Founder: Fred Phelps (b. 1929) became pastor of Westboro Baptist church in 1955. Ordained in the Southern Baptist denomination in 1947, married to Margie Phelps.1
Headquarters: Topeka, KS.
Membership:
Origins: The Westboro Church was founded in 1955 by Fred Phelps
Practices: Picketing various funerals of homosexuals, soldiers, and others who have been killed in various ways, citing God as the reason they were killed because God hates them.
Teachings: Jesus only died for his sheep2. They hold to the five points of Calvinism. (We must be careful here not to associate Calvinism with Westboro Baptist Church's behavior. Many Calvinists stand against what they are doing.)
Quotes
- "Asian countries weren’t the only ones affected by the tsunami. Do you realize that among the
dead and missing are 20,000 Swedes and over 3,000 Americans? Filthy Swedes went to Thailand - world epicenter of child sex traffic - to rape and sodomize little Thai boys and girls. 20,000 dead Swedes is to Sweden's population of 9 million as 650,000 would be to America's 290 million population. We sincerely hope and pray that all 20,000 Swedes are dead, their bodies bloated on the ground or in mass graves or floating at sea feeding sharks and fishes or in the bellies of thousands of crocodiles washed ashore by tsunamis. These filthy, faggot Swedes have a satanic, draconian law criminalizing Gospel preaching, under which they prosecuted, convicted and sentenced Pastor Ake Green to jail - thereby incurring God's irreversible wrath: "He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes; Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Psa. 105:14,15. America, who is awash in diseased fag feces & semen, and is an apostate land of the sodomite damned. Let us pray that God will send a massive Tsunami to totally devastate the North American continent with 1000-foot walls of water doing 500 mph -- even as islands in southern Asia have recently been laid waste, with but a small remnant surviving. And you wonder if this is the wrath of God?"3 - First of all, read this transcript from Scarborough Country and this transcript from Hannity And Colmes that explain why. Secondly, here are some axiomatic matters of fact: These turkeys are not heroes. They are lazy, incompetent idiots looking for jobs because they're not qualified for honest work. They were raised on a steady diet of fag propaganda in the home, on TV, in church, in school, in mass media - everywhere - the two-pronged lie: 1) It's OK to be gay; and, 2) Anyone saying otherwise, like WBC, is a hatemonger who must be vilified, demonized, marginalized into silence. Therefore, with full knowledge of what they were doing, they voluntarily joined a fag-infested army to fight for a fag-run country now utterly and finally forsaken by God who Himself is fighting against that country"
- "Thank God! God has cursed this nation with total bible ignorance, blind deaf eyes, deaf ears and hard hearts!"4
- "Thank God 71 Pakistani civilians killed in military air strike!"5
- "Thank God for dead soldiers!"6
Publications: westbororbaptistchurch.com, godhatesfags.com. "...the World's Greatest Publishing Company flies under the banner of Westboro Baptist Church." 7. Blog at blogs.sparenot.com/index.php?blog=1. Signs used for picketing include "GOD HATES FAGS, FAGS HATE GOD, AIDS CURES FAGS, THANK GOD FOR AIDS, FAGS BURN IN HELL, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, FAGS ARE NATURE FREAKS, GOD GAVE FAGS UP, NO SPECIAL LAWS FOR FAGS, FAGS DOOM NATIONS, THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS, FAG TROOPS, GOD BLEW UP THE TROOPS, GOD HATES AMERICA, AMERICA IS DOOMED, THE WORLD IS DOOMED" 8
Biblical Analysis: Upon going to their website you are welcomed by a well designed page. On the right is a small multicolored graphic that says, "God hates you." Below that is a graphic of a young man holding a sign that says, "God hates fags." Under the Love Crusades section is another graphic of a young boy holding a sign that says, "God hates the U.S.A." Does God hate? Yes he does (Psalm 5:5; 11:5; Prov. 6:16-19).
- Psalm 5:5, "The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You do hate all who do iniquity."
- Psalm 11:5, "The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates."
- Prov. 6:16-19, "There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers."
He indeed has hatred for those who abide in sin. On the other hand, does God love? Yes he does.
- John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
- Matt. 5:43-48, "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you 45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? 47 “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
While CARM agrees with Westboro Baptist Church's condemnation of homosexuality, abortion, unjustified war, and other sins, it does not agree with the methodology the church uses. Westboro is overly abrasive, rude, insulting, and condemning. There seems to be no grace and it shows very little love, if any.
To justify its harsh approach the Church cites a lot of Old Testament quotes about God's vengeance and, by interesting contrast, infrequently uses the New Testament that shows love, patience, and kindness. Consider these New Testament that tell Christians how they are to deal with unbelievers.
- Col. 4:5-6, "Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person."
- Eph. 4:29, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear."
- 1 Tim. 1:5, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."
Does the Old Testament teach anything similar to the above verses? Yes it does.
- Prov. 16:21, "Sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness."
- Prov. 16:24, "Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."
- Ecc. 10:12, "Words from the mouth of a wise man are gracious, while the lips of a fool consume him."
Is this what the Westboro Church members are doing? Not at all. Should they condemn sin? Absolutely! Do they have the right to picket? Yes the do! But, they need to use wisdom not condemning, vitriolic tactics that incite rage and hatred.
Jesus went and hung out with the sinners.
- Mark 2:15-17, "And it came about that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax-gatherers and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. 16 And when the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax-gatherers, they began saying to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax-gatherers and sinners?” 17 And hearing this, Jesus *said to them, “it is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Jesus went to the sinners and taught them. We find that many repented. Now WBC might say that he went to them because they were ready to hear the words of truth and so repent of their sins. But the text does not say this. It could be just as accurate to say that they went to hear him because of his truth and love mixed together. But one thing was for sure, Jesus was incarnate love and he taught with wisdom and power. They realized their sin because of Christ's love, truth, and nature, not because they were badgered, yelled at, and insulted.
Resources:
- 1. godhatesfags.com/written/wbcinfo/phelpsbio.html
- 2. godhatesfags.com/faq.html
- 3. godhatesfags.com/faq.html
- 4. blogs.sparenot.com/index.php?blog=1
- 5. blogs.sparenot.com/index.php?blog=1
- 6. blogs.sparenot.com/index.php?blog=1
- 7. godhatesfags.com/written/wbcinfo/publishingcompany.html
- 8. godhatesfags.com/wbcinfo/aboutwbc.html
