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Let's face it: A true Christian would never make such a statement! A true Christian knows that both YHWH (God the Father) and His Son, Yeshua, commanded us to follow, obey and pray for our leaders:
1 Timothy 2: 1. I encourage you, therefore, in the first place, that you present to Elohim supplication and prayer and intercession and thanksgiving for all men: 2. for kings and magistrates (this includes whatever we call our leaders today, including "President") that we may dwell in a quiet and tranquil habitation with all reverence for Elohim and with purity. 3. For this is good and acceptable before Elohim our life-giver, 4. who would have all men live and be converted to the knowledge of the truth. (Rather than to wish our President dead and in hell, Anderson should be praying for his salvation and success!) 5. For Elohim is one, and the mediator between Elohim and men is one; (namely) the man Y'shua the Mashiyach, 6. who gave himself a ransom for every man; a testimony that arrived in due time, 7. of which I am constituted a herald and apostle. I speak the truth and do not lie, for I am the teacher of the Gentiles in the belief of the truth. 8. I desire therefore, that men may pray in every place while they lift up their hands with purity, without wrath and without disputations. (AENT)
Please understand, no one in our household voted for Barack Obama. We don't agree with his pro-abortion or pro-homosexuality stances (which shows he most certainly is NOT Christian!); we don't agree with his comments that Israel must be divided; and we don't agree with his ignorant statement that it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible. But we also realize we are subject to his decisions simply because he is President - whether we agree with him or not. Disagreement, however, does not give anyone the authority to threaten or harass him - much less wish him dead or in hell!
What kind of pastor would concoct a sermon entitled, "Why I Hate Barack Obama"? Where in the Scriptures are we taught to hate anyone? We are taught throughout the Bible to hate evil and any ungodly deeds committed by our fellow man, but nowhere are we told to HATE our fellow man! Anderson made several off-the-wall, un-Christian comments about President Obama, but none were as evil as this statement: "I'm gonna pray that he dies and goes to hell when I go to bed tonight. That's what I'm gonna pray."
At this point I would highly suggest that the entire world prays that Anderson's church will collapse and his throne be toppled because he no longer deserves to be called a servant of God! The Bible commands us to "rebuke sharply" people like Anderson (Titus 1:13).
It's really no wonder that Anderson made the ignorant comments he did, because - as he admits on his website, he doesn't have much education: "Pastor Anderson holds no college degree but has well over 100 chapters of the Bible committed to memory, including almost half of the New Testament."
Apparently his memorization of "over 100 chapters of the Bible...including almost half of the New Testament" was in vain, as he has obviously missed their context. Memorizing Scripture doesn't behoove anyone unless they are able to understand it! This is exactly what Rav Sha'ul (Paul) was talking about in 1 Corinthians 7 when he said that keeping the Covenant of Circumcision does no good unless one obeys YHWH's commands:
1 Corinthians 7: 18. Is a circumcised person called, let him not revert to uncircumcision: and if one uncircumcised be called, let him not become circumcised.[1] 19. For circumcision is nothing, neither is uncircumcision; but the keeping of Elohim's commands.[2] (AENT)
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Footnotes from the Aramaic English New Testament:
[1] Perhaps an odd statement to modern ears. During the conquests by Ptolemies, Seleucids and the Romans, Jews were under pressure to assimilate into the Gentile societies. One of the ways Jew assimilated was to compete at the Olympic Games (see 1 Corinthians 9:24). Since all athletes competed in the nude, a circumcised Jew faced an obvious dilemma. And so, many Jews made the unfortunate decision to reverse the appearance of their circumcision! Ironically, if they had been inspected at the Temple, they would have been barred.
[2] This is the key verse of the whole discourse in this chapter. Making circumcision into a tradition and distorting it into something other than what is intended by YHWH is to bring it to "nothing." Most Christians tend to read "circumcision is nothing" and stop there, as if that is the message Rav Shaul is sending out. But they fail to grasp the last line, because if keeping Elohim's commands is what counts, circumcision is most definitely one of these Commandments! The Renewed Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:8) was given to the house of Israel and Judah, but includes all others who join, meaning the Renewed Covenant is not just a "Jewish thing" nor is there a division between what Jews observe and what "Elohim Fearing" non-Jewish disciples of Y'shua observe. The Kingdom of Elohim is open for all souls to enter, and we are all called into His Kingdom on His terms, not ours.
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Getting back to Anderson's comments, let's examine a passage in the Book of Romans which further outlines our responsibility to God and to our leaders:
Romans 13: 1. Let every soul be subject to the authorities of government.[1] For there is no authority which is not from Elohim: and the authorities which exist are established by Elohim. 2. He therefore who opposes the authority, opposes the establishment of Elohim; and they who oppose them will receive judgment. 3. For judges are not a menace to good deeds, but to evil deeds. Would you then not be afraid of the authority? Do good, and you will have praise from it. 4. For he is the minister of Elohim; but it is to you for good. But if you work evil, be afraid; for he is not girded with the sword in vain; for he is a minister of Elohim and an avenger of wrath to them that do evil things. 5. And therefore, it is necessary for us to be obedient, not only on account of wrath, but likewise on account of our consciences. 6. For this cause also you pay tribute money; for they are the ministers of Elohim, established for these same objects. 7. Render therefore to every one as is due to him; head tax, to whomever accounts for it; and duties to whomever collects taxes; and respect, to whom respect is due; and honor, to whom honor is due. 8. And owe nothing to anyone; but to love one another. For he that loves his neighbor, has properly understood Torah. 9. For this likewise, which it says: You will not kill; nor commit adultery; nor steal; nor covet; and if there is any other Commandment, it is completed in this sentence: You will love your neighbor as yourself. 10. Love does no evil to one's neighbor because love is the fulfillment of Torah.[2] 11. And this also know you, that it is the time and the hour that we should therefore awaken from our sleep. For now our life has come nearer to us than when we believed. 12. The night now passes away, and the day draws near. Let us therefore cast from us the works of darkness; and let us put on the armor of light. 13. And let us walk decorously, as in daylight; not in merriment, nor in drunkenness, nor in impurity of the bed, nor in envy and strife. 14. But clothe yourselves with our Master Y'shua the Mashiyach: and pay no concern about your flesh for the indulgence of appetites.
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Footnotes from the Aramaic English New Testament:
[1] The false Church system twists this verse so that Christians will submit to the authority of false governments who in turn support the false religious hierarchies. In reality, Paul makes this statement in the context of YHWH's Commandments in Torah; "You shall not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt you answer in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment." (Sh'mot/Exodus 23:2) If the "majority" allows evil men in "government" and within "the church" to go unpunished, the evil becomes punishable upon the majority. For example, democracy is thought to work by majority vote, but in reality democracies are easily manipulated by power hungry minorities who control media, ballot boxes, polls and "public opinion." When the majority fails to act against evil, the hierarchy continues to further enslave it's victims (citizens). Many are discovering that what they believed to be a Democractic government is in fact an Oligarchy or organized criminals. The false Church system and all false government thrives on "double think" by putting forth an archetype (religious tradition or legislation by "majority" that "sounds reasonable" but is certainly not truth) and markets its theologies and laws as though it is a collectively inherited or accepted ideal. This is extremely high level rebellion against YHWH and must be prosecuted or all of humanity will suffer. "You shall not answer in a cause to decline after many." We must never fear evil men, decline to them, or pretend evil will go away on its own. Pray, speak and act against all manner of evil. Mashiyach calls all souls everywhere to join together in righteousness and bring Peace, Justice and Equality to all peoples, of all religions and socio-economic situation. See Matt. 22:21.
[2] Paul does not teach that Torah was abolished because we love our neighbor. Greek translations have pleroma, which is translated as "fulfilled". Popular Bible versions like the NIV recognize this thought is revisited in 13:9 which uses anakephalaiomai, which means "to accurately sum up or understand" the Torah. This is a type of a synonym for pleroma. If pleroma is translated as "fulfilled," there are numerous potential meanings. One of these, according to Thayer and Smith's Bible Dictionary is: "to fulfil, i.e. to cause God's will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God's promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment." This definition mirrors the Aramaic term that is also usually translated as "fulfill," such as the line in Matthew 5:17 that is targummed, "for I have not come to unravel the Torah but to provide proper interpretation of it." This is also the true meaning of the Greek where it says "thus was fulfilled according to the prophet"; i.e., this is the intended meaning of the Scripture as applied to the NT.
Furthermore, one should look carefully at what both Aramaic and Greek use for the term "law". In each case, nomos/namusa allows for the targummming of the Word/Torah concept to mean "torah" with a small "t", or individual instruction from the overall covenant. That being said, the other possible reading is that the true meaning of the relevant commandment is "fulfilled/understood" by loving one's neighbor and so on, which makes much more sense. Therefore, if one is to read "fulfilled" here, then it must be understood that the correct interpretation of Torah is given according to what Mashiyach Y'shua elucidated. This can in no way be construed that Mashiyach brought an end to Torah.
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YHWH exposes pastors who smear His Word, cause others to stumble and/or generally make Believers look like wild-eyed hypocrites. Unfortunately, there have been way too many like Anderson lately, including Ted Haggard, Todd Bentley, and the "God hates fags" guy, "pastor" Fred Phelps, along with a host of other, lesser-known types whose "15 minutes of fame" happens when they do or say something stupid and ungodly, as was the case with Anderson.
What "pastor" Anderson did was deliberate sin (because, as a "man of God" he should have known better than to make the ridiculous and ungoly comment that President Obama should die and go to hell). The Bible tells us that there is no sin sacrifice for deliberate sinning:
Hebrews 10: 26 For if we deliberately continue to sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but only the terrifying prospect of Judgment, or raging fire that will consume the enemies.
Matthew 23: (Yeshua said) 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
The Bible also tells us that anyone who hates his fellow man for whatever reason does NOT belong to God. Furthermore, we are cautioned to "take every thought captive" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Once we allow ourselves to go with our "carnal desires", we've separated ourselves from God:
Romans 16: 17 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put snares alongside the teaching in which you have been trained - keep away from them. 18 For men like these are not serving our Lord the Messiah but their own belly; by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the innocent.
2 John 1: 9. Everyone who transgresses and does not abide in the teaching of the Mashiyach, Elohim is not in him. And he who abides in his doctrine, he has the Father and the Son. 10. If anyone comes to you and does not possess this doctrine, neither entertain him in your house nor say to him, Joy to you: 11. For he that says to him, Joy to you, is a participator in his evil deeds.
Yes, the end times are definitely upon us, and people like Anderson are doing their level best to help usher them in. The antics of this "pastor" unfortunately are indicative of the type of leadership in our churches and synagogues today - leadership that not only does not know the Word of YHWH, but openly rebels and teaches others to rebel against His Word!
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