Cult "Churches" And The

"Gospel" Of Hate!

By CHARLES PERKINS, Pastor

GRACE BAPTIST CHURCH

POST OFFICE BOX 362

NIXA, MISSOURI 65714

E-Mail: onebookpreacher@yahoo.com

Westboro Baptist Church is the name of the group that marches with signs at the funerals of American soldiers. The message is to claim that God’s judgment is the reason for their deaths.

Their signs read: "THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS" and "SOLDIERS DIE GOD LAUGHS" and "GOD HATES YOUR TEARS, and "FAG TROOPS" to name a few. The leader of this so-called church is Fred Phelps. They were about to march with their highly volatile signs at the funeral of the little Amish girls who were brutally murdered by a demon possessed, slime ball creep.

Radio talk show host, Mike Gallagher, offered this cult one hour of free time on his show, if they would not go and upset the grieving families, at the little girls’ funeral. They took the deal and Mr. Gallagher let them spew out their hate, without comment from him, for most of an hour. A noble gesture we would say by Mike Gallagher. After the hour, Mike had plenty to say.

One of the problems with WBC and their "gospel" of hate is they are not a real Baptist church, in my opinion, even though they profess to be. They think that God has appointed them to reign judgment upon everyone and call it a "GOSPEL."

Their so-called "Anti-Gay Gospel Preaching" is doing some of the greatest harm to the real gospel of anything we can think of. It makes many people wonder if ALL Baptist churches are like this cult. The reader should know that, although there are some differences in Baptist Churches, we know of none that are in line with this outfit. The following can be found on one of their web pages:

"August 20, 1995 - The Night America Bombed Westboro Baptist Church With An IED (Improvised Explosive Device) In A Cowardly Move To Stop WBC's Anti-Gay Gospel Preaching - Thereby Bringing Down The Unmitigated And Irreversible Wrath Of God Upon This Evil Nation, Manifesting Itself In The Daily Bloody IED-Deaths Of American Soldiers In Iraq And Other Places."

The word "GOSPEL" means GOOD NEWS. WBC’s gospel is not a gospel of good news. The "Anti-Gay Gospel" is a false gospel. WBC has a curse upon it for preaching the wrong GOSPEL. "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8,9)

The Apostle Paul defined the true gospel with this from the word of God: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:" (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Now that is good news! Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose from the grave and is alive right now! THAT IS GOOD NEWS! There is no such thing as "Anti-Gay Gospel Preaching." There may be anti-gay preaching and marching but the word "GOSPEL" does not belong associated with the word "gay." (as the word is now used.)

If you read carefully you can see, according to Phelps’ warped thinking, God is now the terrorist and is killing our soldiers in Iraq and killing little Amish school girls and is now raining down His wrath because someone bombed Phelps’ church building. Further, God has called Phelps and his little Calvinistic group of tulip sniffers to warn the world of their impending danger by the wrath of God.

I can assure you God’s wrath has nothing to do with Phelps and his unscriptural ministry or his bombed building. True churches are not called to be political activists. Christ never carried a sign and marched against sodomites or presidents or governments or adulterers or whoremongers or harlots or politicians or scribes or Pharisees, although He had some things to say about these.

Christ is the Savior and did not come the first time to judge the world. He called out His church and commissioned it with this: "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15) And with this: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." (Matthew 28:19-20)

This is the great commission where the "good news" is preached. Real churches are called to soul winning and to support missionaries and to establish local churches. Real churches are not commissioned to change the world through political activism.

We are called to preach the gospel of the grace of God. Taking a stand against sin is a part of preaching but not marching on abortion clinics and sodomite brothels, and certainly not marching at funerals of soldiers and murdered little girls and blaming God, rather than the murderer.

The Bible speaks of God’s wrath but it also speaks of His mercy and grace. The Bible says: "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

All sin is an offense to God but He does not point to one man and say, "he is a big sinner" and then to another and say, "he is a little sinner." The Bible says: "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

It is true that some sins have a greater significance and impact in their results but it is still all sin. And Christ died for ALL SINNERS. "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:5,6)

God the Father made the Lord Jesus Christ to be sin for us so that we could be justified by His blood and declared righteous when we are not. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

While God is holy and hates sin, He demonstrated his love for sinners on the cross of Calvary. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8)

The Apostle Paul said about himself: "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accep- tation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)

Phelps and his ilk teach that somewhere in eternity past, God, UNCONDITIONALLY elected some people to be saved and the rest to be lost. This is the "U" in Calvin’s T.U.L.I.P. theology. This false doctrine causes churches to be deader than a ten-pound carp that has laid out in the Alabama sun for four days.

They then seek other avenues to cover their backside for being disobedient to the great commission. If a church was ever a soul winning church or a gospel preaching church, Calvin’s T.U.L.I.P. system would kill it. John Calvin invented the idea that Christ only died for the elect and it is called: "LIMITED ATONEMENT."

The truth is, Christ died and rose again for the whole world. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16,17)

"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5:14,15)

God’s word even teaches that Christ died for lost, false prophets) "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1)

The age we live in (the end of the church age) is pictured in the life of Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew. "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife." (Luke 17:28-32)

If Lot had been busy witnessing to the people of Sodom, the Lord may have spared the city. However, he had blended in with the natives and got involved with political positions and let the citizenry go to hell. He was so backslidden he offered his daughters to the sodomites. Of course they turned him down, lusting after the two angels that was in Lot’s house. When angels appear in the Bible, they always appear as MEN. (Genesis 18: 20- 33) (Genesis 19:1-29)

God has not called His churches to call down fire and brimstone on the lost world. He has called us to love sinners but to hate sin. (Not an easy thing to do.) He has not called us to be like the Pharisees.

Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees: "Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the pub- licans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." (Matthew 21:31,32)

He also said: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10)

Phelps and his outfit are more like the Pharisees than true Baptists. They are not out to win the lost but to point at the lost and collectively doom them to hell. To hear them, one might think their little group is the only people left on earth that are "the elect" and fit for Heaven. If it weren’t so sad it would almost be laughable.

Their only mission in life seems to be against sodomites whom they like to call "Fags." The Bible does have something to say about this particular sin but also many other sins.

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient". (Romans 1:24-28)

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

I had a lady in my church in San Diego, who came to me one day and said: "Pastor, my brother is a homosexual and when I go to his house, I have been witnessing to him." He lived about a hundred miles away. She said he has found out that he has AIDS and wants to know if it is possible that Jesus could save a sinner like him.

She asked me if I would call him on the phone and I did. We talked for a while and I asked him if he had a King James Bible and he said, "yes." His sister had given it to him and he had been reading it. He went and got it. Long story short, he repented of his sinful life of sodomy and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. (John 1:12; Romans 10: 9-13) I spoke with him a number of times after he was saved.

He told me of the happiness he had since he renounced his association with "gays" and had been saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The song writer wrote: "Jesus blood can make the vilest sinner clean." I am looking forward to seeing him in Heaven someday.

The politicians, civil rights groups and some misguided, activists think the world can be changed by marches, signs, philosophies, money, and who knows what else, but the truth is: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

The world can only be changed for the better through the true gospel not "the gospel against fags." Paul said: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

Of course, I am not supposing that Phelps and his crew are interested in getting anyone converted to Christ. They are too busy on their HATE campaign. True Baptist Churches would be much better off if the Phelps bunch would leave any hate or judgment to God, who knows how to do it with perfection, and start trying to win some poor lost sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ. (Psalms 139: 22; Proverbs 11:30)

They should burn their hateful signs and try passing out gospel tracts about how to become a born again Christian. We are still in the Church age not the Tribulation. The seven-year Tribulation is on the horizon. The Tribulation is the time when God pours out His wrath on the world. It is the time of "Jacob’s trouble." (Revelation 6-18; Jeremiah 30:7)

Before the Tribulation comes, all born again Christians (sinners saved by GRACE) will be raptured off the earth to meet the Lord in the air.

"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

If Phelps and his followers are still here during the Tribulation they still won’t need any signs, but maybe a cave to hide in. Who knows? The Lord knows.

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17).