The Reformed Fundamentalist

Today’s Heretic Du Jour is Pastor Steven L. Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ. Pastor Steven Anderson holds to several heresies, but we’ll stick to the most notable.

1. Pastor Steven L. Anderson believes that the King James Bible is JESUS CHRIST.

Pastor Anderson has been an occasional poster on a Christian message board that I frequent. When he does post, it is usually some sort of heretical nonsense, and about forty-five percent of the time it’s about his unusual love for the King James Bible. Pastor Anderson goes far beyond the average King James Onlyist, he believes that the King James Version is in fact God/Jesus Christ, and worthy of worship. Allow me to quote Pastor Anderson himself.

And by the way, yes, I do worship the King James BIble

I will worship my King James Bible till I die.

The Bible is God. (I John 1:1)

When I was a kid everyone used to believe that the Word was God.

Why doesn’t anyone believe that anymore? I guess they are trying to demote God’s word.

By the way, the original manuscripts DON’T EXIST. I hate to break it to you, but they’ve been gone for a long time. God has preserved his word in this generation through the King James Bible. So it’s not an issue of which one corrects the other – we only have one – the KJV. The so-called “original Greek” is bogus. How exactly did he preserve it before 1611? I don’t know I wasn’t there, but neither were you.

Sincerely,

Pastor Steven L Anderson
Faithful Word Baptist Church

To support his unusual position, Pastor Anderson mainly relies on John 1:1. He insists that when John refers to “The Word”, he is talking about both Jesus Christ and the Bible. He also relies on 1 John 1:1, in both cases ignoring any historical application of these verses, instead relying on his own interpretation to settle the matter.
Pastor Anderson relies solely on the English translation when interpreting Scripture. He believes that to study the Greek and Hebrew or to use original language reference tools is wrong. He is of the school of thought that the King James Translation is superior to the original languages, even correcting the original languages. Therefore, any discussion concerning the original languages is useless with such a fellow.
Pastor Anderson’s belief is obviously a novel concept, and to my knowledge non-existent in any form prior to the King James Only movement of the 20th century. John 1 and 1 John 1 are both talking about and referring to Jesus Christ as being the medium by which the Father brought the world into existence. These verses do not refer to the Scriptures in any form.

2. Pastor Anderson believes that repentance of sin for salvation is “works salvation.” Unfortunately for Pastor Anderson, the totality of Scripture is against him on this. Over and over in the New Testament, unbelievers are told to repent and believe. They are also told to bring forth evidence of their repentance.
Now, because there are so many references to repentance in the Scriptures, men such as Pastor Anderson must devise a way to explain these Scriptures. So what they have set out to do, is to correct Scripture by saying that when the New Testament speaks of repentance that it simply means that someone is changing their mind about what gets them to heaven. For example, a Muslim who repents and turns to Christ is simply changing his mind about needing to work to satisfy Allah in order to reach heaven, and turning to Christ as the means of getting to heaven.
There’s a couple of problems with this idea, first and foremost being that idolatry is sin. Therefore, anybody who repents of any form of idol worship is repenting of sin, and therefore, according to Anderson’s own definition, is engaged in “works salvation.”
Can Anderson’s idea of repentance be considered Biblical? Not at all. Let’s look at some Scriptures on repentance.

But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
(Act 3:14-19 KJV)

Question, Pastor Anderson, and those others of you who believe that repentance of sin is not necessary in the salvation process. Why does Peter here tell people to repent? First, we see “Repent ye therefore.” What is the “therefore” there for? They are to repent because they slew Jesus Christ(murder). They are to repent so their sins may be blotted out. Is this not a clear indication that repentance of sin is meant in Scripture?

And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
(Act 17:30-31 KJV)

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
(Luk 13:1-5 KJV)

Notice that in this passage in Luke, Jesus twice refers to groups of people, asking if they must indeed be extremely horrible sinners that such calamity befell them? Then, He told the listeners that these groups of people were no worse than them, and that unless those listening repented, they would likewise perish. Clearly, sin is in mind in this passage, and repentance of sin is indicated.

Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.
(Act 26:19-21 KJV)

Why, if repentance is not repentance from sin, does Paul say that he told the Jews and Gentiles to repent, and do works that demonstrate their repentance? The answer is simple, that if a person truly repents, there must be a changed life.
And here, I think we have hit upon the root of the problem of the anti-repentance crowd–at least for the majority of them. Pastor Anderson did not come up with this on his own, he learned it at the feet of Dr Jack Hyles, former pastor of First Baptist Church of Hammond, IN. The church that Dr Hyles pastored had many alleged conversions every year, but few of those who were “converted” ever became a member of the church. Few had evidence of changed lives. Few became solid Christians. Why? Because a shallow method of salvation was presented to the lost. This resulted in great numbers that men such as Anderson and Hyles have boasted in, but the question ultimately came forward, “where are your converts?” And so this new concept of repentance began to truly take shape.
Repentance of sin for salvation is always what is had in mind in the Scriptures. This is why evidence of repentance was demanded by John the Baptist, Christ, and the Apostles.

Pastor Steve Anderson has twisted some basic Bible doctrines, perverting the truth of Scripture. What is truly sad is that he teaches his wife, children, and church his doctrines. Pastor Anderson rarely spends time anymore discussing Scripture, preferring instead to provoke fights with police officers, dragging the name of Christ through the mud as he attacks the United States government, praying that Obama will be killed and his wife and children left widowed and fatherless. One must pray for his salvation.

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