The Star Tribune reported a group from Topeka, KS protesting outside the funeral service of Cpl. Andrew Kemple in Anoka yesterday. Cpl. Kemple was killed February 12 while serving in Iraq.
On her way into the church where the funeral was to be held for her 23-year-old son Thursday morning, Deirdre Ostlund approached six men and women waving signs against gays and America and told them in a cold fury: "I'm Andrew's mother, and I want you to know you are truly hateful people."
As Ostlund turned away, Shirley Phelps-Roper taunted her: "Adulterer! You can't admit you sent your own child to hell! If she does not heed this warning, she will look up from hell with him."
Her small group continued to sing "God hates America."
The six are members of a church in Topeka, Kan., that espouses the belief that God is killing American soldiers because they fought for a country that tolerates homosexuality.
As a Christian, I know God condemns homosexuality, according to His Word. However, I also know God loves us all equally, in spite of our individual sins. We all sin and fall short of the glory of God. But why is it that these kooks from Kansas are targeting homosexuality as the only sin which would cause God’s wrath here? Is homosexuality the only sin that has ever existed?
I would venture to say that if someone violates one of the Ten Commandments, that would certainly constitute sin. One of the Ten Commandments states “Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Until I was about 9-years old, I honestly thought “Jesus Christ” was a cuss word. That is no exaggeration! I am certain even to this day that some Americans still use the name of Christ in vain. So if we push the logic of the “Kansas six”, God could be killing American soldiers because they fought for a country that tolerates foul language.
But the real heart of the matter is God will not carry out his judgment until the very end. He loves us all so much that it is His sincere desire that none of us perish, that we all may come to know Him. So to suggest that God is killing U.S. soldiers because of the country they serve is not only despicable but complete rubbish.
Again, check out a couple of the money quotes from Phelps-Roper and her gang:
"God hates America."
“God hates gays, their enablers and so therefore God hates the U.S. military."
You would think those who say they know what God “hates” would have consulted his Word. I think they missed several passages of scripture, namely 1 John 4:11-21:
11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
I don’t know what God the “Kansas six” may serve. The only God I know is the one who’s great and whose mercy endures forever!
Those people are revolting. If they had any sense of God's love they wouldn't have behaved as they did. Which is worse, homosexuality or rhetorically spitting on a grieving mother?
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