In an article entitled "Massachusetts Arrives at Moment for Same-Sex   
   Marriage", the May 17, 2004 edition of the New York Times noted the   
   following:   
      
   ----- Begin Quote -----   
      
   Across the street from Cambridge City Hall on Sunday night were a dozen or   
   so opponents of gay marriage led by a Kansas minister, the Rev. Fred Phelps,   
   and holding signs, some with slurs against homosexuals.   
      
   "Two men and two women marrying each other is a passport to hell" said   
   Katherine Hockenbarger from Topeka, Kan., who was standing on an American   
   flag.   
      
   ----- End Quote -----   
      
   With the legalization of same-sex "marriage" in the state of Massachusetts   
   that day, thus began the public saga for the Reverend Fred Phelps and the   
   Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. From that time until now, the   
   Westboro Baptist Church -- which is comprised primarily of members of   
   Phelps' own family -- has engaged in brow-raising protests outside of   
   funerals, city courtrooms, and wherever else it has wanted its inflammatory,   
   controversial -- and to many people, offensive -- message to be heard.   
      
   An April 2006 news article in the New York Times informed the American   
   public that the Westboro Baptist Church -- and their message -- was alive   
   and well, and still stirring up trouble wherever church members appeared. It   
   noted in part:   
      
   ----- Begin Quote -----   
      
   As dozens of mourners streamed solemnly into church to bury Cpl. David A.   
   Bass, a fresh-faced 20-year-old marine who was killed in Iraq on April 2, a   
   small clutch of protesters stood across the street on Tuesday, celebrating   
   his violent death.   
      
   "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," read one of their placards. "Thank God for   
   I.E.D.'s," read another, a reference to the bombs used to kill service   
   members in the war. To drive home their point -- that God is killing   
   soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality -- members of the   
   Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., a tiny fundamentalist splinter   
   group, kicked around an American flag and shouted, if someone approached,   
   that the dead soldiers were rotting in hell.   
      
   ----- End Quote -----   
      
   One man -- Albert Snyder, the father of dead marine, Matthew Snyder --   
   finally had enough, and took the church to court in 2006 after discovering   
   an online poem in which members of the Westboro Baptist Church attacked the   
   way the Snyders had raised their son. Accusing Fred Phelps and his clan of   
   intentionally inflicting emotional distress, the case wound its way through   
   the lower courts over the past five years, finally making its way to the   
   Supreme Court.   
      
   On Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011, to the dismay of many, the Westboro Baptist   
   Church of Topeka received the guarded support of the highest court in the   
   land, when by a vote of 8 to 1, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the   
   Phelps family and their church.   
      
   In writing his opinion for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts noted:   
      
   "Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of   
   both joy and sorrow, and -- as it did here -- inflict great pain. On the   
   facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker . . .   
   As a nation we have chosen a different course -- to protect even hurtful   
   speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."   
      
   In contrast, in the only dissenting vote for the court, Justice Samuel Alito   
   argued that:   
      
   "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license   
   for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case."   
      
   With placards that read such things as "Thank God for dead soldiers",   
   "You're Going to Hell" and "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11", it is no   
   wonder that Fred Phelps, his extended family and the Westboro Baptist Church   
   of Topeka have raised the ire of more than a few.   
      
   As I told my readers in April of 2006, while I have been strongly opposed to   
   the war in Iraq from the start, and while I am strongly opposed to the way   
   that the sinful gay and lesbian lifestyle has become so entrenched in   
   American society and around the world, I also believe that Fred Phelps and   
   the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka are seriously misguided, both in a   
   theological sense, as well as in the radical method of delivery which they   
   have chosen.   
      
   It is my view that the war in Iraq and the gay and lesbian agenda are two   
   separate issues. My own writings attest to the fact that I do believe that   
   God will eventually judge gays and lesbians, just as He will judge the   
   warmongers in the American government and their blind followers amongst the   
   American public. However, to suggest that soldiers are dying in Iraq,   
   Afghanistan, or elsewhere because of the sins of the gay and lesbian   
   community is rather far-fetched.   
      
   My study of God's Word convinces me that the form of punishment is usually   
   related to the kind of sin involved. For example, gay men dying from AIDS   
   would seem to be more of a direct link between the sin and the punishment.   
   Even the Apostle Paul notes that gay men suffer for their sin in THEIR OWN   
   FLESH when he writes the following:   
      
   "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 RECOMPENCE OF THEIR ERROR WHICH WAS MEET."   
   Romans 1:27, KJV   
      
   In contrast, in my view, there is no link between soldiers dying in Iraq, or   
   elsewhere, and ungodly gays and lesbians committing their abominations in   
   America. Why would God judge one person for someone else's sin? As I have   
   noted a number of times over the years, in the Gospels, Jesus said to Peter   
   on the night of His betrayal by Judas, that they that kill with the sword   
   will perish by the sword, as we see here:   
      
   "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all   
   they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."   
   Matthew 26:52, KJV   
      
   That verse -- and similar verses -- offers us a much more clear reason   
   regarding why American soldiers are dying in Iraq, Afghanistan and   
   elsewhere. If one sows violence, he reaps violence. It is as simple as that.   
   It is a law of God.   
      
   It would seem then that this radical church is in error by connecting   
   America's wars with the sins of the gay and lesbian community. They are two   
   separate issues.   
      
   After learning about the Supreme Court's ruling, Margie Phelps -- who is the   
   daughter of Fred Phelps, and who also argued the case before the Supreme   
   Court -- had this to say:   
      
   ----- Begin Quote -----   
      
   "I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but here's the core point: The wrath   
   of God is pouring onto this land. Rather than trying to shut us up, use your   
   platforms to tell this nation to mourn for your sins."   
      
   ----- End Quote -----   
      
   While I wholeheartedly agree with the Westboro Baptist Church's opinion that   
   gays and lesbians must repent of their sins, and while I am also strongly   
   opposed to America's wars in foreign lands, at the same time, I would not   
   stand in one of their protest lines, and do the things that they are doing.   
   They are counterproductive, and I seriously question how much their   
   inflammatory actions are causing people to repent of their sins. I suspect   
   that their protests are only resulting in the lines hardening further   
   between the two sides, and making it more difficult for those of us who rely   
   on other methods to preach the full counsel of God.   
      
   My own experience tells me that we can effectively get across the very same   
   message without resorting to such attention-seeking, inflammatory tactics,   
   as I have been doing for many years now via my online writings. There is no   
   doubt in my mind that I have created a lot of enemies over the years because   
   of the contents of some of my articles, but I feel that my approach is   
   better, because it is less confrontational, and it allows God's Spirit time   
   to work on a person's heart after they have read what I have to say.   
      
   In contrast, with the kind of inflammatory protests that are being conducted   
   by Fred Phelps and his family, people are immediately put on the offense,   
   and they go into attack mode. The possibility of reaching people who are in   
   that frame of mind is next to zero. The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka,   
   Kansas needs to change its tactics.   
      
      
      
   Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23   
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