John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
My wife e-mailed me a message last night that Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS were bringing their picket signs and message of hate to the state of South Carolina May 15-21. For those of you not familiar with Westboro they are the ones who have regularly picketed military funerals, homosexual events, churches and basically anyone or anything that disagrees with their legalistic views of scripture since 1991. The church has been pastored by Fred Phelps since 1955 and most of the congregation is made up of his family members. Phelps is a graduate of Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC.
The target of most of Westboro's venom are homosexuals and our military whom they claim are being killed by God in Afghanistan and Iraq as the result of a direct judgment of God against the wickedness of our nation. Now, for those of you who know me, have read this blog or heard me preach you know that I do believe we are a nation that has sunken into debauchery and you know that I believe the bible when it speaks of the sin of homosexuality calling it an abomination and unnatural. But Westboro takes these sound biblical teachings to another level, placing their personal beliefs in addition to the teachings of the bible on equal footing. That friends, is legalism, and God condemns it as much if not more than He condemns the sins that Westboro so radically opposes.
While they claim to preach a gospel of grace and peace, all that really shines through in their language and actions is hatred. If you wish to read their views you can go to their website www.godhatesfags.com. Seriously, that is there web address. And it speaks volumes about how they view things and propagate what they claim the bible says. Honestly, if there signs read "God Hates Homosexuality" instead of "God Hates Fags," I'd be standing right beside them supporting their views. You see, God does hate sin. He hates homosexuality and all forms of sexual immorality, He hates stealing, and lying, and idolatry, and greed, and murder, and selfishness and envy and every other thing that He calls sin. But, God does not hate the individual. He will judge the individual and cast them into an eternal hell if they do not turn to Him and repent of their sin, but God does not hate people.
John 3:16 clearly states this. It boldly and clearly tells us that God "so loved the world," and by the world that means all of us. God "so loved the world" that He gave us His "Son" so that through belief and faith, exhibited by following Him in obedience and repenting of our sin, we can be saved, "born again" a "new creation" in Jesus and have eternal life in heaven with God. Friends, their are homosexuals in the world. And thieves, liars, murderers, idolators, and all sorts of sinners. In fact, we are all sinners, guilty before God apart from the saving grace of God and the shed blood of Jesus Christ. If the world were not helplessly depraved and sinful, capable of perfectly living the Law of God, Jesus would never have had to come to earth and die for us.
Westboro claims to be a five point Calvinist church(google T.U.L.I.P.), but in actuality they profane this teaching taking it to a level it was never meant to hold. They completely ignore John 3:16, and the word "whosoever," which clearly teaches that all are able to come to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, if they choose to accept the calling of God to His Son. As D.L. Moody used to say, "whosoever will, will; and whosoever won't, won't." God has not predestined any person to an eternity in hell, in fact the bible teaches that hell was not created for mankind, but rather for "Satan and his angels." But, because of our sin, our depravity, our unbelief in Jesus countless people will join Satan and his angels there. But God has given us Jesus so that we should not have to suffer this fate, if we come to Him, and for nearly 2000 years He's been calling us to His Son through the message of the cross.
In Galatians 5:19-26 the bible teaches us about the "fruit of the Spirit" and the "works of the flesh." Hatred is not a "fruit of the Spirit." It is however a work "of the flesh," as are contentions, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions and heresies. Each of these attributes describe Westboro's attitude, not "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Now understand clearly beloved, sexual immorality, including homosexuality, is also a work of the flesh. These people are not wrong in calling it sin. But they are inherently un-Christlike in how they communicate this truth.
For most Christians, it is far easier to see the sin in others than it is in ourselves. But as Jesus instructs us in Matthew 7:1-5. we must first remove the "plank"(our own sin) from our own eye before we can righteously judge the sin in others and help them remove the "speck" from their own eye. This is what Westboro needs to do. They judge condemningly, and that is God's job, not ours. While we must judge right from wrong, none of us is capable of judging anothers eternal soul. We do not know when or if they will turn to God and repent. I'm praying for this group from Westboro, that God allows them to see that they are inherently damaging the cause of Christ and tearing down His body, not helping Christ and edifying His body.
Note: The picketing schedule is listed on Westboro's website. Among the churches they intend to picket include Shandon Baptist and Riverland Hills Baptist, two of the finest churches in the Columbia area. If you or your church plan to show up when Westboro is present, show them the love of Christ and if the Spirit allows attempt to show them the error of their ways. In all prayerfulness and Christlikeness, show them Jesus, and do not stoop to their level.
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