Whitewashed Tombs and Praying for the Hateful

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. -(Matthew 23:23-28 ESV)

Here’s a statement that nearly everybody can agree on. Fred Phelps and the folks behind him at “Westboro Baptist Church” are really despicable. In case you have somehow missed the upsetting amount of coverage this group has been rewarded with, let me summarize who I am talking about. WBC is a very small group which pickets, among other things, the funerals of soldiers and popular people with signs proclaiming that God hates “fags,” Elizabeth Edwards, America, and whatever else will get them media attention. They do all of this under the guise of being an actual church. They are a hate group like any other, but their vitriol carries an extra ingredient which makes them even more difficult to deal with. They attempt to associate themselves with Christianity. They claim to be acting under the guidance of the same Jesus I do and the same Bible I read. They aren’t alone in this frustrating practice. There is Pastor Terry Jones, the guy who wanted to burn Korans, Brian Mitchell, who kidnapped and repeatedly raped a young girl because, “Jesus told him to,” and there are, of course, countless politicians who claim to know Jesus while spreading a message of hate, violence, and selfishness that He never preached. It has been going on for years, too. Slavery was defended by using the Bible. The crusades took place because somebody thought God wanted the Church to focus on killing Muslims more than He wanted it to help the poor and sick. The list goes on. Terrible things have been done in Christ’s name. Freddie Phelps is just the latest in a long line of those who abuse the gospel.

Having said all of that, it still does not make it any easier to stomach what WBC does and says. Reading about their antics this past weekend made my blood boil, and I found myself hating them. At first, I adopted the policy of Emperor Palpatine and allowed that hatred to thrive, because I felt it was just. My hatred turned into a desire to see Freddie murdered and for nobody to show up at his funeral. This was the moment that the obvious hit me like a baseball bat to the gut. (The Holy Spirit swings like Ted Williams after a training session with Tom Emanski.) Hating somebody because they hate other people is not very well-thought-out.

Convicted, I asked God to help me know what else to do. I knew that I am supposed to pray for them, but I had no idea what to pray. I knew that I am supposed to love my enemies, but how do I show them love without associating myself with their evil? Most of all I knew my hatred towards their hypocrisy only shined a floodlight on my own. God has been dealing with these questions in my life, and I am compelled to share what He has been teaching and re-teaching me.

How should we pray for Fred Phelps and his followers? Before even getting to Freddie, I believe that more often than not, we must repent for the same sin he is guilty of. It is ridiculous to point out the protest sign in one person’s hand when you are holding a bucket full of whitewash with hands encased in foam fingers of hypocrisy (Did the metaphors land?).

Are we, as a church or as individual servants of Christ, focusing on declaring the evils of one specific sin while wallowing in another one that can more easily be kept to ourselves? It is tempting to list specifics here, but I think that if we ask God to make these known to us, He will reveal them much more skillfully than I ever could.

After dealing with our own sin, I think that the prayer follows naturally. It is one of sympathy or even empathy for Freddie. He is as helpless to his sins as we are. Just like him, we are despicable people except for where Jesus has taken over in our lives. We have no fingers to point unless God points them for us. Our prayer for Him and our other enemies should be the same as it is for ourselves – that the Lord of all would show Him mercy and bring Him into the fold of eternal love. Redemption is the transformation of one thing into another, far greater thing. God’s redemption is powerful enough to change the message of even WBC. I believe that the key to loving people who offend the most basic of Christian senses lies in repentance of our own offenses to God.  God does not hate “fags” and he does not hate Fred Phelps. He loves them and desires their repentance. He died for them. When we move aside our own ideas through confession, then we can share God’s love in perfect communion and we can become strong enough to love even the most hateful of people.

As for the concern about our love of them being confused with loving their message, I will simply say that I believe God is powerful enough to overcome that. The gospel is not so fragile as to be destroyed or even tarnished by the efforts of man.

So pray for Fred Phelps’ hypocrisy. Pray for the hypocrisy of others, but never forget to pray for your own. Hypocrisy is a sneaky sin which can take many forms. It can follow the traditional definition; doing one thing while saying another. It can also be found wherever the big picture is ignored in favor of beating importunately on one point. Hypocrisy is an enemy of love. And like a burned out tail light, it is easy to notice everybody’s but our own. It takes a friend to point it out to us; hopefully before a cop does.

We need other Christians to be faithful to speak prophet-strength truth into our lives. We need somebody to tap us on the shoulder whenever we unknowingly drift into another lane while yelling at the car in front of us for neglecting to signal. We need to pray for that type of fearless accountability within the Church. We need to always be penitent in our relationship with God. We must ask Him to help us not become the thing we hate, to clear out the bones and uncleanness, and to fill us with His love to the point that it overflows and melts away even our pathetic whitewashing.

“…for the way I believe that I am living right by trading sins for others that are easier to hide, I am wrong and of these things I repent.” – Derek Webb

“Melt You Into Love”

The following is brief excerpt of a sermon by George Whitefield entitled, “The Marriage of Cana.” It is a plea from the influential preacher for those who do not know Christ to come to Him and marry their lives to His truth. This small piece represents a beautiful, heartfelt example of the passion which I believe we should have to see the lives of the lost be changed – a passion which comes from Christ, Himself.

I recommend reading the full sermon. You can find out more about George Whitefield and the magnificent impact he has had on the world here and here.

And now, sinners, what have you to object? I see you are all silent, and well you may. For if you will not be drawn by the cords of infinite and everlasting love, what will draw you? I could urge many terrors of the Lord to persuade you; but if the love of Jesus Christ will not constrain you, your case is desperate. Remember then this day I have invited all, even the worst of sinners, to be married to the Lord Jesus. If you perish, remember you do not perish for lack of invitation. You yourselves shall stand forth at the last day, and I here give you a summons to meet me at the judgment seat of Christ, and to clear both my master and me. Would weeping, would tears prevail on you, I could wish my head were waters, and my eyes fountains of tears, that I might weep out every argument, and melt you into love.

15 Things I Learned About Life at Liberty University

1. It is important to care about politics. It is more important to know some Bible verses that declare how unimportant politics are if your guy loses.
2. Asking a girl out on a date is offensive unless you have been going out with her for two months.
3. Getting into a life of crime and then having an awesome redemption experience is a viable way of breaking into the Christian public speaking circuit.
4. Wearing a collared shirt or hooded sweatshirt to class prepares you to dress for the business world.
5. Resident Assistants are liars (If they properly do their jobs).
6. Your roommate steals your food, don’t kid yourself.
7. Vests and skinny jeans are to guitar players as coffee and Apple products are to photographers.
8. It is necessary to complain and rebel against curfew, even if you are tired at 10:00 pm.
9. If you are planning to have three kids, at least one of them better be adopted from a foreign country.
10. Moist Astroturf, a ski slope does not make; no matter how white it may be.
11. A Calvinist and an Arminian cannot date. This also applies to premillenialists and amillenialists. (If you aren’t sure what those are, you are probably going to be okay.)
12. Be prepared to have your eternal assurance questioned if you aren’t sure about the death penalty.
13. Snow or even very cold rain is deadly in any amount.
14. An inside joke can outlast every one of the people who were originally involved.
15. “If it’s Christian, it should be better…” and/or more expensive.