Death of a Wounded Soul in Westboro

"Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." ~ 1 John 4:8

"Love never fails." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:8

I read it in the newspaper today.  I still get a real newspaper, the kind you read at breakfast.  The headline says Fred Phelps, dead at 84, preached an angry God.  Perhaps you heard it yesterday.  Yes, he's the "fire-and-brimstone" preacher who led the Westboro Baptist Church.  According to this article I have here in The Oregonian, one that apparently originated with The Washington Post, he even "managed to offend the conscience of the Ku Klux Klan".   Now, that's quite an achievement!

The article quotes Pastor Phelps as saying "You're not going to get nowhere with that slop that 'God loves you'....That's a diabolical lie from hell without biblical warrant.'"

Yes, yes, yes, apparently his version of the Bible was somehow missing the verses that I quoted above, that much is obvious.  And I'm sure many are musing about what kind of a "demonstration" they might plan at his funeral (and apparently there isn't going to be a funeral, probably for that reason).

I can see by just a quick glance at the buzz online, many are celebrating this man's death.

I'll tell you what I'm celebrating.  I'm celebrating that a precious, deeply wounded soul is now consciously in the embrace of the God he was carefully taught not to know.

But now he knows.  

Some day, we all will know.  That's the cause for celebration. 

Love never fails.  Ever.

Veiled

Love lifts the veil of Fear and weds us to Peace.

Last night when I would normally be writing in this blog, I was waiting on the line for a radio show. Since well-after-midnight blog entries are becoming the norm rather than the exception, and 6 AM comes early, I decided to opt for sleep.

Something came up while I waited on the line, something I've been pondering a while.  The topic had to do with salvation returning from the sky, whether alien, Jesus or otherwise.  A caller with a Southern backwoods twang in his voice confidently shared his faith in the Jesus variety of return.  But this would not be the loving Jesus, he reminded us all, this warrior Jesus would come to judge us all and rule with "an iron rod". 

And there it was.  The contradiction.  Astoundingly blatant, yet astoundingly veiled.

What would this man think if he realized it's not just distant evildoers to be subject to the sword, but neighbors, dear friends, even beloved family.  I pondered a rather bold and poignant response, but chose to stay on my intended topic. Love will lift all veils of fear in time.