A US Christian pastor has claimed that the world could be “Aids free by Christmas” if all gay people were executed.

In a sermon titled “Aids: The Judgement of God”, Steven Anderson told the congregation of the Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, that the Bible advocates genocide of LGBT people.

“Anybody who's a homo or bi - it's all the same category - sodomite is what the Bible would call them,” he said.

Speaking ahead of World Aids Day, which took place on 1 December, Anderson said the world had been “brainwashed” about the disease, which he claimed was in fact “the judgement of God”.

In a sermon during which he ranted and stomped his feet, he said he had discovered the “cure” for Aids in the book of Leviticus.

He said: “We can have an Aids free world by Christmas. Okay, it wouldn’t be totally Aids free, but we’d be like 90-some per cent Aids free by Christmas if we follow this.”

Telling his audience to turn to Leviticus 20:13, Anderson read aloud: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, even both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”

He then said: “And that, my friend, is the cure for Aids. It was right there in the Bible all along - and they’re out spending billions of dollars in research and testing. It’s curable - right there. Because if you executed the homos like God recommends, you wouldn’t have all this AIDS running rampant.”

In pictures: World Aids Day Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: World Aids Day In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December A Bangladeshi transsexual peeks out between the banners during a march to raise awareness EPA In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December EPA In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December A terminally ill patient raises his arm in a hospice for those dying of AIDS at the Buddhist temple Wat Prabat Nampu In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December Names of patients are seen on syringes at Nkosi's Haven, south of Johannesburg, in November. Nkosi's Haven provides residential care for destitute HIV-positive mothers and their children, whether HIV-positive or not Reuters In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December A patient looks out from a window of a HIV/AIDS hospice in the suburbs of Yangon Reuters In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December An HIV infected woman and her infected children sit in their shelter at the clinic on 29 November, 2014 in Yangon Reuters In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December Videograb image of Prince Harry taken from the launch video for the #FeelNoShame campaign as he is set to reveal one of his secrets today to help reduce stigma associated with HIV In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December The Apple logo on display at the Sydney Apple Store is illuminated in red to mark World Aids Day, in Sydney In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December Indian HIV positive patient Vimalaakshi, 37, stands while leaning onto a wall of the sequestered residential colony she lives in on the outskirts of Bangalore on November 28, 2014. Vimalaakshi, who lost her husband to the disease six year ago, is undergoing second line of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and has survived life-threatening meningitis and breast cancer AFP In pictures: World Aids Day World Aids Day: 1 December Vimalaakshi is looked after by her 18-year-old son who is also HIV positive and earns a paltry sum of 50 rupees (less than 1 USD) per day struggling to make ends meet AFP

As the audience laughed, Anderson went on to quote “statistics” that he claimed proved that contracting HIV was directly related to being “homo”.

In the sermon he also stated that “no queers [are] allowed in this church” and boasted that there was no law against his rule. Anderson claimed that all gay people are paedophiles who would pose a threat to children in the congregation.

And he also suggested that openly condemning homosexuality was part of loving God and practising the Christian faith.

Anderson has gained a reputation as a fundamentalist and hate-preacher. He caused particular controversy in 2009 when he professed his hate for US President Barack Obama and prayed for him to die and go to hell.

He has also claimed that women who take the contraceptive pill are “whores” whose blood has turned green.