Emailed to Westboro Baptist Church from an interested party (we do not edit people’s emails – that’s just rude):
Hi, im doing a study in Denmark, on how fundamentalism created the America we have today. I was wondering if you had the time to answer some small questions, its important to say that I will not share this information further than to myself and two professors from my school. Its simply for school purposes.
Questions:
1. How many members do you have?
2. How do you separate yourself from other groups?
3. How would you discribe (sic) yourself from other groups?
4. Can anyone become a member? Would you ever prevent someone from joining?
Answers (cut and pasted from responses from five separate people):
1.How many members do you have?
As many as the Lord had, has and will appoint for the given hour; no different than any other point in time (Matthew 7:14, Romans 9:15).
We have just the right amount of members. Whomever the Lord has has chosen to be here and obey him. Really the number is irrelevant. Let’s just say a few.
It is pursuant to the Word of God, a very small remnant, because God has purposed that few will hear, see and understand His word, and be converted and healed. Isaiah 53:1: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? John 12:38: That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? Romans 10:16: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? Matthew 13:15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. John 12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Matthew 7:13-15 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Romans 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
The exact right number as foreordained by a sovereign God. 
2. How do you separate yourself from other groups?
We are here to serve Christ and not ourselves. We have a duty to be holy or sanctified, meaning separate, in every way possible in this life (John 17:13-17). Christ himself set the example clearly. All of scripture provides examples and instruction on how to live godly and righteously, and not for ourselves or this world (John 15:18). Our home is not in this world, but the one to come, and therefore we are instructed to set our affections on things above (Col. 3:2). Every other group is self-serving and lives to serve their father the devil. Their walk (intentions, words, deeds, etc.) make clear what they are about in this life and that their affections are in these temporal things. They serve the creation more than the Creator. We are in the world but not of it. We use the things of this world to serve Christ.
We do not set ourselves apart from other groups; the Lord has sanctified us as his bride; and He has set us apart for Him for His good pleasure. Think goats…sheep (the reference is to Matthew 25).
The question should more accurately be asked: How do you NOT separate yourself from other groups. It is a matter of ordering your activities and your days with your thoughts and your prayers toward what the Lord your God requires of you, and seeking that from God. It is not a choice that we make because we are good, but because the Lord our God has first sanctified us, and laid a necessity upon us, and gave us one heart to seek Him and to have our heart’s desire be toward doing those things which are pleasing to Him, all pursuant to His Word and His will, for His good pleasure. 1 Peter 4:4 Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you: Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
God, through the Holy Spirit, sanctifies a people in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1:2. The work of sanctification is part of the purifying of the heart of the people of God. Whilst many profess some fondness of the rituals and artifacts of religion, and most would prefer the happiness of heaven to the torments of hell, the people of God have a desire to be delivered from sin. They mourn for their depraved nature, and the law of sin that wars in their fleshly members. Their hope, therefore, ultimately is to be put in possession of their new spiritual bodies, raised in incorruption, delivered from the ravages of sin. This new body is the essence of their inheritance, because only in this new body can they properly worship and save God through eternity. Throughout their walk on this earth, the people of God have an ongoing blessed work of the Holy Spirit on their hearts that prepares them for this great day.
Thus, what this looks like on the ground is a separation from the ways of the world. Not a separation from the world itself, but from its ways. If you are part of the body of the believing elect of God, you will eschew and strive against the sins of the flesh, including fornication, adultery (including divorce/remarriage), homosexuality transgender, and all such sexual irregularities. You will keep yourself from idols, including all of the modern popular idolatrous holidays, and the worship of such things as flags, symbols, statues, and humans. You will walk soberly, striving against sin, and seeking after holiness, after the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will understand that because God first loved us, we love Him; and that without the Lord Jesus Christ we have no hope of salvation. There is an excellent exposition by Arthur Pink, The Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation, which you can read or listen to in about an hour that fleshes all this out so much better than I could ever do, with many, many passages brought to bear. It is a great comfort to anyone who desires to obey God.
We go to school; we work; we participate in appropriate community activities. But through it all, we keep ourselves from these things just described. And above all we have true Bible-defined brotherly love and kindness, for our brethren, and for all our neighbors of the world. And we have charity, again as Bible-defined. That means we humble and submit ourselves to each other, to the needs of the body of the elect, and to the obedience of Christ. And as to our neighbors, that means we strive not to sin against t
hem, and not to suffer sin upon anyone [Leviticus 19:17-18]. What that looks like is in the body we provoke one another to obedience, love and good works, and keep the body pure from proud active sinning. And as to our neighbor, we urge them through all lawful publishing methods, and by word and deed, to mourn for the sins that grip the land, read and obey the Bible, fear and obey God, and watch for the return of the King. And we warn them about the eternal consequences of hell, recognizing that some God will save through the foolishness of that preaching [1 Corinthians 1:21], according to His good will and pleasure.
3. How would you describe yourself from other groups?
It’s not how we describe ourselves. It’s how the Lord sees it. We are not a group we are the bride of Christ. The body ….not a group but the body of Christ. There’s a lot of groups out there all going to hell. But the body of Christ is not a “group .”
We are a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle. We look like the people of God. That is, we look like what the scripture describes of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a spiritual body. The rest of the so-called churches look like human institutions and social clubs, with no standard that is not on the table for disposal. We are the light of the world, and you see us and hear our words and you know that they are true, as they stir in your hearts those things which God has put in your heart so that you must respond. The scriptures are filled with wonderful words about this, here are some examples.
Hebrews 12:18-29 ¶ For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire. Ephesians 5:21-33 ¶ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 2 Thessalonians 1:10: When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
You cannot hide the flock of God, and we are hated of the whole world.
John 17:24-26: ¶ Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. Luke 6:22: Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.
And they love what God loves and they hate what God hates: Jeremiah 9:24: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.
See above answer to 2. By grace, and only grace, not by works, we have a hope we are foreordained as the adopted sons of God and brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus we seek to serve and obey God, every day; drawing nigh unto God, thankful for the workings in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and watching for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory, to establish His Kingdom on this earth. 
4. Can anyone become a member? Would you ever prevent someone from joining?
You can’t just show up at the door and fill out a form …. It doesn’t work that way. Think of Paul on the road to Damascus. [Acts Chapter 9]. That’s how this works. And to be honest let’s just say hypothetically the president of the United States …the Lord chose his heart and gave him grace to repent at this hour and Christ Called him and chose him he would last about 2 seconds as president. The Lord would put it on his heart to be with God’s people and I’m sure he would end up here if that is what the Lord Chose to do with him.. However doesn’t look that good for him today. However, you see Paul back in the day was a pretty scary fellow however the Lord called him chose him. … Let’s call the world a” group” and the church the bride of Christ. Any soul who professes Christ and believes on Christ and follows Christ gives up his life and comes to be with the Lord’s people to serve, preach and suffer afflictions with the Lord’s people. The Lord will bring that person here, period
I would like to be careful on answering the question as to about anyone becoming a member. Calling yourself a member is to call yourself a part of the body of Christ; wherever the Lord establishes that body of believers. It is a profession of faith and fruit meet for repentance of one’s sins that is necessary to be called one of Christ’s. Fruit meet for repentance is made manifest in your daily walk and is a pattern of behavior in how you live. Do you wake up every morning sanctified unto the Lord setting aside your worldly desires? Are the standards that you live by set by the Lord, the true plumbline? [Amos Chapter 7] Or are your standards pulled from the plumbline because they are centered around what “feels” good to you? (Colossians 2:20-22) Are you a slave unto sin or a slave unto righteousness? We are to give up our life’s humanly desires to serve the Lord with all our hearts, souls, bodies and minds. That being said, if any individual has a true and sincere desire to serve and obey the Lord, to live among His people, and they have a godly walk and make a profession of faith; then yes. In answering the second part of this question, I would go on to re-iterate that any individual who professes/claims to be a member of the Lords’ body of believers yet does not adhere to the standards of the scriptural requirements of God, then we as a body would say that this “any” individual does not fear the Lord truly. And cannot call themselves or be a member of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please raise the discussion to a proper tone. The elect of God will seek the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some will creep in unawares, looking for a while like a servant of God, but God will show who are His. . It would be exceedingly foolish for anyone to shorten the Arm of the Lord in His power to draw His sheep with cords of loving kindness and to keep them, even as he also suffers heretics to walk among them, to try them and to prove them and to teach them and to lead them.
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 10:16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Luke 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
1 Corinthians 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.
2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
The questions would require many more words to fully answer. These words just skim the surface of the wonderful symphony of words that is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word, to whom belongeth all praise and honor and glory and majesty both now and forever. We watch and pray fervently for His Revelation.
A professing believer who is walking orderly can be a member. We would prevent no professing believer who is walking orderly from joining. And we encourage one and all to listen to the sermons on our website, for hope and life, in this life and after. 