Tag Archives: Westboro Baptist

There’s More Than One Way to Not Share the Gospel

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What do Fred Phelps and Joel Osteen have in common?  There’s no punchline, I really am going somewhere with this.

Fred Phelps is the pastor of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church.  You’ve seen them in the news or online protesting military funerals and more recently posting statements of judgment on Twitter.  I’ve never heard him say “Hell is hot and sin ain’t right” but I imagine he would agree with that statement.  Phelps is completely occupied with God’s judgement.  God does hate sin, and the wages of sin is death.  That seems to be just about the only weapon in the Westboro arsenal.  The message is a call to repent.

At the polar opposite end of the spectrum is Joel Osteen.  He has never used the words wrath and God in the same sentence.  Sin, the cross, the blood of Jesus, he quit preaching on those things years ago.  He actually said in an interview that everybody has already heard those things.  Osteen has his, um, church members hold up their Bibles each week, repeat some little mantra, then put them back down while he tells funny stories for another half hour.  He is an excellent speaker – funny, polished, very encouraging – I just wouldn’t call him a preacher.  His message is to think positive thoughts, believe that God wants to bless you, will bless you, and that nothing would please God more than to bless you.  He has a million dollar smile, gorgeous wife, two books on the New York Times Bestseller List, and 50,000+ attendees every week at Lakewood “Church.”  He’s doing much better in that department than Phelps, whose congregation consists mainly of his own family members. Continue reading →

The Read and Share File

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Here’s what I’ve been reading:

First from Christian Post.  I hate to mention Westboro Baptist because that’s what they want.  Good press, bad press, they eat it up.  Westboro has announced they will protest funerals of tornado victims in Illinois, saying they got what they deserved.  Does God hate sin?  Yes.  Will he punish sin?  Yes.  What Westboro Baptist does not understand is the Gospel.  The Good News is that Christ received in himself the due penalty for our sin.  (more)

In his Friday Random Links, Noel Heikkinen shared this article from the Transformed blog.  I have been in churches that make fun of education, referring to seminary as cemetery, and know exactly what these guys are talking about.  The greatest commandment is to love the LORD your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Mind is in that list, just saying.

The Key to Knowledge (Obsecrations, by way of Resting In His Grace) is on a similar topic.

This is the second Sunday of Lent; Palm Sunday is April 1, Easter is April 8.  I looked up Easter on Wikipedia just for kicks.  I did not read the whole thing (looks like about 2,000 words) but the introduction looks very good.  Here’s a sample:

Easter marks the end of Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of the Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.

Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover by much of its symbolism, as well as by its position in the calendar. In many languages, the words for “Easter” and “Passover” are etymologically related or homonymous.[4]

*note: those are Wikipedia internal links, I did not go through and insert each one myself.  The main article on Easter is well informed, but I will not vouch for all the others.