A new church is starting this month in Valaparasio, Indiana, pastored by Eric Ford. The doctrinal statement on their website gives small hints of their false teaching, but not much:
- We believe that the King James Bible is the divinely inspired and preserved Word of God without error.
- We believe that salvation is by grace through faith without works.
- We believe in the eternal security of the believers (once saved, always saved) and people can never lose their salvation after they are truly saved.
- We believe in a triune God which is made up of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
- We believe that Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh. He was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cross, and was bodily risen from the dead three days later.
- We believe in a literal hell where the unsaved will be punished and tormented for eternity.
- We believe that the rapture (or the Second Coming) is after the tribulation, but before God pours out His wrath on the Earth. We reject the pre-tribulational rapture and the imminent return of Christ.
- We believe that God created the universe in six literal days. We reject the gap-theory, the day-age theory, and theistic evolution.
- We believe that marriage is between a man and a woman and any sexual activities outside of marriage is a sin. We believe that sodomy (homosexuality) is an abomination and is punishable by death penalty.
- We believe that every Christian should go out and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ as stated in the Great Commission. We reject all 5 points of Calvinism.
- We believe that the earth is a sphere. We reject the Flat Earth Model.
The church is listed in the New IFB directory as seen below.
The false teaching that can be expected at this church is everything that is part of the New IFB movement.
The new church plant is announced with this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXZZhni_OJY
What is the New IFB?
In 2005, Steven L Anderson started Faithful Word Baptist Church, and began teaching a new and strange set of doctrines. With his charismatic personality and boldness in preaching his opinions, as well as an effective social media strategy, he has won many over to himself. He is admittedly attempting to change what it means to be an Independent Fundamental Baptist. Many have caught on, but some are still being convinced by his errors.
In 2018, the churches that follow Anderson branded themselves as the New IFB. Each preacher follows in lockstep with Pastor Anderson, and if they don’t they risk being kicked out. When members leave Faithful Word Baptist Church, Anderson brands them not only as unsaved and going to hell, but also as “reprobate”, which in Anderson’s theology means that they cannot ever get saved. They are bound to go to hell without a chance to change that. Pastors who leave the movement or upset Anderson are blacklisted, all mention of them is purged from the New IFB denomination’s website, and pastors within the movement are encouraged to preach against them and post videos discrediting them and criticizing their preaching. Often the same pastors who once criticized others who left the new IFB find themselves also leaving the New IFB and receiving the same treatment.
So what does the New IFB believe? There are several unique beliefs that Anderson holds to, which, as a result are part of New IFB doctrine.
Note: not every pastor or person mentioned on this website believes all of these doctrines, nor do all of them claim to be part of the New IFB. These are doctrines that are widely preached however.
First, they preach another gospel than Independent Fundamental Baptists do.
- The New IFB preaches that Jesus death and resurrection was not enough to save from sin. Instead, Jesus had to go and burn in hell where he paid for our sin there. (So much for “it is finished!”)
- The New IFB preaches that for certain people, they are unsaved, regardless of their faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, for these people, salvation is not by grace through faith. See below:
| Faithful Independent Baptists Teach: | The New IFB teaches: |
| ►The KJV is the preserved word of God in English | ►Pastors who use the NIV are not saved ► You cannot get saved out of any Bible except the King James Version |
| ►The Bible is sufficient for a person to learn about salvation and be saved | ►Nobody can get saved by reading the Bible. There must be a soul winner. If that person themselves is not saved (such as a pastor who uses the NIV) none of their converts can truly be saved either |
| ►Women should not be pastors | ►Women who are preachers are all not saved |
| ►Anyone who believes on Jesus Christ may be saved | ►Homosexuals cannot believe on Christ and be saved. Salvation is not open for them, even if they leave homosexuality. Even if they believe on Christ, they will go to hell ►Evolutionary scientists are also reprobate (they cannot be saved no matter what) |
| ►Salvation is by faith alone | ►If you leave the New IFB movement, you are not saved ► If you disagree with the New IFB movement, you are not saved |
Second, the New IFB preaches many things as scriptural doctrine, which are not in the Bible, nor have been taught by Independent Fundamental Baptists in the past. These include:
- Being in the US Military is a Sin
- The police should not exist
- The 9/11 attacks were a hoax
- Christians should not vote
- It is sinful to be vaccinated
- The holocaust did not happen
- Israel should not exist
- Jews run everything and ruin everything
- We should rejoice in mass shootings or other murders when the victims are people we consider to be reprobates (such as homosexuals)
- We should pray for people to go to hell
- God laughs at sending people to hell
- People who get saved will not change
- People need not repent to be saved
- Charging interest is always sinful
- Having a nursery at a church is wrong
- Having Sunday School is wrong
- Jesus Christ is literally the King James Bible. The King James Bible is literally God.
- Bible College is unscriptural and wrong
- Christians are supposed to keep the Old Testament Law
- If you use the name “Yeshua” instead of Jesus, you aren’t saved
- Men being gynecologists is sinful and wicked
- The rapture is not imminent/ Christ cannot come at any time
- Any and all forms of birth control are sinful
- We should hope God kills people we dislike such as John MacArthur or James White
- The Lord’s Supper shouldn’t be held at church
Some of the root differences between the New IFB and Independent Baptists come from the fact that they believe in replacement theology, and so take the Old Testament Laws given to the nation of Israel and apply them to New Testament Believers today. (This is what Calvinist Covenant Theology does as well) As a result of this, any understanding of the Bible that divides the Bible into parts that are “for Christians today” and other parts that are “not for Christians today” are rejected. This leads to them calling for so-called “righteous government” to be established that mirrors the Theocracy of Israel, executing people for the same capital crimes, such as blasphemy, disobedience to parents, and homosexuality. They then reject any prophetic purpose for Jews or Israel, apply Old Testament “clean and unclean” laws on Christians, and end up with a post-tribulation Rapture.
Additionally, Steven Anderson and his followers use lots of crass language, say the Bible teaches that men should urinate standing up, and preach a lot of conspiracies (like chemtrails and water fluoridation conspiracies)
The video below contains 50+ examples of Anderson’s corrupt communication. Click here for the transcript.
For an excellent and short presentation which shows the cultlike and non-Baptist nature of the New IFB and Steven Anderson, watch the video below:
