Steven Anderson False Doctrines

[Jordan Kurecki]

I am becoming very alarmed by the teachings of a Steven Anderson who is becoming very popular. he preaches the following doctrines:

1. God hates homosexuals

2. Homosexuals cannot be saved

3. Post Tribulation Rapture

4. Against Bible colleges

He is dangerous because he talks like a IFB:

1. KJO

2. Conservative Dress and Music Standards

3. Baptist Disctinctives

This man seems very dangerous to me.

[Jim_Alaska]

People like this have always been a part of religion. All the more reason to stick with local church and absolutely refuse to expose ourselves to outside teaching. Jesus instituted His church to be THE place for believers to go for fellowship and teaching. The local church is the only place that Jesus ever designated as the pillar and ground of the truth.

 1Ti 3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

The definite article "the", in the pillar and ground of the truth, excludes any other.

[Genevanpreacher]

So his only real problem is he pushes hate for those we should have compassion for.

Cause the rest sounds fine.

He's not really a threat at all. Once hate becomes a leading principle lost people will stop listening to him and move on. (unless they don't have a life and decide to taunt him)

The lost can tell true followers from false, and they will be drawn to truth.

Edited September 5, 2016 by Genevanpreacher

[Jim_Alaska]

My whole point was, it does not pertain to true believers. Who cares what a Methodist (false religion) warns other false religions about? The true church has better things to do than be concerned about what false religion thinks or says.

[swathdiver]

Mark and avoid.

[Ukulelemike]

I've not listend much to his sermons and doctrines, because what I have most seen about him is that he seems to desire press, therefore, fame, and that's not what preachers ought to be about.

There seems to be a trend today to make inflammatory statements on You Tube or wherever possible, to try to get attention. I recently saw something about some 'patriots' who recorded themselves burning a koran, clearly made to make their 'patriotic, Christian' statement. And while I have no regard for the koran, this isn't an issue like Gideon charged by God to destroy the altar of Baal, it is some folks who have jumped on the bandwagon to get some free press and publicity. This is what Anderson reminds me of-I recall when he made a big deal about getting grief from a police officer or something, and boy, everyone had to play it! I think he got tazered or something.

If folks would just do what God told them to do, and lift Him up, if the Lord wants them lifted up, God will lift them. But these stunts are just proof that what they're doing for God aren't sufficient.

[John Young]

On 9/5/2016 at 1:24 PM, Jordan Kurecki said:

I am becoming very alarmed by the teachings of a Steven Anderson who is becoming very popular. he preaches the following doctrines:

1. God hates homosexuals

2. Homosexuals cannot be saved

3. Post Tribulation Rapture

4. Against Bible colleges

He is dangerous because he talks like a IFB:

1. KJO

2. Conservative Dress and Music Standards

3. Baptist Disctinctives

This man seems very dangerous to me.

I agree with Brother Anderson on 1, 2, and 4. His reasons for 3 are biblically based but I disagree with his conclusions. He is an Independent Fundamental Baptist that seeks to follow the scriptures in all that he says and does, so, while I disagree with some of the things he does and perhaps the extent to which he goes, I do consider him a faithful brother in Christ and will not hinder his ministry.

1. God arbors the wicked, particularly those who delight to do evil. God has a righteous hatred against them and except they turn to Him in repentance they will be destroyed. This includes the sodomites in particular as he calls their acts an abomination. Brother Anderson is not talking about those who are simply confused about their identity or those temporarily drawn to it by deception and are willing to repent to Christ but rather those who rejected God's lifestyle and delight in and actively promote their destructive lifestyle.  Psalm 11:4-6 The Lord is in his holy temple,the Lord’s throne is in heaven:his eyes behold,his eyelids try, the children of men.5 The Lord trieth the righteous:but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

2. The sodomite has rejected God's life for their wicked lifestyle. You cannot be both a Sodomite and a Christian. Its not God won't save them but that they do not want to be saved.Psalm 10:2-4 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor:let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seekafter God: God is not in all his thoughts.

4. A lot of bible collages are unbiblical. They subvert the role Churches are supposed to do themselves. If a church has an in house college for its members and people can go become full and actual members of that church then that is fine. However, Many operate independently and are not in subjection to any one church and are not based on the biblical format but rather on the secular. The biblical would be church disciple based. 

[Ukulelemike]

1 hour ago, John Young said:

I agree with Brother Anderson on 1, 2, and 4. His reasons for 3 are biblically based but I disagree with his conclusions. He is an Independent Fundamental Baptist that seeks to follow the scriptures in all that he says and does, so, while I disagree with some of the things he does and perhaps the extent to which he goes, I do consider him a faithful brother in Christ and will not hinder his ministry.

1. God arbors the wicked, particularly those who delight to do evil. God has a righteous hatred against them and except they turn to Him in repentance they will be destroyed. This includes the sodomites in particular as he calls their acts an abomination. Brother Anderson is not talking about those who are simply confused about their identity or those temporarily drawn to it by deception and are willing to repent to Christ but rather those who rejected God's lifestyle and delight in and actively promote their destructive lifestyle.  Psalm 11:4-6 The Lord is in his holy temple,the Lord’s throne is in heaven:his eyes behold,his eyelids try, the children of men.5 The Lord trieth the righteous:but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

2. The sodomite has rejected God's life for their wicked lifestyle. You cannot be both a Sodomite and a Christian. Its not God won't save them but that they do not want to be saved.Psalm 10:2-4 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor:let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth. 4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seekafter God: God is not in all his thoughts.

4. A lot of bible collages are biblical. They subvert the role Churches are supposed to do themselves. If a church has an in house college for its members and people can go become full and actual members of that church then that is fine. However, Many operate independently and are not in subjection to any one church and are not based on the biblical format but rather on the secular. The biblical would be church disciple based. 

Now, in this you ignore things like the simplicity of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, (ie, the lost, the wicked, the sinner, those who delight in wickedness), that He gave His on;y begotten Son..." What do you do with a verse that says God loves those people, such that he would send his own Son to suffer and die at their hands? He loved the world when the world hated Him. He loved Israel even though they continually rejected Him and worshiped idols instead. Isreal KNEW Him, had been begun by Him and they rejected Him but He still loved them. So no, God doesn't hate the homosexual-He hates homosedxuality, he hates the sin, but He loves the lost because they cannot help but do what they do because they're lost-the lost live like the lost. Saul was murdering His people, but God loved him enough to pursue him and bring him to Himself. God so hated the wickedness of Nineveh but sent Jonah to let them know He was going to destroy them. Why? because as JOnah complained, he is full of mercy and ready to repent of the evil He intends on a nation. Mercy is love-and Nineveh was about the least lovable bunch of reprobates there were. The very fact that the Lord puts the warnings concerning homosexuality into His word tells me he loves them and warns them so they can repent.

[swathdiver]

22 hours ago, John Young said:

I agree with Brother Anderson on 1, 2, and 4.

Brother Young, a broken clock is right twice a day.  Even the Pope and Bill Clinton will say something biblically sound once in a while; mark and avoid.  I would not consider Anderson my brother.  There's too much of a doctrinal divide between us.

[John Young]

1 hour ago, swathdiver said:

Brother Young, a broken clock is right twice a day.  Even the Pope and Bill Clinton will say something biblically sound once in a while; mark and avoid.  I would not consider Anderson my brother.  There's too much of a doctrinal divide between us.

If he and you are both trusting in Christ alone for your salvation then he is your brother. Whither or not you could fellowship with him because of doctrine is another matter. While I do believe he is wrong on several things I do not believe they are because he is trying to deceive but because he truly believes those thing from the bible. Should others fellowship with him or have him at their church because of his positional stands? I don't know, that's up to them to decide but I'm certainly not going to malign him. While we can feel free to point out his errors I do not believe he should be considered a heretic or false prophet. His fruit is proof enough that he is not doing God's work for vain glory, money, or fame. His Soul winning ministry in particular is pretty good in that it is getting people and churches out in their communities and excited about soul winning again. He is reaching people for Christ that I and others probably never could precisely because of his different social, anti-political views. We all do not have to be the same to still be working for the Lord.

Edited September 9, 2016 by John Young

[DaveW]

So the end justifies the means?

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by DaveW

[John Young]

22 hours ago, Ukulelemike said:

Now, in this you ignore things like the simplicity of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, (ie, the lost, the wicked, the sinner, those who delight in wickedness), that He gave His on;y begotten Son..." What do you do with a verse that says God loves those people, such that he would send his own Son to suffer and die at their hands? He loved the world when the world hated Him. He loved Israel even though they continually rejected Him and worshiped idols instead. Isreal KNEW Him, had been begun by Him and they rejected Him but He still loved them. So no, God doesn't hate the homosexual-He hates homosedxuality, he hates the sin, but He loves the lost because they cannot help but do what they do because they're lost-the lost live like the lost. Saul was murdering His people, but God loved him enough to pursue him and bring him to Himself. God so hated the wickedness of Nineveh but sent Jonah to let them know He was going to destroy them. Why? because as JOnah complained, he is full of mercy and ready to repent of the evil He intends on a nation. Mercy is love-and Nineveh was about the least lovable bunch of reprobates there were. The very fact that the Lord puts the warnings concerning homosexuality into His word tells me he loves them and warns them so they can repent.

I haven't ignored God's love in the matter but rather answered the question about God's hatred. God's love for all is precisely why God hates and destroys the wicked and warns his people from becoming such people. I never said it was an evil vindictive hate but rather one that arbors sin. God can hate and love an individual at the same time. It is entirely possible to say "God hates and will destroy you because you love to hurt others". To deny that God hates "the wicked and him that loveth violenc" is to deny scripture. The idea that God never hates any reprobate person (one who knowingly rejects God for the final time) but only what they do is an idea born of this modern age and not born from scripture.

Granted I would not say that God hates all sinners but only those individuals that completely reject His offer of reconciliation and instead decide to fight against him by delighting in everything that God's soul arbors. 

2 minutes ago, DaveW said:

So the end justifies the means?

LOL, Obviously not but that's why we are all independent churches. We would be trying to force everyone to have the perfect ministry modeled after our own social political beliefs. 

[...]

I was lured by Steven Anderson for a brief time.  For someone like me, who is indescribably disgusted by sodomites, his teaching (I now believe by twisting scripture) that God has permanently given up on sodomites, thereby justifying a hatred for them, was alluring.  In my hatred for my own past sinful behaviors and my desire to separate from them, I sometimes get caught up in the temptation to minimize my present sins by focusing on the depravity of those openly and boastfully embracing theirs.

Pastor Anderson's main proof texts are the verses that speak about God giving up on sodomites and giving them over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:24-28 for example); teaching that it means that God will never have anything more to do with sodomites, even if they repent and wish to be saved.   He teaches that sodomies no longer have the ability to repent.  He teaches that Romans 29-32 is saying that all sodomites, because of the sin of sodomy, are also filled with every item on the list of sins in vv 29-32.  So, if you're a fornicator (or a murderer or deceitful &c.), but not a sodomite, then God has not given up on you and you can still be saved.  Without going into a lengthy study here, I will just say that, through study and basic understanding, I do not agree with that.

I agree that Pastor Anderson's post-trib view is in error, but I am not sure that I would say that that view is dangerous.  However, I think that the way in which he interprets scripture, which led him to that conclusion, is dangerous.  It is the salad-bar style of using scripture; using what fits and omitting clear scripture that proves otherwise.  This is what he has done to arrive at what I believe to be his most dangerous teaching; the teaching that repentance is not needed for salvation.

He says that, because verses like Acts 16:31 and others do not mention repentance, that including repentance with salvation is promoting a works salvation.  Yet, verses like Luke 13:3, Luke 13:5, Acts 2:38 &c., seem to be telling us that repentance is needed for salvation.  It seems that we are even told, in Luke 17:3-4, that we may withhold forgiveness until repentance is shown by the offender; although, since I am still very much a neophyte, I am not dogmatic about this last point.

I would not say that I am a fan of Bible colleges either.  Unless I am missing something, I see no biblical precedent for such a thing, unless one says that the teachings of the rabbis and the studies in the synagogues are analogous to bible colleges.  I would argue that the Christian equivalent to those things would be the local church.  I am also not convinced that any biblically sound Bible colleges exist.  This is just my opinion, however.

The reason that I agree with the statement that Pastor Anderson is dangerous, is because many of his other teachings are spot on.  His teachings on modesty and Christian dress, for example, are very biblically sound, as well as his teachings on the KJV, musical standards, Halloween, television/movies/video games and his teachings on the importance of soul-winning.  However, He has already sent out at least five preachers from his church, to start other churches, who are teaching the same false doctrines.  He (and Kent Hovind and Fred Phelps) are partly the reason that I rarely tell people that I am IFB and that I never do so without a qualification immediately following.  He made a fine film defending the KJV, but I don't recommend it to most people because I don't want to encourage them to seek out his other teachings.

Satan does not need to get people to knowingly bow down and worship him in order to succeed; he only needs to dilute the truth.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Brother Stafford