eric is not open and honest. he has a lot to lose. and if he were preaching against the world, they would have dirt, real or not, out there on him.
no, this is what happens when god gets traction.
Luke 22:2
And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
John 5:18
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
John 7:1
After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.