Title: Reasons to Grow (21)
Series: Ephesians
Author: Stephen Whitney
Text: Ephesians 4:14-16
After Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student in Wyoming, was beaten to death in October 1998 a tall man in white cowboy hat came to the funeral waving fluorescent signs with Matthew's face covered with blood-red flames and chanting, "Matt is in hell."
Fred Phelps the self-proclaimed pastor stood at the side of the road dressed in his white cowboy hat, wrap-around sunglasses, and dark blue suit. He was standing there with his gloves holding a giant homemade sign wooden sign that proclaimed to everyone:
"Fags are worthy of death - Romans 1:32."
It reads, Though they know God's decree that those who
practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them
but give approval to those who practice them.
Philips boldly told a reporter, "Some are called to preach God's message of love, and I've been called to preach his message of hate. Where are the old-time preachers who tell people the truth? God hates evildoers and fornicators and fags."
How and where did Philips ever hear such a call? To understand him means you must understand the call he received to be a Latter-day prophet. That call, he says, came at a tent meeting in Meridian, Mississippi, when the elders of his church gathered around him to anoint him, using the words of Isaiah 58:1
Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion and their sins.
When he takes to the pulpit at Westboro Baptist Church of about 75 in Topeka, Kansas, sin is usually a large part of his sermon.
It is too bad Philips and the elders didn't take time to read and study the whole passage of Scripture carefully because God is not calling his people to go out in the streets and preach hatred of sin. Instead, it is his passionate appeal to his people to practice true righteousness by ...
Series: Ephesians
Author: Stephen Whitney
Text: Ephesians 4:14-16
After Matthew Shepherd, a gay college student in Wyoming, was beaten to death in October 1998 a tall man in white cowboy hat came to the funeral waving fluorescent signs with Matthew's face covered with blood-red flames and chanting, "Matt is in hell."
Fred Phelps the self-proclaimed pastor stood at the side of the road dressed in his white cowboy hat, wrap-around sunglasses, and dark blue suit. He was standing there with his gloves holding a giant homemade sign wooden sign that proclaimed to everyone:
"Fags are worthy of death - Romans 1:32."
It reads, Though they know God's decree that those who
practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them
but give approval to those who practice them.
Philips boldly told a reporter, "Some are called to preach God's message of love, and I've been called to preach his message of hate. Where are the old-time preachers who tell people the truth? God hates evildoers and fornicators and fags."
How and where did Philips ever hear such a call? To understand him means you must understand the call he received to be a Latter-day prophet. That call, he says, came at a tent meeting in Meridian, Mississippi, when the elders of his church gathered around him to anoint him, using the words of Isaiah 58:1
Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion and their sins.
When he takes to the pulpit at Westboro Baptist Church of about 75 in Topeka, Kansas, sin is usually a large part of his sermon.
It is too bad Philips and the elders didn't take time to read and study the whole passage of Scripture carefully because God is not calling his people to go out in the streets and preach hatred of sin. Instead, it is his passionate appeal to his people to practice true righteousness by ...
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