Sadly, this video from Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church shows what happens when a church turns God's Law into the "gospel". It shows that the only thing they have to offer the world is God's wrath and judgement. But that is not 'Good News'. That is bad news and the Church has not been called to ONLY proclaim God's Law. The Chruch has been called to also proclaim the Good News that Christ Died for ALL of our Sins and is offering us a full and complete pardon which He won for us on the cross.
Heath Ledger's family needs the love of Jesus Christ right now instead of the judgement and threats that Wesboro Baptist church is spewing.
You do not have to agree with the movies that he made or even believe that he was saved. That is not the issue. As Christians, we should never delight or rejoice when any person dies especially a person who may not have repented of their sins, trusted in Christ and received His forgiveness and mercy. Westboro's attempts to draw attention to their legalistic gospel of works and wrath must be countered with the Biblical Gospel of Christ's love, forgiveness and mercy that is offered to all sinners, even sinners as terrible as me and you.
Compare these verses to the message offered by Fred Phelps in the video below.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
1 Corinthians 15:1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
When you compare the Biblical Gospel to Fred Phelps' "gospel" it becomes clear that he is teaching a different 'gospel'. He's traded the preaching of 'Christ Crucified for Sinners' for preaching 'Gays BBQ'd for Eternity'. The irony here is that by preaching 'another gospel', a 'gospel' of wrath, hate and self-righteousness, Phelps is actually sending the members of his church to hell. Scripture gives this ominous word of warning to those who in their self-righteousness believe that they are saving themselves through their keeping of the law:
Galatians 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be Eternally Condemned.
Galatians 5:4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Is homosexuality a sin? Absolutely. Will there be homosexuals in hell? Sadly, yes and they will share their eternal punishment with heterosexual sinners and self-righteous legalists alike. And hell is a great tragedy because God so loved the world that He gave His Only begotten Son that WHOEVER trusts in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Therefore, We'd like to ask you to pray AND find a way to combat this hate by sending messages that share Christ's love with Heath Ledger's family and loved ones. If we don't take a stand against this type of hate done in the name of Christ then we will become silent accomplices to Westboro's gross and inhuman sin.
Further Study: For a Biblical look at the correct use of God's Law and the Gospel please listen to this edition of the Fighting for the Faith podcast.
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Update
I had a very nice conversation with Heath Ledger’s publicist this morning and they’ve given us two ways to send our messages of condolences and love to Ledger’s family.
You can send mail to
Heath Ledger’s Family
C/O ID Public Relations
8409 Santa Monica Blvd.,
West Hollywood, CA 90069
or send emails to
Rachel Karten at rkarten@id-pr.com
