Recently on my yahoo group, one of my members posted a link to a blog that had a link to a youtube video. Rarely am I shocked. Growing up in the center of the southeast, I have certainly encountered my share of bigotry and general intolerance. Having said that, I love the south, and most of the folks in it. I meet daily, some of the kindest, most giving souls on the planet. Today’s southerners are far from being stereotypical bigots. There are however, always people from the south who will gladly bear the banner, and help “Save America from the Queers.”

Imagine my surprise when, out of the progressive mid west, comes a bigot that eclipses any that I’ve encountered in the south. I suppose it shouldn’t be a shock that the ignorance and bigotry this man espouses is cloaked in religion. It is however, all the more distasteful that it does.  Below I’ve posted a link to just one of the many hate filled tirades that this man disguises as sermons:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/god-commands-you-kill-gays

I’m quite sure that “Pastor” Anderson, could do an entire series of sermons on why I should be shopping for a Kevlar bodysuit. I won’t even begin to justify my life, or my beliefs with the likes of Mr. Anderson. I would however, challenge him, or anyone else for that matter, that chooses to damn entire classes of humanity to eternal hell fire, to consider something that apparently they’ve forgotten, the ministry of  Jesus Christ.

I am very aware that there are many religions, sects and variations of religion in the world. It is up to each man to decide what path he takes. I espouse my beliefs to be Christian. It is not for Mr. Anderson, or you, gentle reader, to determine the validity of that claim, it is, in the final analysis, not even up to me. That is a decision only God himself can verify. Having said that, I absolutely will not, get into a battle of scripture with anyone on the subject of homosexuality, and how it is handled in the scriptures. That my friends would be the equimenical equivilent of WWIII.

The resounding fact though, the single glaring, obvious fact is that Jesus Christ is espoused by the Christian faith, to be the embodiment of what salvation is. In his ministry, he didn’t preach about theology, or any of the technical issues that had the ”religious” world reeling then, until now. Academics have been arguing these facts since he was on the earth. I find it incredible that a person who calls themselves a Christian, would not bother to read the words of Christ. Never once did Jesus broach the issue of homosexuality in the Bible. One could argue, it wasn’t an issue at that time, that the scriptures that refer to men “lying with men” were in reference to prostitution, or to the simple act of the fulfilment of lust for lusts sake. Historically speaking, there is little evidence that homosexuality as a practice was evident to the point that it was an issue to be preached on. It could be argued that the scriptures have been misrepresented, the list goes on. I will not take a position either way, because in my estimation, the question is without merit.

The fact is, the scriptures teach that excess in any thing has a negative effect on your spiritual life. That is why you won’t find ”Thou shalt not drink”. There are many, many references though, to avoiding “drunkeness”. That’s good advice where I come from. Jesus, however, made things so simple that even a moron like Steven Anderson SHOULD be able to figure it out. Many times the religious folks of that time tried to “trip” Jesus up, quoting scripture to him, trying to prove that he was in disagreement with Jewish law. Jesus simply said, he came to fulfil the law. When asked, what about this sin, what about that sin? What about this comandment, what about that commandment, (and yes, I’m paraphrasing, so sue me.) Jesus said,

 37 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. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 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.

Jesus wanted people to know, there’s no way to live perfect. You WILL fail. keep it simple, and you’ll please God, how difficult is that “Pastor” Anderson?

The rest of the “law” that many on the far right would have you believe is equally as vital to your salvation, is simply there to guide you. To keep you “honest” as it were. I equate “the law” with today’s speed limits. What is the purpose of speed limits, or at least the intended purpose? It is not to strip a driver of his ability to drive down the road, the instant his vehicle goes one mile per hour over the speed limit, no. It is designed to remind the driver, there is a limit to what you should do. If you exceed that limit, you risk your safety. Simply knowing that we have a limit, and knowing that there may be punishment for going outside that limit, most times, keeps us “on the straight and narrow”.  Jesus’ words were not ones of condemnation, or hatred, ever. The only time we see Jesus, as the young crowd would call it “break bad”, in the temple, wasn’t with the sinners, the prostitutes, the lowest of humanity, it was with the very people entrusted with aiding those people in finding a spiritual peace with God. It was those people’s misuse of his temple, of his teachings, that brought forth the wrath that he exposed. Jesus rewarded compassion and submission, with love.

“Pastor” Anderson, is fond of quoting scriptures, and he’s very talented at doing so. Problem is, he has no clue what any of them mean, or why they were written. I say this of course, as a generaliztion, since I have no doubt he has taught sound doctrine along side his hate filled propaganda,  He has done little more in most cases, than use the scripture as a way to feed his need for acceptance, and uplift his ministry, (notice I said HIS ministry,).  Never, once in all of his tirades, his angry vitriolic, diatribes, does he ever once quote the words of Jesus. Now, if you find a single reference to Jesus’ words in a sermon, save the email, even satan used scripture to make his point. (See the temptation of Jesus in the garden.. in case you think I’m lying..) Point is, Jesus’ words play a very minor role in “Pastor” Anderson’s agenda.  Want to know why that is? He knows that Jesus had one mission, and one mission only. His mission was to come to earth, to live a life that even an idiot like Steven Anderson couldn’t impugn, and to give people the truth. Rules won’t save your soul from hell. Neither will keeping your hair cut short, (even though that’s another of “Pastor Andersons” requirements, at least for men) or going to church every day of your life, and praying till your knees go numb. None of it matters outside salvation. Until the religious world quits worrying about whether you, or I “fit God’s requirements”, and start worrying about if we are living a life that’s worthy of Salvation our own selves, Hell will continue to burn hot for many unfortunate souls, and the religious right will have much of the blood on their hands. Let God decide if who I love matters, or to whom I am sexually attracted,  is worthy of damnation. 

In a blatant example of his vehement hate, and it’s irrational targets, he attacks one of the finest examples of Christianity on the planet, Billy Graham. I will say, that yes, Billy Graham has not lived a perfect life, and yes, if you look out over the ninety some odd years he’s lived, I’m very sure you can “catch” him in a quote that could be used to embarrass him.  How many men though, could live their lives, open as he has, with so little to impugn him.  I for one would be afraid to disregard one of the greatest evangelists of all time.  It could be argued, that more souls have been led to Christ through Billy Graham’s selfless ministry, than any other single minister in our time. Yet lets see what “Pastor” Anderson has to say about him in a sermon called “Why Billy Graham’s going to hell:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9DtBHeRP1Q&feature=channel

I suppose there is some comfort in having “Pastor” Anderson damn all gays to hell, is that they’re in good company, If Billy Graham isn’t going, there’s probably a bunch more people that can expect a suprise on judgement day.

I’ll play the devils advocate here for a second, I’m gonna prove to you, through scripture, that God wants all of his followers to commit suicide. (in the dictionary see Jim Jones..)

 Judas, being a disciple of Jesus, went out and hanged himself, go ye therefore, and do likewise.

NOW, that is all scripture, found in the King James Version, which “Pastor Anderson” is so fond of reminding us is the only “true” version of the bible, (I’m sure the authors of the scriptures themselves would be amused at that assertion, but I digress,) but I”ve taken parts from here and there, and used it to make a point.  IT IS A LIE, straight from the pit of hell, yet it came from scripture, because I took it, misused it, and molded it to my stated agenda. Now, don’t go hang yourselves people, please! 

I, Blake Deveraux do not speak for Jesus Christ. God knows that is the last thing I’d ever try to do. I would beg the reader of this blog to disregard every single thing I’ve told you as a lie. Because you know what, I’m a human being. I do not have all the answers, contrary to his inflated sense of self-importance, neither does Steven Anderson, or any preacher, or any other human being alive. Find those answers for yourselves, people. Don’t assume that just because one verse says something that sounds like a condemnation of the person you are, READ, pray, find out for yourself if God is pleased with your life.  YOU gentle reader, are the only person capable of deciding that, not myself, or “Pastor” Steven Anderson. If you’ve made a conscious decision to accept Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life, guess, what, he’ll answer all those questions for you. If something is wrong, you won’t be okay with doing it. Why do you think it is that when a little child lies, the first thing he/she does is look around nervously, and fidget? Because he/she knew when the words came out of his/her mouth, it was wrong!… Being a child of God is funny like that, you’ll know folks. It’s not up to me to decide what that is for you.

Funny thing about “Pastor Anderson” and those like him, is that, in order to “preach the gospel” they feel the need to continually condemn. Some day when you are feeling truly desolate, and in need of some self loathing, go check out the man’s website…

http://www.faithfulwordbaptist.org/index.html

I’d challenge you to listen to his messages. Rarely, if ever does any sort of confirmation that salvation is a pleasant thing, that Christ is a calming, peaceful part of a Christian’s life. The sermons have a consistent theme, “Why I hate Barack Obama, God hates fags, etc… Most of them are titled innocuously enough, but you don’t haveto listen long to realize, this man truly hates himself, far more than he hates Barack Obama.  God challenges us daily to rise abovewhat we are by nature. Part of that is to forgivethe unforgivable. My first response to the link I referenced above was outrage and hate. I’ll admit it. As I’ve stood over the bodies of young tortured teenagers, who couldn’t live “good enough” or were “just bad”, they chose to go into eternity, to end their lives, rather than to subject the universe to their perceived short comings. God help us. In order to move on, and avoid allowing the hate this man espouses to infect my soul, I have to forgive his ignorance, and pray that he’ll find peace with God, and his life. Only a person with deep spiritual conflict, moral paradox, and feelings of condemnation, could harbor this kind of hate.

As I said before, I am no minister, I am no example of anything, other than a child of God, a work in progress, and a man that doesn’t have all the answers. I do know one thing though, Jesus Christ would be sickened at the loss of young lives in the name of “saving them from their sins”.  Let God convict the sin, and you love the sinner. Sure, its easy to say, but not so easy to do. One thing I’d point out, the only time Jesus went to church, was when he was pointing out to the religious crowd that they’d missed the point… If God has their souls, he’ll take care of the rest. Jesus spent most of his time ministering right where he was needed, with the poor, the down trodden, the sinners, he didn’t tell them to get on some clean clothes, wash up, come to church, and THEN, I’ll save you. He did the work, they took care of the rest out of respect for what he’d done.

I have a friend who is an openly gay man, who lives with another openly gay man. He is a professed child of God. He is a talented musician, and an amazing human being. Because of his sexual orientation though, he’s been relegated to quietly slipping into services where he can go unnoticed, or generally resorting to watching other church-goers on television, and long for the time when he could use his God given talent to praise God.  If “Pastor” Anderson has his way, the church would execute him first.

Finally, I’ll end with some pretty plain words, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man cometh unto the father except by me.” Sorry Pastor Anderson, he wasn’t talking about you…