Peter J. Peters

Peter J. "Pete" Peters (1947-2011) was an extremist Christian preacher and conspiracy theorist from Laporte, Colorado who was pastor of the Laporte Church of Christ (which is unrelated to the mainstream United Church of Christ). Peters was known for his white-supremacist, anti-Semitic, and homophobic views; as well as his insane conspiracy theories regarding the federal government and the New World Order which make Alex Jones almost seem sane by comparison. His critics would describe him as adhering to Christian Identity, a term he disclaimed.

Life
Peters was formerly a USDA inspector from Nebraska before he became a pastor. He also sang, most of his songs being, like the Westboro Baptist Church, slightly reworded covers to qualify as "parodies".

In 2010 or so, he sustained a pair of severely injured legs due to an accident with a horse. Then he died of renal failure in July 2011. To some this may constitute proof that there is a God.

Hate
He would probably be much better known than he is, except he has been upstaged in the extreme anti-gay hate department by Fred Phelps. If not for Fred Phelps it is likely that Pete Peters would be the public face of extreme religious homophobia. Peters authored the booklet Death Penalty for Homosexuals, a centerpiece of his "ministry" that calls for all homosexuals to be put to death. Not to be accused of homophobia alone, he staked out an equal-opportunity hatred by also calling for the death penalty for heterosexual adulterers, and put his radio callers who agreed with him about gays on the spot by grilling them on whether they would also put adulterers to death.

In his "sermons," he claimed that he only hates what and whom he believes Jesus would hate. Much like the logic behind the Westboro Baptist Church, God seems to hate anyone who isn't part of their crazy cult.

Lizards
It gets weirder. He also apparently believed in David Icke's shape-shifting lizard-men nonsense, and tied it to biblical stories and parables involving reptiles (such as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, the claim that believers shall "take up serpents," and Jesus calling the Pharisees vipers and snakes).

Peters believed in shadowy New World Order conspiracies and was repeatedly accused of anti-Semitism. A 1992 camp meeting initiated by Peters is believed to be the birthplace of the modern militia movement. Strangely enough, he claimed that the meeting was in support for Randy Weaver and afterwards he complained that Weaver never returned his calls, even five years after. Perhaps this is the same thing as anti-Zionist groups in Lebanon not wanting to have David Duke on their side.

He was a promoter of the Washington, D.C. street design conspiracy theory, claiming it was deliberately designed to form occult symbols such as the pentagram to control the U.S. and the entire world through sorcery.

Theology
He held the same beliefs as Christian Identity regarding the identity of the biblical nation of Israel (i.e. the real Israel is today the European people and their descendants, while Jews are impostors to the claim), but rejected and distanced himself from the Christian Identity label even though he shared their beliefs. He also believed in baptismal regeneration as necessary for "salvation," and so spent a lot of time denouncing other Christian evangelists for preaching that one can be "saved" through belief only, without being baptized. He encouraged listeners to surreptitiously anoint federal courthouses in the U.S. with anointing oil to help "take back" America from judges and lawyers.

Off the air
If you must, his radio show was called Scriptures For America and could be heard on some AM radio stations where he bought airtime, but mostly on shortwave radio stations WWCR and WTWW where he had bought large blocks of airtime. Be warned, listening to Pete Peters is like getting a crash course in just-how-far-can-you-take-this-Biblical-literalism thing. If you are on the fence about Christianity, he may well push you off the fence into not wanting to have anything to do with it at all. Come to think of it, Fred Phelps tends to have the same effect.

Despite the death of Peters, his ministry website and radio continue to exist and talk as if he were still alive.

In the media
Fundamentalist author David Barton's old relationship with Peters's ministry attracted some deal of controversy after Barton began appearing on Glenn Beck's TV show.