Category: News/Politics

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The Religiosity of the Left

It is essential that we understand the religious nature of our present crisis. At this point, “Jesus” is still a very useful tool in the hands of tyrants. The liberationists, socialists, barbarians, and Scythians can easily use Jesus’ name to fit into any of their agenda. Jesus can be the easiest way to push a “love thy neighbor” agenda that can apply to just about any modern governmental impulse from forcing masks to wearing Bernie’s mittens. The reason Jesus is such a compelling figure is that unbelievers know that there is still a modicum of spirituality among the leftist base that still cherishes Jesus as a decorative piece in the intellectual journey of any human being.

We should, of course, decry such a thing and fight back with the feistiness of Poirier’s knockout against McGregor. We cannot tolerate seeing our Lord manipulated by the speeches of evil men. Chesterton adds this piece to his masterful hymn, “O God of Earth and Altar,” that jumps right into our current political cycle when he warns about the:

…lies of tongue and pen,
from all the easy speeches
that comfort cruel men.

Cruel men are easily comforted by easy speeches, religiosity displayed in the name of collective faith, and variations of “Amazing Grace” that give even the foulest men goosebumps. But in the end, the entire message is a ploy to get you to think goodies are the government’s specialty. And to deliver these goodies, Jesus becomes the means to an end.

Ever since there was an Arius and Marcion, and Raphael Warnock, there were guilt manipulators using Messiah Jesus to convey their abc’s. Leftists need Jesus, but one made in their image, and they prey on the ignorance of evangelicals to get them to side with their causes. This entire scene explains the New York Times’ sudden fascination with the religiosity of Biden. He is “perhaps the most religiously observant commander in chief in half a century.” But here is where the rubber meets the cathedral: Biden is, says NYT, “a different, more liberal” kind of Christian. It grounds his life and policies.

Machen said long ago that “there can be no greater mistake than to suppose that Jesus ever separated theology from ethics.” Nobody on the Left separates theology from ethics, but what they do separate is theology from Jesus. If men can create a new Jesus–and man is a factory of creativity–then, they can offer the world a new ethic based on a Jesus-figure. This allows them to carry their “nice” Christian identities around the Fox News world while simultaneously carrying their “intolerance” identity towards us on MSNBC. It’s a win-win.

Good people, don’t negotiate with manipulators. Bury your eyes and hands in the work of the kingdom. Keep the Epiphany spirit going–the spirit of hard labor and bold proclamation. When Lent comes to town, we can mourn while singing psalms of imprecations against any who would use our Lord’s name in vain. 

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Moving Forward in the Biden Era

Let me go ahead and speak my mind because I have been somewhat shy lately, so here it goes a day after 46 took office. What we are witnessing now is the demise of evangelical culture and the solutions to resurrecting this culture has to come from the remnants within.

There is no way around it, and here are some things we ought to expect in the days and months ahead. First and foremost, churches that uphold orthodoxy on Sundays will have to uphold it throughout the week. And that means that you cannot subscribe to Leftist ideologies, which are the exact opposite of the conservation of classic traditional principles of morality. You simply cannot affirm the legitimacy of “gay Christians” or Leftist causes and remain soberly faithful to the Gospel. It’s historically and logically impossible.

My suspicion is that what we will see in the months ahead is a coalition of forces from conservative churches that do not want to see this country collapse under the weight of inglorious bastards. They may even share differing theological perspectives, but they are united in desiring a nation that understands reality. Conservatives need to see that if we have transgender activists in the White House, we need to have godly men and women in our little houses, which means it’s time to start punching the right things, rather than wasting time on foolish causes. In my estimation, the University of Woke City is out of the equation for my children, even if it means losing a prestigious medal made out of kale products.

Secondly, I also believe that such churches that hold firm to conservative causes and who speak truth to high towers will likely grow numerically in the months to come. If these same churches do not cower to the voices of illogical leaders, and if they continue to do those same sacred duties, they will actually be on firm standing as their local bodies will begin to attract the presence of people who are simply fed up with the liberalizing approach of their own churches. If your current congregation seems to be headed towards their fourth sermon series on critical race theory and begins to denigrate the conservative agenda because we don’t uphold “Love Thy Neighbor” as they deem best, you need to begin thinking carefully about your priorities. I have written about how to leave a church wisely, which does not mean you wait until this or that passes before having a conversation. Move speedily and find out where in the world your church is headed in 2021.

Let me also stress the need to pick up Machen’s “Christianity and Liberalism” as a guide through these trying times. He noted a long time ago that “The type of religion which rejoices in the pious sound of traditional phrases, regardless of their meanings, or shrinks from “controversial” matters, will never stand amid the shocks of life.” This is not the time to act as if the other side is going to standby silently while you parade your radical free speech proclaiming “Jesus is Lord!” They will not! They are eager to change your vocabulary. And, following Machen’s logic, this is certainly no longer the time for gnostic subtleties like “We are not of this world” or “We look to another country.” A quick read will tell you definitively that this world is ours (Rom. 4:13), and that God’s world has come down. As the hymn states unequivocally, “This is my Father’s world!”

The Great Commission is given to the Church, and now it’s time to let it be known that our agenda is to baptize millions of disciples young and old who will bring holy disarray to any living body that rejects Messiah Jesus. You can expect us to be civil and lucid in our presentation, but we will not tickle your ears.

The reason liberalism is so enticing is that it allows you to make friends everywhere under the guise of sweet orthodoxy. But the fragrance of orthodoxy is foul to the world. Further, you have noticed by now that liberalism is deeply religious. Just take yesterday’s prayer where the Right Reverend of Theological Drunkenness ended by saying, “In the strong name of our collective faith;” that stunt was a symbol of a new body of politics that has absolutely no interest in the grammar of orthodoxy. The religiosity of the Left is good in the sense that it encourages us to know where God’s revelation is found and where it isn’t and also to clarify that atheism doesn’t exist; what does exist are religious people who either love the truth or willingly suppress it.

My deep and sincere hope is that this entire season revealed those who prefer the allotment of Job’s wife rather than the oil of Aaron’s beard. The more the Church proceeds with truth in this season, the more she will be united in the kingdom and the more little churches will grow in numbers and wisdom. But the more she acts as a collective faith, she will shrink into oblivion and her children’s children will have no inheritance.

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Welcome to Biden’s World

The Democratic Party is considered an essential worker in sexual exploration. They get a COVID-exemption because they are moving society to a higher evolutionary place. Example A: President-elect Biden tapped Rachel Levine to be assistant secretary of health. Now, of course, (he) may be skilled enough to assume such a task according to the administration’s standards, but that is not why (he) was called for such a position. At the heart of it is Levine’s status as a transgender advocate. (His) federal position marks a stark shift in political appointments starting in give or take 28 hours.

From now on, it’s not about political favoritism, a practice exercised by Republicans and Democrats alike; it’s about political exploration–the kind that delves deep into the jungle of sexual weirdness and anomalies. Skills? Nah. It’s about what you symbolize to the world.

As David Bahnsen eloquently stated in a recent piece, Trump kept the Democrats from going full hysteria for four years. As I have granted for a long time, there is enough fault in Trump to fill the Barnebau Stadium in Madrid and a few hundred more. His temperament often mirrored that of a bullied teenage girl on Twitter at 3am. But as I have also argued, even with his fickle mood, he was able to enact change and sustained the dam infrastructure while the Left kept arguing that dams are meant to be shattered. That ability to hold off evil, despite his many errors, will be his legacy.

And now we come to No. 46. When you think of Joe Biden, remember that in the Obama days, Biden was the background figure who could never approximate the charisma of Obama. And, according to most Democrats, Biden was Mr. Moderate seeking always to appease the older generation who still from afar thought that the gender fluidity thing was going too far. Fast forward to our present stage and the entire environment has changed. Not only is Biden the grandfatherly figure behind the modern Left, but he is also the leader of the Leftist revolution. His appointments from now on will be symbolic attempts to make cultural changes one Lesbian at a time.

Christians moving forward now need to put their “courage hats” on and dance to a different tune…the awkward ballads that nobody knows. And the evangelicals who are eager to follow the Biden dance will do it subtly at first, but then slowly join the music with the others. When people (let’s make up a name) like Guss Boore begin to assemble a team to think more deeply about sexual orientation and conclude that the gender war is not the Christian’s fight, rather, justice for the poor is, then know that the coup is nigh.

Pastors and parishioners will either see the terrain for what it is, or they will naively roam the corridors of the Biden era saying, “Well, isn’t it nice out here with all this love and unity!” If we didn’t think symbols were important, we sure will now. This Sunday I suggest you take a hearty look at that bread and wine and remember what team you are fighting for. Biden’s world is here, and we better know how to live and move in this new world.

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When Conservatives Take All the Blame

The fall-out of the events on January 6th at the U.S. Capitol resulted in the well-orchestrated pronouncements of justice-warriors. We know what to expect from the pagans, but it’s a whole different story when the evangelicals who were silent during BLM and Antifa’s destruction-crusade across American cities begin to claim the demise of Trump voters enthusiastically. According to these political purists, if we supported Trump in any way, we are guilty by association and must acknowledge that “our guy” destroyed the Republic and caused the death of democracy. We should surrender our cause and accept defeat and go back to hiding. Shame! Shame! Shame! Walk the plank of blame!

No matter who we are, whether we were simply living quiet and peaceable lives, or whether we repudiated the acts of juvenile turds, or whether we say, “bad people did stuff,” the scarlet letter is cemented. It’s important to remember that such evangelicals have quietly borrowed from the terrain of the left, accepting easy bribes for quick respectability awards. For a long time, they have written lengthy articles on TGC and other notoriously effeminized websites exalting victimhood virtues while rebuking the slightest move away from their established narrative. Whatever that narrative is, it’s not what we fine people would uphold.

I was reminded of a wedding I officiated where I made the “controversial” statement that a woman ought to submit to her husband, and a husband must love his wife. In my world, such statements do not require explanations. To my shock, I discovered that the bridesmaids scolded the beautiful bride after the wedding. They were terrified that she would invite a minister that would make such archaic remarks about a wife’s role. In our day, many within the church add so many footnotes to Paul’s exhortations on submission that by the end, we are left wondering if Paul failed to hire an editor when he penned his words. Similarly, evangelicals on the left are eager to pounce on conservatives like us if we happen to share any item on the Republican menu. They want us to cower and do penance on behalf of the scattered zealots who align in any way to our cause.

As of today, Donald Trump has been excommunicated from every major platform, political figures who supported himTrump are now being ridiculed, conservative voices are being unmistakably targeted, Twitter accounts mysteriously deleted, Parler is receiving the wrath of techno giants like Apple and Amazon, and the signs point to increased specialization in detecting people like us as aggressors and apologists for riots and mayhem.

Well, bless their hearts! Atheists practice the same ethic when it comes to the crusades. They ask in a victor’s tone, “How can Christianity be true if Christians killed people in an unwarranted war?” Without delving into the futility of such assumption, we should really take heart and remember that the righteous ones are always the ones who are equal opportunity offenders, or as I like to put it, “equal opportunity ethicists.” By now, there is sufficient evidence to prove that a group of thugs defending the Trump agenda invaded the Capitol–in some cases with the aid of officers and in others by force—to stop formal proceedings from taking place. As one Trump supporter stated, “I got caught up in the moment.” Let that moment give him something to think about in a cell for the next many years. Others easily influenced by the totality of stupidity followed. No, this was not a righteous revolution; this was the Jewish zealotry of Jude’s day in action. It was the exertion of an over-realized eschatology that will scar the Trump presidency for decades to come, but it should not scar everyone who voted option A vs. option Witch of Endor.

The point is that we are not participants in the acts of anyone who acted unrighteously. None of us have to assume vicarious guilt for another. Calvary already accomplished such a feat. I have read enough reports from people who were merely in D.C. to voice their concern for the election’s integrity. Right or wrong, they have that right. Whatever else happened is the fault of scoundrels who should be rightly brought to justice. But make no mistake, such scenarios will be used abundantly to make generalized cases condemning a whole class of people. This is identity politics served raw.

Let me close with a summary of the Trump era as we move forward.
From the beginning, we all knew the sorry state of the Republican Party. I wrote back in 2016 that Trump won because there was no one else eager to speak plainly about what must be done. Trump succeeded, and his success is a sign that politics, as we know it, will never be the same. The Trump era emboldened people to choose and made a mockery out of independent voters…whatever that is.
But the lesson that strikes me to this day is just how little it takes for a leader to make substantive changes like de-regulation, abandoning childish international alliances, selecting imperfect but sane justices to the Supreme Court, inspiring the Pro-life agenda, protecting the church, avoiding unnecessary foreign wars, and a host of other important factors that move the Conservative voice forward. Still, Trump was a weak candidate. We all knew that, but his narcissism and pursuit of childish displays on social media and mediocre decisions at 3am, and a history of Cretan immorality, all of that, and everything else, is still better than a Clinton and Biden presidency. If Trump moved the conservative agenda forward in a few crucial ways, imagine what a fervent and decent candidate could do in office?

The lesson is that the evangelical left will eagerly look for scapegoats to accentuate their cause. The conservative voice should look to the brouhaha of January 6th and learn that zealotry is stupid, criticize the imbeciles who did what they did, and move on to better things. Conservatives do not need to defend everything done in the name of conservatism. We call that discernment. We should be ethical enough to condemn whatever does not harmonize with biblical standards and pursue the greater good as a result. After all, January 20th is not the death of conservatism; it’s an opportunity to properly advocate for healthier priorities. 

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Strategizing in a Biden Presidency

Let me add some background music to your news cycle today. Part of my daily routine is to peruse and read a host of articles from mainline sources and some academic as well to form what I hope is a more substantive approach to theology and politics. That said, the end result almost always leads to some general felicity for my tribe and some dismay for the other. But a good thinker comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comforted. The reason there is a smidge of interest in anything I write is that I have hopefully offered something hearty and simultaneously humored your satirical side.

So, a few additional follow-ups to the goings and comings from D.C. If you don’t know me by now, you will never, never, never know me…oooohhhh. And part of knowing me is that I have a placid temperament when it comes to the curious-minded, but share a distaste for the ideology of those who minimize the good, true, and beautiful. Translating that into the German, Luther’s German, it’s a hell of a thing to chase the horses and chariots around as if they are going to lead you to green pastures. Turning the pulpit into a political rally for the last four years gave us sister Kamala. Awoman!

You shall know true disciples by their fruit. And true disciples speak wisely into a culture by their track record. Ideas have consequences like fruit trees. One of the fruits of a poorly catechized culture has been the many teens and young adults these last four years touting leftist ideologies in response to the harshness of Trump. Some have left the church because of Trumpism. Perhaps rightly so. If a church is guided more adamantly by political allegiances, let my people go! So, I do place a lot of blame on evangelish churches for preaching the 151st psalm, instead of sticking to the first 150.

On the other hand, some remained never trumpering as if the landscape allows for such nuance. They feel rather justified at this stage and can’t wait for the Biden team to come in to give us a taste of true moderation. Awoman! Now, to be honest, for a long time, I have found Trump to be an abysmal example of a human being. But we all knew that morally he is hubristic and he will do whatever it takes to win. In fact, the appeal was that even in his disconcerting rhetoric, he still cared to preserve the remnants of sanity in politics. Trump didn’t need many allies to get good things moved. Was it the best strategy? Yes and no. Certainly not in these last few days, but surely throughout the last few years. The Republic did not need a Mitt Romney after Obama, she needed a bulldozer. We didn’t need a moderate voice to speak for the unborn, we needed an atypical man with an orange tan to do it. One thing Trump did these last four years was to push you to think deeply about what you believe and I count that as a good thing. If he pushed some folks to support rights for zen gender then at least you revealed what was in your heart all along. No need to play the hide-and-seek game anymore.

It’s clear the country was not ready for tribal separation. But we are all tribal now. There is no more going back to cute memes about bipartisanship. It’s time to take sides and bring out your inner communal self and tighten the fencepost around your tribe which means that if you have invested so much time in the political sphere/domain while missing out on your local church gatherings and feasts, you had it all wrong all along. Biden is the answer to your absence. When you leave the bride, the gap is filled in by someone/something else.

The ideologies you so dread take the place of what you cherish because you cherished it wrongly. Instead of giving thanks to God for the good, you pursued the transitory context that gave you the good, instead of praising the permanent God who gives all good things.

In light of yesterday’s post, I had several folks ask whether I supported the American Revolutionary War for Independence. My answer can take various shapes, but suffice to say, I am a Presbyterian, which means we are synonymous with rebelling against tyrants. But what that does not mean is that we equate scenarios. Modern revolutionaries have more in common with the speeches of Alex Jones than Patrick Henry. So, I view the comparison as simply illogical. America has voices of wisdom all around, we are still one of the most populated centers for missions in the world, homeschoolers are now 2% of the American population, Christian schools are growing, conservative voices rule alternative media growing by the thousands every day, and there is still a heavy dose of sanity in all the right places. Still, would there ever be a time when I take my glorious robe off on Sunday morning and fight tyranny? Of course. But it won’t be because Biden is the antichrist figure dispensationalists desire, but because his policies may be that which disallows me as a pastor from gathering with my people and calling the state a bunch of obtuse scoundrels when necessary or if they hinder me from worshipping the Triune God as I believe the Bible commands. If policies keep me from the sacred assembly, I will protect the freedom of mother church to speak as she pleases. That’s a cause I’d gladly die for.

In the meanwhile, my call is to strategize; a different form of fighting which begins with the cessation of complacency. Let men be men who lead well without the gooey rhetoric of a skinny jeans salesman. Drink to the glory of God and imprecate the hell out of pagans. Our philosophy of life didn’t lose, but we will lose if we lose sight of that philosophy.

The good news is that in January, those of us on the conservative side of things are pretty aware of who the other guys are. We know the ideology we are up against, right? We know who the transgender apologists are supporting which is always key to identifying who is on the wrong side of history. Let them rule in D.C. for four years. The children of Zion are heirs of the world (Rom. 4:13). It’s time for us to look at our calendars and start penciling in our strategy meetings and praying like the psalmist: “May my accusers be clothed with disgrace and wrapped in shame as in a cloak.”

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Neutrality No More!

One of the increasing benefits of a polarizing era is that men and women are now much more self-aware of what conservative ideals are. Of course, wise Christians know that there can be vast distinctions between conservative politics and a Christian political order. As polls constantly demonstrate, lots of conservatives know much about modern politics, thanks to a steady diet of vegetative cable news and they are graded somewhere between a fig and a potato chip when it comes to basic biblical knowledge. That chasm shows that there are a lot of conservatives who love D.C.-ness more than Kingdom-ness.

Still, many who were once naively conservatives or who inherited conservatism, are now being forced to make ideological decisions or to think more deeply about their commitments. Now, they have to answer the questions: “Are you for BLM? If not, why not?” “Do you believe there is a disproportionate use of force used by police against black people? If so, should we defund the police or seek reform?” “Are riots that end private property merely as a necessary ‘spectacle’ to get attention?” Some of these questions are easier to think through than others. They touch on the very heart of conservatism and its focus on freedom and private property (as Russell Kirk develops in “The Conservative Mind”).

The end result here is that we can no longer remain neutral on political issues. We can afford to be less frustrating, and we certainly need to seek ways to draw people to our message rather than send them away, but we cannot be neutral bystanders, playing Switzerland to our own beat.

Congregations that attempt to harmonize the Bible with a myriad of political positions as a way of appeasing the cause of diversity will eventually realize that the diversity crowd can never be appeased (see mainline churches). But congregations that equip their flock to see righteousness from unrighteousness, the ant from the sluggard, the fool from the wise will shine bright as the sun. They will build a generation of convinced humanity who know the “what” and “why,” “who” and “when” of a faithful political system. There will always be those who fall by the side and cultivate friendship with the world, but they will be exceptions.

The great benefit of our age is no one can afford not to know where they stand. And for those just starting their journey, remember, Jesus is Lord! Begin there, and a lot of things will make sense in our present age.

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What is Holy Saturday?

The Passion Week provides diverse theological emotions for the people of God. Palm Sunday commences with the entrance of a divine King riding on a donkey. He comes in ancient royal transportation. The royal procession illicit shouts of benediction, but concludes only a few days later with shouts of crucifixion as the king is hung on a tree.

The Church also celebrates Maundy Thursday as our Messiah provides a new commandment to love one another just as He loved us. The newness of the commandments is not an indication that love was not revealed prior (Lev. 19), but that love is now incarnate in the person of love, Jesus Christ. We then proceed to sing of the anguish of that Good Friday as our blessed Lord is humiliated by soldiers and scolded by the offensive words of the religious leaders of the day. As he walks to the Mount, his pain testifies to Paul’s words that he suffered even to the point of death (Phil. 2). But hidden in this glaringly distasteful mixture of blood, vinegar, and bruised flesh is the calmness of the day after our Lord’s crucifixion.

After fulfilling the great Davidic promise in Psalm 22, our Lord rests from his labors in the tomb. Whatever may have happened in those days before his resurrection, we know that Christ’s work as the unblemished offering of love was finished.

The Church calls this day Blessed Sabbath or more commonly, Holy Saturday. On this day, our Lord reposed (rested) from his accomplishments. Many throughout history also believe that Holy Saturday is a fulfillment of Moses’ words:

God blessed the seventh day. This is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of rest, on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works . . .(Gen. 2:2)

The Church links this day with the creation account. On day seven Yahweh rested and enjoyed the fruit of his creation. Jesus Christ also rested in the rest given to him by the Father and enjoyed the fruits of the New Creation he began to establish and would be brought to light on the next day.

As Alexander Schmemann observed:

Now Christ, the Son of God through whom all things were created, has come to restore man to communion with God. He thereby completes creation. All things are again as they should be. His mission is consummated. On the Blessed Sabbath He rests from all His works.

Holy Saturday is a day of rest for God’s people; a foretaste of the true Rest that comes in the Risen Christ. The calmness of Holy Saturday makes room for the explosion of Easter Sunday. On this day, we remember that the darkness of the grave and the resting of the Son were only temporary for when a New Creation bursts into the scene the risen Lord of glory cannot contain his joy, and so he gives it to us.

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Lessons Learned from the Death of Westboro Baptist Founder, Fred Phelps

The incendiary founder of Westboro Baptist has died.

World reports:

Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of a Kansas sect known for its anti-homosexuality picketing at military funerals, has died. He was 84.

The former figurehead of Westboro Baptist Church was hospice-bound in Topeka, Kan., and had stopped eating and drinking at the time of his death on Wednesday night, his estranged son Nathan told the Associated Press on Sunday. Nathan Phelps said a new board of eight elders excommunicated his father last summer after a power struggle, possibly contributing to the decline in his health. “I’m not sure how I feel about this,” he wrote on Facebook. “Terribly ironic that his devotion to his god ends this way. Destroyed by the monster he made.” Nathan Phelps left the sect 37 years ago and is now a religious skeptic and gay-rights advocate.

Phelps’ Westboro Baptist–an unaffiliated church–will now be left in the hands of other family members who will most likely continue the vision of their leader.  A documentary was produced of the small Kansas congregation.

So, what can we learn from the death of Fred Phelps?

First, we learn that truth can be easily mis-applied. Phelps once noted that  “you preach the Bible without preaching the hatred of God.” Any sober-minded interpreter will attest to the Scriptural God who condemns sin and acts justly against sin. Any sober-minded interpreter will realize that the Marcionite heresy of dividing the Old Testament God from the New is not an orthodox option. The same God who destroyed and killed evil societies also judged his own people. That same God promises everlasting judgment upon those who do not believe in his Son (John 3:36). But this God of vengeance (Psalm 94) is also a God of everlasting love (Psalm 36:7). To overemphasize his wrath and to build one’s entire ministry around the wrath of God is to offer an unbalanced picture of the God of the Bible.

Further, it must be emphasized that the God of the Bible stressed mercy before judgment. Our God is an all consuming grace before He is an all consuming fire. Jesus offered himself to the people of Israel in mercy before he came and destroyed Jerusalem (Mat. 23:37). Phelps emphasized the wrath of God, but that message obscured the mercy and grace of God toward sinners (I Peter 3:15).

Second, we learn that angering the leftists is not always in our best interest. The left hated Phelps and his group. “The Westboro Baptist Church is probably the vilest hate group in the United the State of America,” Heidi Beirich, research director for the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center, told The Associated Press in July 2011. Indeed those who are in darkness will despise the witness of the light, but sometimes we who are light can portray a dim light immersed in unfruitful activities in the name of the Gospel. Yes, they will persecute us, but let us be wise to not pursue unnecessary persecution. The Gospel itself is enough to gain enemies. Let us not then debase its purity by bringing evangelicals and God-haters together against a common cause.

Third, we learn that picketing at homosexual and military funerals is not the way of the Gospel, but it is a way of death itself. Though we may vehemently disagree on matters of foreign policy, military soldiers and their families have the right to grieve. Grieving is a necessary means of emotional and physical relief. Though we oppose homosexuality and the practice of it on biblical grounds, even homosexuals have the right–as image-bearers–to grieve for their loved ones. To not allow them to weep is to de-humanize men and women created in the image of God. Instead of picketing and protesting at funerals, Christians need to establish a vision of marital faithfulness that is compelling to those who have rejected the agenda of God for man and woman. By picketing and protesting, the Phelps clan left a poor example of Christian compassion rooted in the imago dei. We must oppose the homosexual agenda at all costs, but we must proclaim truth winsomely and wholistically, realizing that we are dealing with fellow human beings created in the image of God.

Fourth, we learn that independent groups like Westboro Baptist suffer from a severe lack of accountability. This individualized ecclesiology leaves no room for correction. They are the end all of theological decisions. We need a catholic vision that allows the local church to be held accountable to and connected with other congregations. This does not necessarily require a formal connection–as I would propose–but even an informal one where there would be genuine opportunities to exhort and challenge others to godly practices.

Finally, we learn that the legacy we leave is fundamental to our vision as Christians. How will our children remember us? Will they remember a contentious father who viewed evangelism as a means to de-humanize others–however different their moral agenda was? Or will they view us as lovers of truth who practiced truth in love; rebuking and exhorting; calling evil, evil, but winsomely engaging those outside of the covenant with the message of hope and communicating salvation as a restoration of the whole cosmos? Calling homosexuals to repentance while guiding and shepherding them in the process?

The agenda of Fred Phelps failed to communicate what the Bible intends to communicate about the nature of God. His tactics brought great harm to the cause of Christ. Many–even in his own family who have fled–have been negatively affected by this cult-like groupa. Phelps’ death reminds us that the way you live and present the Gospel matters, and that your zeal for truth can actually work against truth itself.

  1. According to World: ” The couple had 13 adult children, nine of whom remain in the church and four of whom have left the church, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Roughly 20 of the couple’s 54 grandchildren also have left the church.”  (back)