Divine Instigations

Something has got Fred Phelps on this wagon train to nowhere, and after giving it some thought, I think I’ve decided I think I know what it might be. It’s too obvious to say that he is just an insincere jerk, wanting to rattle peoples chains for money and publicity. That would be way too easy. His fame almost immediately crossed over into the line of infamy without a backwards glance, and though he is certainly well known, what good will that do him?

I would submit that Fred Pheps is the William Hung of Conservative Christian ministers. It is the very fact of the intensity of his hatred, which is so absurd, that it stands out in a crowd, though otherwise his words and deeds would be as forgettable as his talent and ability.

When Matthew Shepherd, a young gay student, was brutally beaten and murdered, left to die strung up along a fence on a Montana farm, way out in the middle of nowhere, Fred Phelps had been an almost totally unknown preacher probably barely eking out a living. Even by the standards of the surrounding communities in Kansas in which he lived and practised his faith and profession, he was probably relatively small time. He might even have been the butt of jokes,known by all as that old hellfire and brimstone preacher Phelps. Before this event,he may have even been somewhat moderate by comparison. But one thing for sure-he was definitely small time, and destined to forever remain so.

But Matthew Shepherd changed eveything for Fred Phelps. Matthew Shepherd had achieved a degree of fame he could only pretend to admire from a distance, could only barely imagine emulating.

Matthew Shepherd had been crucified. Now, after sufferring through his horrid ordeal, he was in the process of being deified. The crime against Matthew Shepherd was a crime of hate, and was being identified as such. Fred Phelps identified with that hate, for he felt it himself, and when he saw Matthew Shepherds photograph, and considered how he was now being given honor and dignity in death, how this crucified gay man was now being ressurrected and deified, he could not stand silently by and watch his ascension to heaven in the mind of his followers and sympathizers. It made the bile rise up in the heart and mind of Fred Phelps, and it utterly disgusted him. It made him sick. And he could just not stand idly by and allow it to go unchallenged.

After all, he had followed in the footsteps of Christ, in his own meager way, to the best of his all too limited ability, and had received no thanks for it. Indeed, he had many times received scorn. But now, Fred Phelps understood. A special calling had been reserved, just for him. Now, he could truly follow in Christs footsteps. Yes, he would still have scorn heaped upon him, yes he would still be ridiculed. But the lord his god had prepared him well for this mission in life. And he would fufill his destiny come what may.