily been offset by a three minute viewing on YouTube, one must wonder how little research Anderson does on larger concepts that he preaches on, such as the abortion rates of France, which he later goes on about because this, among other things, is what makes France a 'wicked nation, deserving of these attacks.'
Anderson quickly and somewhat confusingly devolves into a proclamation of equating the attendance of a death metal concert to worshipping Satan. I presume we, and to a smaller extent, the congregation, are to believe that the concert goers were then deserving of having been injured or killed because... one, the lead singer enjoyed Meth, and two, he revealed that the best time and place to obtain said substances was around 5AM at a gay bar.
__________________________
"There's something about when you go to a concert of death metal... somebody might get killed! You're worshipping death!"
__________________________
Apparently the Bible dictates that "just hanging around with the wrong people can get you destroyed". By this measure of logic then, you're probably best just walling yourself away from society entirely. Don't associate with anyone out of fear that you will be punished for their dark and insidious past, even if you have no prior knowledge of it. Don't we all wish that Pastor Anderson had taken this to heart?
Question, Pastor Anderson: if our deaths are acceptable based on the company that we keep, is it perhaps possible that Jesus did not die for our sins, but was simply crucified/put to death because he failed to keep the Sabbath and was often found in the company of lepers, harlots, tax collectors and thieves? Perhaps then, Jesus got what he deserved based on biblical law, and we/you have been living steeped in a lie ever since?
Anderson goes on in the full sermon that you can see here.
At 15:50 the sermon becomes disconcertingly xenophobic, and then heavily blanketed with irrelevant yet constant criticisms on adultery - as if this is the biggest sin to ever be committed, or even applicable in this instance. He goes so far as to make the asinine statement that he would rather be dead than have his wife cheat on him, and demonizes France further by citing incorrect poll results about public opinion of the topic in that and other relatively comparable countries. This flares up the suspicion that not only is Steven Anderson gay, but he's likely already partaken of - and enjoyed - the sinful fruits of the 'other tree'.
My favorite line in all of this is towards the end of the sermon where, if you listen closely, Anderson can clearly be heard saying France "is a bad example of what not to do." I suppose double negatives and the irony of their application is likely lost to him and his congregation here.
This verbal diarrhea is not the first of Andersons offenses. In 2009 he was contacted by the FBI after openly proclaiming that he actively prayed for the death of Barack Obama. He has also held true and preaches the continued relevance the doctrine proclaiming that women aught to be silent in the church. He has accepted with open arms his church being labelled as a "hate group" due to his severely anti-gay rhetoric calling for the old Levitical laws of stoning being permissible ways of dealing with them, and apparently is, at the very least, a loose Holocaust denier.
In fact, he has created an entire documentary on the latter issue entitled "Marching to Zion" which I intend to address in a later blog. Based on the amount of notes I have after only ten minutes of viewing, it might end up being a two or three part post.
To learn more about the abominable Faithful Word Ministry, visit here.
After reading up on the two paragraphs of information provided about Steven Anderson, I have to admit that I'm not wholly shocked that he 'holds no college degrees'. The paragraph goes on to oddly note, almost accusatorially, how while other churches are founded by bible colleges, there's is not; as if to emphasize that the lack of an academic influence somehow makes their teachings more pure.
I would go so far as to say that Mr. Anderson is potentially dangerous, preaching the equivalent of Christian terror from his own tiny pulpit. There is little that differentiates him from the fundamental imams of the Middle East, except for the inkling that Anderson gives me a very heavy impression that he is himself a closeted homosexual hiding behind eight children and a very petty ministry in Tempe, Arizona.
I guess the fact that he kinda looks like Chris Evans is a plus.
In fact, he has created an entire documentary on the latter issue entitled "Marching to Zion" which I intend to address in a later blog. Based on the amount of notes I have after only ten minutes of viewing, it might end up being a two or three part post.
To learn more about the abominable Faithful Word Ministry, visit here.
After reading up on the two paragraphs of information provided about Steven Anderson, I have to admit that I'm not wholly shocked that he 'holds no college degrees'. The paragraph goes on to oddly note, almost accusatorially, how while other churches are founded by bible colleges, there's is not; as if to emphasize that the lack of an academic influence somehow makes their teachings more pure.
I would go so far as to say that Mr. Anderson is potentially dangerous, preaching the equivalent of Christian terror from his own tiny pulpit. There is little that differentiates him from the fundamental imams of the Middle East, except for the inkling that Anderson gives me a very heavy impression that he is himself a closeted homosexual hiding behind eight children and a very petty ministry in Tempe, Arizona.
I guess the fact that he kinda looks like Chris Evans is a plus.
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