14 DAY TRIAL // Fred Phelps, the founder and leader of the controversial and hate-filled Westboro Baptist Church, has died. He was 84 years old and had been under hospice care for some time, so it’s not like the news of his passing is that surprising.
However, that’s not to say that the world should rejoice that he’s gone, the WBC warns in a statement on the official page, in which his death is confirmed. Phelps might be gone in the flesh but his message that God hates all sinners, and mostly gays, will live on forever, it adds.
“Fred W. Phelps Sr. has gone the way of all flesh. The world-wide media has been in a frenzy during the last few days, gleefully anticipating the death of Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. It has been an unprecedented, hypocritical, vitriolic explosion of words. Do they vainly hope for the death of his body? People die – that is the way of all flesh,” the group says.
Founded in Topeka by Phelps, with just family members, out of frustration that authorities were ignoring his constant calls about his gay neighbors, the Westboro Baptist Church sends a message not of love but of the purest, vilest kind of hatred.
Because of this, many believe it should be legally branded a hate group but, for a variety of reasons, that still hasn’t happened.
As Phelps himself said throughout the years, God hates everyone who sins. He never believed in other churches’ message that God loves all men, even at those times when they stray from the path of righteousness. America is doomed and so is the rest of the world, and he considered it his duty to warn people that they were going to hell for their sins.
To Phelps and the WBC, there is no bigger sin than being gay or supporting the gays. To this day, they picket concerts of pop stars with a considerable gay fanbase. Even worse, they also assemble outside funerals of American soldiers because, as noted above, America is doomed and they must make their message that “God hates America” known.
With Phelps’ death, nothing will change in this regard, the WBC makes sure to stress in the announcement, despite some reports that it might have to shut down now that it has lost its leader.
“Listen carefully; there are no power struggles in the Westboro Baptist Church, and there is no human intercessor – we serve no man, and no hierarchy, only the Lord Jesus Christ. No red shoes, no goofy hat, and no white smoke for us; thank you very much,” the text says.
“No board, no separate decision making body, just humble servants of God – qualified according to the scriptures, and chosen by the church – privileged to feed the sheep for a time. 2500 years ago, the Prophet Jeremiah described this tabloid journalism quite well,” it adds.