Islam, Terrorism, Hutaree, and Westboro Baptist

For the last nine years I have been hearing something similar to this:
If it is a peaceful religion, and the terrorists are misguided, then why do we not hear an outcry from all those peaceful Muslims condemning the actions of those who have "hijacked" Islam?

Well, that's a pretty good question, and so I decided to add my voice to the outcry of genuine Christians condemning a couple of groups that have been in the news lately.

The first group is the so called "christian militia" called Hutaree. If what the media is reporting is true; that this group planned to kill police officers and then bomb more officers at the ensuing funeral hoping to spark an uprising, then there can be no doubt that this group is NOT Christian. In fact they have much more in common with a cult that was based around Charles Manson, than with Christians. Remember, Manson had a similar plan to spark an uprising.

The second group has been in and out of the news for the last several years, and never fails to make me shake my head. That group of course is the Westboro Baptist Church. As a Baptist myself, this one is particularly painful to me. I wince every time I hear the name Baptist in the middle of their name. This is the group that has made a name for itself by going to funerals of servicemen who were killed in action and insulting the dead and their families.

There is one thing that I would like to clarify for anyone reading this who is not familiar with the Baptist faith. Baptist churches are all independent. It is not a denomination in the sense that Baptist churches are not under the control or even influence of any national, let alone worldwide organization. Some Baptist churches are members of associations or conventions into which they have voluntarily joined together to accomplish common goals. Many other Baptist churches remain even more independent by not belonging to any type of association. I trust that if the Westboro bunch had been a member of any association, they would have found themselves out on their ear a long time ago.

The Westboro bunch seems to have one common theme running throughout all of their literature: God Hates. God hates fags, God hates America, God hates Israel, God hates the World - no I am not kidding, you can find each of these slogans on their website. I believe they missed one though: God hates false prophets. Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro group, has said " The Antichrist Bloody Beast Obama is going to become king of the world." and "Then Obama will lead the nations against Jerusalem to battle." Surely a Biblical scholar such as Phelps will embrace the Old Testament fate of one who's prophecies do not come to pass. We should not have long to wait to see if Fred really is a prophet.

Matthew 5:43-47 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

You'll have to excuse me now. I have to go pray for all the groups I just mentioned in this post!