Ralph Ovadal
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Ralph Ovadal (born August, 1951) is the fundamendalist Christian pastor of Pilgrims Covenant Church in Monroe, Wisconsin. He is known for his impassioned street corner preaching in various cities. Ovadal is highly opposed to abortion, public nudity, homosexuality, and ecumenism. Vehemently anti-Catholic, he openly calls the pope "antichrist" and led protests in front of movie theatres showing Mel Gibson's 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.
[edit] Ralph Ovadal vs. Fred Phelps
While often considered by his detractors to be a local version of Topeka's Fred Phelps, Ovadal has criticized Phelps' behaviour in the past [1] and labeled Phelps' female family members as "profanity-spewing, angry amazons" [2] [3] who physically attacked one of his church members.
[edit] King James Only
Pastor Ovadal is staunchly King James Only, and has produced numerous sermons against modern Bible translations, including his "A Blast Against The NIV". More recently, Ovadal has preached The Serpent's Hiss, an audio sermon which dissects how a translation called God's Word changes historical Christian doctrines by using modern words which are not exact synonyms of the English words traditionally used to translate important doctrinal concepts (e.g. "kindness" for traditional "grace", and "approval" for traditional "justification"). By using these imprecise equivalents, Ovadal argues that this translation is at best imprecise and at worst inaccurate.
Unlike most American pastors who hold the KJO position, Ovadal is a Reformed Presbyterian, not an Independent Baptist. Ovadal's church is not part of any denomination. He has close ties with the Free Presbyterians, and pastors from this KJO denomination frequently appear at Ovadal's conferences and on his Heart of the Matter radio program.
