Evangel Lies: Picket Signs of the Times

The Phelps family of Westboro Baptist Church is at it again. This time, they've decided to protest the funeral of Walter Cronkite. If you're like me when I first heard this little tidbit of info, you're asking, "Ummm...why?". But the article makes it all clear. Apparently, it is because Walter Cronkite is a "fag-lover":

“We protest all this holy Cronkite worship. He was no hero to God. On his Cronkite Watch, America was surrendered to the fag-agenda. Ergo, Cronkite is now in Hell. And that’s the way it is. God hates Cronkite. “

That statement would fall under the category of Passing Judgement 101; and not of a righteous kind (John 7:24). What they propagate is a completely twisted view of the "gospel" - replete with picket signs and derogatory catch-phrase t-shirts:

"Our only message is love God and he’ll bless you...disobey God and he’ll destroy you.”

Hate to be a killjoy, Phelps family, but this is not THE Gospel. It's just judgement - that's all and nothing else (Matt. 7:3-5).

Where's the salvation? Where's the redemption of sins? Where's CHRIST!! Telling people to come to God without giving them the means by which to come? The idea of Christianity being touted by Fred Phelps and his WBC congregation is the antithesis of the way that we are to communicate the message of Christianity to a world that is lost. Until Jesus Christ comes again, we are to preach the Good News that Christ died to save the ungodly - that Jesus is the way for us to be reconciled to God for our sins. The reason that these men, women, and (unfortunately) children show up at funerals and picket the dead (while name calling), is because it is what they identify with spiritually - Death. It is a doctrine of death separated from the One who gives life (John 3:16, 6:44). This family has overstepped their boundaries by bringing final judgement on the world, when Christ has not yet done so (John 12:47-48).

They talk of love for God, yet they ignore the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). Are we to warn of the wrath to come? Absolutely! But, we are also to tell them of The Way out (Acts 17:22-33). Without this, what you see is what you get - which is nothing. Just blind men screaming at other blind men about how blind they are. Truth is, the WBC members need to be saved just as badly as the people that they protest against. They fail to see that they have little effect on the audience (other than to maybe anger a few), reducing them to a self-seeking, media-circus sideshow; irrelevant fodder for the masses.

To the Westboro Baptist Community:

My prayer for you is this:

May you be convicted of your own sins (Rom. 3:23), and repent. Seek the Lord Jesus Christ while he may be found. Submit to the whole counsel of God as it has been given to us in the Scriptures (Matt. 7:2, Luke 6:37-38, Rom. 2:1). May the Love of Christ compel you so that you may learn to have love for those whom Christ loves (Matt. 11:19, Luke 15:2). Give way to the Great Commission of our Lord...(2 Cor. 5:20, Jude 1:23)

It's about being sent to make disciples, not sending people to Hell (Luke 5:32).

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon