The New IFB is described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as "a loose network of independent churches concentrated in the U.S. connected by their belief in certain religious doctrines and a shared brand of deeply anti-LGBTQ and antisemitic teachings." According to the ADL, "anti-LGBTQ bigotry and antisemitism are fundamental to New IFB ideology, as demonstrated by the doctrinal statements on their websites and the content of their sermons."[3] The group has been able to spread their views across the world through the usage of the Internet and social media.[4]
Some former New IFB pastors have charged the association of being a cult.[5] Similarly, other Independent Baptist pastors have associated the New IFB with cultic behavior, associating the group with heresy.[6] The New IFB has been the subject of multiple controversies regarding allegations of child abuse, cover-ups, racism and for the calling of the execution of homosexuals.[7] The movement rejects the classical doctrines of the early creeds of Christianity.[8]
History
The New IFB was formed by Anderson and other Baptist pastors in an attempt to revive what they perceived older independent Baptist churches once represented.[9][10]
A split in the New IFB occurred in January 2019 after Donnie Romero, pastor of Stedfast Baptist Church (SBC) in Fort Worth, Texas, resigned after it was revealed he had hired prostitutes, smoked marijuana, and gambled.[11] Adam Fannin, the head pastor at SBC's satellite campus in Jacksonville, Florida, refused to acknowledge the authority of Jonathan Shelley, another New IFB pastor who took over SBC in Fort Worth following Romero's resignation. Anderson, Fannin, and Shelley traded accusations of financial wrongdoing and running a cult. Fannin was later ejected as the head pastor of the Jacksonville campus.[10] After his ejection, Shelly preached a sermon entitled "Beware the Leven of Adam Fannin," criticizing the perceived wrongdoings of Fannin.[12]
In 2021, the New IFB-affiliated First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, California, was bombed with an improvised explosive device. The explosion caused property damage but no injuries or deaths. First Works Baptist Church had previously been the site of protests by activists opposed to its anti-LGBTQ teachings, but police reported there was no evidence linking the protesters to the bombing.[13]
New IFB pastor Logan Robertson was deported from Australia back to his home country of New Zealand in July 2018 after being accused of harassing Muslims at two Brisbane mosques.[14] Robertson had previously stated that gay people should be shot and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern should "go home and get in the kitchen".[15] Due to his deportation, Robertson's home church, Westcity Bible Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand, shuttered its doors and ceased operations, forcing Robertson to relocate to another New IFB church in the Philippines before resettling in New Zealand again.[16]
In a 2021 sermon entitled "Why We Won't Shut Up," Pastor Dillon Awes advocated in a sermon that "every single homosexual" in America be lined up against a wall and shot in the back of the head.[17][18] This led to calls to evict SBC from its location at a strip mall in Watauga, Texas. Cody Johnson, the landlord of the property SBC was renting, later agreed not to evict SBC from the Watauga location after communicating with SBC's legal representation.[19][20]
In 2024, several of Anderson's children publicly alleged emotional and physical abuse within the family home, including routine beatings with electrical cords. The claims spread widely across social media and independent reports, leading to scrutiny of Anderson's leadership and prompting several congregations to separate from the New IFB. Notably, Hold Fast Baptist Church in Norcross, Georgia—pastored by longtime ally David Berzins—announced its departure.[21]
Size
On one New IFB-affiliated website, there are listed fourteen affiliated congregations. Nine of the congregations are in five U.S. states, two are in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, one is in the Filipino city of Pasig, one is in the Australian state of Queensland, and one is in the UK town of Westcliff-on-Sea.[22] However, due to the New IFBs independent congregationalist polity, it is difficult to say for certain how many churches officially belong to the movement or espouse views that align with New IFB doctrines.
Several New IFB pastors have also promoted doctrinal positions that depart from historic Christian orthodoxy. One pastor has taught the belief that each Person in the Trinity possesses a separate mind, will, and spiritual body. This articulation is commonly called tritheism, a view which is heretical according to historic Christian theology.[35][36] In another sermon, "Nothing But the Blood," Anderson criticized the soteriological views of John MacArthur and other Protestant theologians who reject the idea that the physical body of Christ itself possesses divine attributes. This articulation is commonly called monophysitism, another view which is heretical according to historic Christian theology.[37][38]
The movement also teaches the belief that Jesus experienced punitive suffering during the Harrowing of Hell as part of the atonement,[6] and it also teaches the belief that a verbal or silent recitation of the Sinner's Prayer is a necessary requisite for an individual's salvation.[39]
Additionally, the New IFB movement has argued that the Christian Flag represents the religion of the Antichrist.[40]
New IFB leaders believe that Baptists who share their specific theological distinctives are the only Christians who represent an unbroken line of apostolic succession, because in their view, other Christian traditions were invented by what they believe was a corrupt ecclesiastical system which originated during the rule of Constantine the Great. According to the theology of the New IFB movement, even individuals who are considered "saved" but who belong to non-Baptist churches should be shunned because they "walk not after the tradition which he received of us."[42] Consistent with this stance, the New IFB rejects the major historical creeds of Christianity, such as the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, regarding them as incompatible with their understanding of biblical authority.[8]
Although New IFB websites and promotional materials emphasize the independence of each affiliated congregation, critics of the movement (including former members) have alleged that Anderson exercises a substantial amount of informal control over the broader network and he has removed individuals from the fellowship in response to relatively minor disagreements.[10]
The New IFB movement has been characterized as promoting an antisemitic ideology by multiple scholars, journalists, and watchdog organizations.[43][44] The ADL has explicitly described the movement and several leaders of it as antisemitic, citing their doctrinal positions and their public rhetoric as evidence.[4] Anderson has delivered numerous sermons in which he has made hostile statements about Jewish people and Judaism.[45][46]
A recurring theme in Anderson's preaching is his opposition to the use of the Hebrew language and the use of Hebraized forms of the name "Jesus" (such as Yeshua). Anderson argues that employing a Hebrew-language name is inherently deceptive and he also claims that individuals who prefer to use such terminology are "not saved" because they are attempting to "turn Christians into Jews."[47] He has further taught that Jewish cultural or liturgical practices have no valid place in Christianity and that attempts to integrate them represent a form of apostasy.
The New IFB movement's theology rejects Christian Zionism in accordance with the belief that the modern State of Israel is a "Satanic fraud" rather than a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. According to the movement's theology, Christiansconstitute the true "chosen people" of God. This position is often accompanied by assertions that unbelieving Jews have been spiritually "cut off" and as a result, they possess no special covenantal relationship with God outside of individual salvation through Christ.[9] Anderson has also produced several videos and online documentaries in which he has denounced Judaism as a religion. These productions include explicit Holocaust denial and the claim that Jewish people possess a unique spiritual affinity with Satan that differentiates them from other unbelieving groups.[48] In addition to Holocaust denial, Anderson has circulated a number of other antisemitic conspiracy theories. Critics have argued that these teachings represent an extreme and historically aberrant interpretation of Christian doctrine because they fall outside the bounds of mainstream Baptist beliefs.
Homosexuality, transgenderism, and capital punishment
The New IFB movement strongly opposes homosexuality, teaching the belief that individuals become homosexual as a consequence of rejecting and "hating" God and it asserts that as punishment for this sin, such individuals are "reprobates" who can no longer receive justification or salvation. As a result, New IFB pastors frequently argue that civil governments should enforce Old Testament penal codes regarding homosexuality, including capital punishment.[49][50]
Anderson and other New IFB leaders have repeatedly praised the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, a terrorist attack in which an attacker murdered 49 people and injured 53 others at a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida.[51][52] On the third anniversary of the Pulse shooting, the New IFB organized the "Make America Straight Again" conference, hosted by a New IFB-affiliated church in the Orlando area.[53]
In June 2019, Grayson Fritts, the pastor of All Scripture Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, and a former detective with the Knox County Sheriff's Office, delivered a sermon in which he called for the execution of gay people, citing biblical law as a justification for it.[54]
Anderson has repeatedly expressed animosity toward transgender public figures and more broadly, he has expressed animosity toward transgender identity. In a sermon entitled "Six Types of Prayer," Anderson stated that he prayed that Caitlyn Jenner's heart would "explode."[55][56]
↑""Bible College" Christian Preaching (Baptist KJV sermon)". 2020-01-29. Archived from the original on 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2024-02-23. I think the biggest reason why, is the Bible College movement. It's Bible colleges, they're the problem. I'm going to preach about it right now, everything I'm going to say is Biblical, it's scriptural. You may disagree, this may offend you but honestly, everything I'm going to preach tonight is biblical based and take it and do what you want with it. I have a problem with Bible college, I have a problem with it. I don't agree with it. It's not Scriptural and I'm going to preach it. Someone talk about it. All the Bible colleges, they're out there advertising, they're going to churches, signing everybody up, sending them stuff in the mail.
I'm going to advertise tonight. I'm going to advertise why you shouldn't go to Bible college. Why I'll never send any of my kids to Bible college, why I don't approve of Bible college and they can get up and advertise their belief, I'm going to advertise my believe tonight and it's biblical. The first reason that I don't like bible college is that number one, it has replaced the local church as being the institution that teaches Bible doctrine. If you want to learn Bible doctrine today, go to bible college, going to seminary and it's not taught in the local church. What happens is, Bible College becomes the place where people think of as being a place where Bible doctrine is being taught.
↑""Animal Rights in Light of the Bible" KJV Bible Preaching". 2022-04-19. Archived from the original on 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2024-02-23. Pastor Anderson: Not only did Jesus show a disregard for animal life in Mark 5, but all throughout the Old Testament, God has a pattern of showing disregard for the lives of animals. Now, a lot of people will try to quote this verse out of context or that verse out of context to try to foist on us an animal rights agenda and to try to tell us that we need to do all these measures to protect animals and all these things, but wait a minute. If you read the totality of the Bible, you get a much different picture about God's view of animals. You say, "That's just your opinion". No it's not. I just finished proving it to you from the Bible. Don't get sucked in to this brainwashing of animal rights. It's not scriptural. It's not of God.
↑"The Christian Flag Exposed". www.faithfulwordbaptist.org. Retrieved 2024-02-28. It seems obvious to assume that the modern-day Christian flag will someday represent the one world religion of the anti-Christ, and we are certainly not allegiant to that. As if that weren't reason enough, the Christian flag is just another religious icon that has no place in a Baptist church.
↑""Communion or the Lord's Supper" KJV Bible Preaching (Christian Sermon)". 2022-04-19. Archived from the original on 2022-04-19. Retrieved 2024-02-23. Therefore, according to 1 Corinthians 11:20, when it says, "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." Yet, at most churches, when do they do the Lord's Supper? When the whole church is come together in one place. People would even come to our church and say, "I came on Sunday morning. Why was the Lord's Supper not served?" Well, because according to this verse it says, "When ye come together, therefore, into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." If you would, go back to 1 Corinthians 11. Here's my evidence tonight. Exodus 12, it's eaten in the houses, not in the congregation. Jesus institutes it, it's eaten in a house with only 13 people. Not the whole church. Not the whole congregation. Then, when we go to book of Acts, if you accept these references in Acts 2, what does it say? In verse 46, "And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart." If you accept that, that is yet another consistent proof of this. Then when you get to 1 Corinthians 11, where he's rebuking a church for doing it wrong, he says, "When ye therefore come together into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper." That's one, two, three, four pieces of evidence for the fact that it's not to be done in the church service, and one, two, three, four pieces of evidence that point to the house as being a place for this to happen. Zero evidence for the whole church coming together as a congregation and doing it.
↑""Why We are Baptist" KJV Bible Preaching". www.faithfulwordbaptist.org. Retrieved 2025-03-16. Why is it important to be a Baptist? Because Baptist churches aren't part of that corrupt lineage. They don't have that corrupt doctrine. Sadly some Baptist get influenced by the protestants and influenced by the Catholics, but in general it's the one that tells people the most that we're not part of that group, we're not part of these people. I wish I had time to preach to you the error of the universal church, but suffice it to say I've done many sermons on it. I covered in the revelation series in chapters two I believe, but suffice it to say that the word church according to the bible means congregation or assembly. We're not assembled with all believers my friend. We're only congregated with 100 and some people here today. We're not congregated with every person. The problem with believing in this universal church where they say, "Everybody who's saved is part of the church." The problem with believing that is that it leads to applying scriptures about unity in the church to saying let's unify with all believers. Let's be Catholic. Let's be universal. Let's all be united and. In reality that's not what god wants us to do because the bible says we should have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather … First of all in a lot of these denominations the people aren't saved. They don't believe in salvation by [inaudible 01:08:11] Not only that, but even amongst those that are saved the bible says that we should withdraw ourselves from every brother that walked disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us.
↑"Defending the name of JESUS against the Yeshua crowd". faithfulwordbaptist.org. Retrieved 2024-02-22. Oh, well, who cares. You know, Jesus, Yeshua, same thing." No, it's not the same thing. First of all, I don't believe that anybody who attacks the name of Jesus is saved, because "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved... they want to creep in and they want to destroy the foundation of our faith, which is the New Testament, which is written in Greek, and they want to turn us all into Jews, is what they really want to do. They are satanic, false teachers who are creeping in and pretending to be Christian or messianic. They are unsaved false prophets, lying devils, whose real goal is to get us wrapped up in the satanic religion of Judaism.
↑"Faithful Word Baptist Church – Text". faithfulwordbaptist.org. Retrieved 2024-02-22. 1. Can Sodomites Be Saved? Next God gives us a roll call of the attributes of the Sodomite (homosexual): "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." – Romans 1:29–32 God defines the word "reprobate", used in Romans 1:28 in regard to homosexuals, the first time it is ever mentioned in the Bible. The first reference to the word "reprobate" in the Bible is Jeremiah 6:30, "Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them." God has already rejected the sodomites. He gave them over to become the filthy animals they are. Although God initially loved them ("God so loved the world") and wanted them to be saved and died on the cross for them, they refused to be saved or even acknowledge God, and God finally gave them up. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. – Jude 7 The word "queer" is a very Biblical description of the homosexual since here God refers to them as "strange." God did not send a preacher or soul-winner to Sodom, he sent two angels to examine the situation and to remove Lot from the city. His only solution to the problem of homosexuality was to pour out literal Hellfire and destroy the city as an example of what he thinks about sodomy.
I believe that the GOVERNMENT should put them to death as the Bible lays out in Leviticus 20:13. We as Christians should NOT accept homosexuals. Am I going to harm homosexuals? NO. Should they be put to death by the legitimate authorities (i.e. our government). YES
↑"The Truth about the Sodomites". www.faithfulwordbaptist.org. Retrieved 2024-02-28. That's a good word. What happens is when a person becomes reprobate, according to the Bible, when a person is rejected by God after repeatedly refusing God, hating God, it's like God just removes that restraint or removes that constraint that says, "Hey. These are gross things. These are weird things. These are things that you just don't do." It's like he just removes that and then they just do whatever. That's one of the things that they do is men with men. But they do other things. I mean, I don't want to go into it all tonight, but Leviticus 18 is chalked full of things that they do that are even worse. Things with animals ... It goes down the list in Leviticus 18. I'm not even going to go into it tonight. This sermon's already nasty enough without having to go verse by verse through Leviticus 18. I don't think I can handle that one tonight.
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