Pastor John Lewis

[[File:Pastor John Lewis.png|thumb|right|165px|Pastor John Lewis and his Grizzly Adams beard.]]{{hatnote|Not to be mixed up with the {{wpl|John Lewis|much better John Lewis}}.}}{{christianity}}{{cquote|I used to be on a [[shortwave]] [[radio]] station. I'm not on it anymore, and I'm glad I'm not. Because I listened to some of their stuff and all they got is women preachers on there. That's all they got, women preachers. 

"Sister Bonnie Hogfatitis! Send in your love offering today! And I will give you the vision that God gave me when I was in a trance, and I had a temperature of hundred and six degrees, and God showed me that I was dead, but I came back and now my husband wishes he was dead."

You know, a million people pay to keep keep them on the radio, and you know why? Because when a nation gets far away from God, God raises up more women to run the show.|||Pastor John Lewis, 2003.}}

'''Pastor John Taylor Lewis III''' {{lived|1944|2020}}<ref>[https://archive.ph/ygRWt Pastor John Taylor Lewis III] ''Weathers Funeral Home'' (archived from 21 Feb 2021 21:11:56 UTC).</ref> was a hard-line [[independent Baptist]] minister from who ran the Old Paths Baptist Church, a small farm-based church in Campbellsburg, [[Indiana]].<ref>Pastor John Lewis, 20 November 2001 recording at 7:00. Lewis said he served in the {{wpl|4th Infantry Division (United States)#Vietnam War|4th Infantry Division}} in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969.</ref><ref>Pastor John Lewis, 6 November 2001 recording at 9:20. Lewis said he was "saved" in 1970.</ref><ref>Pastor John Lewis, 11 November 2001 recording at 3:00. Lewis said, much to his shame, he went to the same [[Liberty University|Bible college]] as [[Jerry Falwell]].</ref><ref>[https://www.weathersfuneralhome.com/obituary/PastorJohn-LewisIII Obituary for Pastor John Taylor Lewis III (May 16, 1944 - November 30, 2020)]. Weathers Funeral Home, 2020.</ref> Lewis broadcasted his church services on his program "The Black Brigade" using a variety of shortwave radio stations in the [[United States]] from 1998 to 2007. His ministry was virulently anti-abortion and homophobic, prone to such stunts as driving a [[kookmobile|kook bus]] covered with graphic pictures of aborted fetuses to highway intersections while yelling at passers-by holding signs saying "[[Fred Phelps|God hates fags]]."

Activist groups noticed Lewis' programming on shortwave radio and were not pleased.<ref name=latham>James Latham, [https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2002/radio-station-owners-allan-weiner-broadcast-hate-claim-they-love-free-speech Radio station owners like Allan Weiner broadcast hate, claim they love free speech.] [[Southern Poverty Law Center]], 18 June 2002.</ref> Lewis reveled in the publicity provided by his detractors, and taking advantage of the mostly uncensored nature of private shortwave broadcasting in the US, spewed his venomous screeds for several years before [[LANCB|completely disappearing]]. 

Hundreds of hours of his radio show recordings exist, and many reveal the true beliefs of radical independent Baptist theology.

* [[Billy Graham]] teaches a fag gospel<ref>Pastor John Lewis, 11 October 2001 recording at 3:00.</ref>
* The government wants to use [[Homeland security]] to [[Gun control|take away your guns]]<ref>Pastor John Lewis, 21 November 2001 recording at 7:30.</ref>
* [[Racism|Shadrach, Meshach and a bad negro]]
* [[Pro-life|Murdered bebbies]]
* [[Homophobia|All you fags are goin' to hell!]]
* Fags Die, God Laughs<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080516003323/http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/11/110805flagDemo.htm Indiana Church Burns Gay Flag]. Archived from the original at 365gay.com, 8 November 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.brucegarrett.com/brucelog_2005_11_5.htm Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin...] brucegarrett.com, November 2005.</ref>
* [[Sex|Cockeyed fornicating reprobates!]]
* I can dig an outhouse in the back yard if I damn well feel like it and you zoning officers better keep away!<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080619144041/http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions/pdf/06180803lmb.pdf Old Paths Baptist Church vs. Washington County Health Department, et. al.] State of Indiana, 18 June 2008. {{blockquote|During September of 2003, Bert Engler (“Engler”) and Nora Shepherd (“Shepherd”) complained to the Health Department that Old Paths was discharging sewage onto the ground. On or about September 11, 2003, Michael Haddon (“Haddon”), Environmental Supervisor for the Health Department, drove to Old Paths and sought to inspect the premises concerning the alleged sewage discharge. Haddon was denied access. On or about September 15, 2003, the Health Department issued a letter to Lewis, as pastor of Old Paths, requesting inspection access. Lewis responded with a letter denying access and suggesting that the Health Department investigate [[Planned Parenthood]].}}</ref>
* If you don't like it, lump it!<ref>Pastor John Lewis, 11 October 2001 recording at 8:20.</ref><ref>Pastor John Lewis, 6 November 2001 recording at 1:00.</ref><ref>Pastor John Lewis, 24 December 2004 recording at 35:00.</ref><ref>Pastor John Lewis, 21 November 2001 recording at 3:50.</ref>

Pastor John Lewis was the subject of much debate in alternative media. In 1998, shortwave station {{wpl|WBCQ}} began broadcasting with a strong [[free speech]] stance. "The Black Brigade" was among the earliest programs on WBCQ. WBCQ also broadcast other odious programs such as "The Overcomer Ministry" with [[Brother Stair]] and [[William Luther Pierce]]'s "American 
Dishonest
 Dissident Voices". Pierce's program was almost immediately permabanned from WBCQ after refusing to soften their [[genocide|genocidal]] rants, but Lewis and Stair continued their anti-homosexual venom unabated. In addition to WBCQ, Lewis broadcast on a variety of US shortwave stations, including WGTG and WWFV (now {{wpl|WWRB}}), and {{wpl|WHRI}}.<ref name=latham />

In December 2003, Lewis noticed that [[troll]]s on the [[internet]] were among his listeners, and read "The Pastor John Lewis Drinking Game" from a [[Usenet]] post on his radio show to much audience amusement.<ref>Summarized from a post on [https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/rec.radio.shortwave/ii7ylP9thiU/5pqqCZmHMl4J rec.radio.shortwave] dated 19 August 2003:
<pre>
The Pastor John Lewis Drinking Game

Inspired by I. P. Yurin

The host should provide a sufficient quantity of the players' favorite
alcoholic beverages sufficient to last for at least a good party.

Just prior to the start of a "Black Brigade" broadcast, each player
picks, in coin toss order, a phrase from the following list until all
phrases or words are picked. 

- cock-eyed reprobate
- you're goin' to hell
- sodomite
- little bushie
- maggot
- hog fat
- mother-in-law
- baby murderer
- faggot
- raghead
- civil magistrate

If a player hears his or her phrase spoken by Pastor John or one of
his rarely appearing Billy Bob fellow pastors, the player is entitled
to a drink.

If any of the following occurs:

- Pastor John says "if you don't like it, lump it"
- Pastor John sings

everyone drinks.
</pre></ref>

Lewis hated [[megachurch]]es, [[televangelist]]s, and especially [[Pentecostal]]s, condemning their "[[Speaking in tongues|tongues babblin' fallin' on the floor]]" rituals as heresy, ridiculing the [[obesity]] of some Pentecostal pastors, and having his followers carry around giant posters of walking pigs emblazoned with their names.<ref>[http://fhcglobal.homestead.com/Report_2006_11_12_ProtestersAtFHC.html Protesters Mock Pastor Carter & the Love of God at FHC]. fhcglobal.homestead.com, 26 March 2006.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071026210454/http://www.fhcglobal.org/InTheNews_2006_11_16_Democrat.html 'Somebody needed to speak up' Pastor speaks out against messages proclaimed by John Lewis and his followers.] Archived from the original at fhcglobal.org, 16 November 2006.</ref>

Lewis left shortwave radio around 2005 and broadcast on the internet for a couple of years, using various low budget services. His last internet shows in 2007 used a website run by Richard Palmquist,<ref>Richard Palmquist's [https://web.archive.org/web/20180321050345/http://www.truthradio.com/More.php TruthRadio.com] (last archived in 2018) was a monument to both [[Badger's Law]] and [[Internet_law#Time_Cube_Law|shitty 1990s era personal website development]].</ref> a blowhard who was involved with setting up Family Radio with [[Harold Camping]] in the 1960s.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180418111829/http://frfounders.org/richard-palmquist/ Richard Palmquist,] Archived from frfounders.org.</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:Christian fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Christianity]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Shortwave radio]]

Categories: Christian fundamentalism, Christianity, Homophobia, Shortwave radio