As I think about all the words that  Jesus spoke while he was here, at least the words that were recorded, I cannot see anything of the nature of a "Phelps" in those words.  The Lord is supposed to be our example, our aspiration, our guide, our shepherd , our Saviour, our Comforter, our teacher and our friend.  But foremost He is our example of how to please the Father.  I do not recall hell-fire and damnation sermons flowing from the mouth of our Lord because He knew that you cannot frighten sin out of anyone.  He spoke truth and was not weak in that expression, but He spoke all in Love, declaring through His servant Paul that love never fails.  Believe me , I have known plenty of people who grew up in the tradition of the hell-fire and damnation type of emotional coersion and from what I've seen these people were more confused than anything else.  A  person acting out of love for the Lord and love for his neighbor could  not behave the way these people do in the midst of the pain and grief of families who have lost one of their precious family members.  Can you see our Lord doing this at Lazarus grave-----declaring judgement on the nation, whose religious community was even then plotting to kill God's son?  No, but rather He wept with them---out of a shared grief for the sisters' loss.
     People who behave the way Phelps does only bring notoriety to themselves but do not shine a light or provide saltiness for the world of unbelievers.  They simply become "celebrities" that fill up news minutes and make reasonable  people scratch their heads wondering how they could read the Word and reconcile what they do as something that Jesus would approve.  I do remember that the Lord's most forceful language was always directed toward the pious, religious celebrities of his day and not toward the tax collectors or prostitutes or the winebibbers.   I am tired of the "religious right" and I don't mind saying so.  I'm tired of hearing how oppressed we are and how, even though most of us have never lost a job much less our freedom for our faith, how much we suffer under our oppressors.  This world is getting ugly, and it will get worse before it gets better, but in this country we are losing our way.  Day by day we are being brain washed by a bunch of different dictators.  The tv says we need this and that to be happy, the administration says we need to just trust them and give up precious civil rights so we can be safe from the bad guys and  big business says we need to keep wages low and profits high so that all of the ceo's can get their nice salaries and big bonuses. And as we all scurry around trying to figure out how to be safe and happy and keep food on the table, some more bad guys convince us that if we just keep the homosexuals at bay God will bless us.  Meanwhile we buy goods that have been made in sweat shops in third world countries in conditions that we would never subject our children to -----we ignore genocide for months on end because the world where it takes place has nothing that  we need, so let the blood flow, after all we are busy protecting marriage. Protecting it from what?  Do you know that the "bible-belt" hell fire preaching states have a higher percentage of divorce than the godless blue states.  Marriage has been assaulted by much worse than the foolishness of two women or two men proclaiming it---it has been assaulted by the very fact that a vow made now means less than crossed fingers.  This is the assault on marriage but countless "beleivers" have thrown away their vows for little more than boredom in many cases so they are not about to declare an amendment against easy divorces as a cause celeb!!!!!   We are not feeding the poor, we are not coming to the aid of the helpless and we are not giving these little ones a cool drink of water!  We are giving ourselves over to corporate greed, and proclaiming that any impending judgement is no doubt the fault of the homosexuals.
      No, Mr. Phelps does not speak for me.