Westboro Baptist Church To Protest Fred Phelps' Funeral, Says Daughter

After finding out Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. was on the verge of death many quipped the Westboro Baptist Church, the very organization he founded, would picket his funeral like they have so many others in the past. It might sound like a joke but apparently it’s the real deal: the WBC will hold a demonstration at the funeral of their former pastor.

Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, was reportedly excommunicated from the group.

“My dad Pastor Fred Phelps is a hell bound f*g enabling whore,” she shockingly wrote on Twitter Sunday evening. “#Westboro Baptist Church to protest this whores Funeral.” Margie had nothing but revulsion to spread in regards to her father’s ailing health. She added he is “now a hell bound whore.”

Speculation as to why he was excommunicated is rampant on the Internet, with some assuming the WBC members found out Phelps was actually gay and others thinking he might have had a change in heart as his health declined. There’s no definite answer as of now.

Despite Margie and Nathan’s public statements that reveal Phelps Sr.’s passing is imminent, the WBC issued a “Recent Media FAQ” that denied the former pastor was not doing well. They said Phelps “is a person of advanced age, and such people sometimes have health issues.” But the organization seemed annoyed at the insinuation that they’re former pastor was “near death” since it’s “highly speculative” and “foolish considering that all such matters are the sole prerogative of God.” As far as Phelps allegedly being “excluded” from member ship at the WBC, the organization succinctly replied: “Membership issues are private.”

A spokesperson for the WBC said Phelps Sr. was in hospice care, but would not remark any further. “We don't owe any talk to you about that," Westboro spokesman Steve Drain told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "We don't discuss our internal church dealings with anybody. It's only because of his notoriety that you are asking."

Remember...they claim to be lifelong Democrats.

I don't see their peculiar behaviour as being associated with political allegiance as much as religious organization. WBC seems to be an Independent Fundamental Primitive Baptist church. They are link to three Baptist Confessions of Faith in the doctrinal statement on their website. Fred Phelps, founder of this local church, attended Bob Jones University for two years. I don't know whether another church sponsored him when he planted WBC in 1955. The previous year he was an associate pastor at East Side Baptist Church in Topeka so they may have had a service to found his church. He stopped fellowship with East Side afterward.

One inherent problem for Fundamentalists, Baptist or non-denominational, is the doctrinal view of church structure. They view the church as always local on earth, and are fiercely protective of the independence of the local church. It is their defence against heresy infecting the churches. They can choose, or decline, to fellowship with like-minded churches. There is no governing authority outside the local church. Churches plant other churches which assume all the rights and responsibilities of a New Testament local church. Doctrinally this is how they view Apostolic Succession. That is likely what happened win the case of Fred Phelps and WBC.

Remember...they claim to be lifelong Democrats.

I don’t see their peculiar behaviour as being associated with political allegiance as much as religious organization.

I’m not sure it’s affiliated with that either. My point was that they get glued to Republicans and conservatives by the media and the agitators, though they have always claimed to be Democrats, and Phelps ran for office as a Democrat.

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