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Novelist Lars Walker — a friend of this blog and an insightful reviewer of some of my own novels — makes a trenchant comment in the Elizabeth Smart post below. I know it’s trenchant because I was about to make basically the same comment but Lars beat me to it! In the comment, he makes a delightfully concise reference to “the Osteenian view that suffering is always a sign of God’s displeasure.” This, of course, refers to popular preacher Joel Osteen, who has been promoting his new book at the Blaze and other places. He basically preaches that God wants...

ANN ARBOR, MI, October 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Catholic priest in Georgia has filed a lawsuit after he was barred from even volunteering to offer Mass at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. Father Ray Leonard, who is contracted to serve as base chaplain, and Fred Naylor, one of Father Leonard’s parishioners and a retired veteran with over 22 years of service, launched the suit Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Priests have been prohibited from offering Mass at military bases in the wake of the government shutdown, despite provisions in the Pay Our...

Job | The Great Unknown

Say What He Says Today's Scripture “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3, KJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When God created the worlds, He didn’t just think them into being. He didn’t just believe there would be light and land and oceans and animals. He had it in His heart, but nothing happened until He spoke. He said, “Let there be light,” and light came. His thoughts didn’t set it into motion; His words set it into motion. It’s the same principle today. You can believe all day long and not...

The Key to the Missionary’s Work (2) "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world" —1 John 2:2 The key to the missionary’s message is the propitiation of Christ Jesus— His sacrifice for us that completely satisfied the wrath of God. Look at any other aspect of Christ’s work, whether it is healing, saving, or sanctifying, and you will see that there is nothing limitless about those. But— “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!�— that is limitless (John 1:29). The missionary’s message...

A Sermon of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Romans 10:3 “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” “Saving Faith” An Exposition of Chapter 10, published by The Banner of Truth Trust: 1997 1.800.263.8085 (pp.28-39). “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going We have, so far, been dealing with the first two verses, and have seen that certain general lessons are taught there by the Apostle. These not only concern his contemporaries, the Jews, but are of universal application in the life of...

The moment I uttered these words, my burden rolled off my back and I knew that I was free. Joy now flooded into my heart and I began to praise the Lord. He had taught me a new song. by Moshe Radcliff [On September 25th H.R. Moshe Radcliff died. His testimony appeared in the Presbyterian Standard (July-September 1998) and is published by kind permission.] I was born into a Jewish family in prosperous Vienna, Austria on the 5th April 1930. Although my parents did not strictly observe the Jewish religion, father took my brother and me to synagogue occasionally. Mother...

In the wake of the government shutdown, despite provisions in the Pay Our Military Act, Catholics at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia are being denied religious services. The Catholic priest who serves this community has been prohibited from even volunteering to celebrate Holy Mass without pay, and was told that if he violated that order, he could be subject to arrest. Protestant services continue to take place. Only Catholic services have been shutdown.

Choose Blessings for Your Future Today's Scripture “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19, NKJV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria Your words have creative power. With your words, you can either bless your future or curse your future. If you want to know what your life is going to be like five years from now, just listen to what you’re saying about yourself today. Too many people go around saying,...

The Key to the Missionary’s Work (1) "Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ’All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .’" —Matthew 28:18-19 The key to the missionary’s work is the authority of Jesus Christ, not the needs of the lost. We are inclined to look on our Lord as one who assists us in our endeavors for God. Yet our Lord places Himself as the absolute sovereign and supreme Lord over His disciples. He does not say that the lost will...

Introduction Teresa of Avila calls for our consideration on several counts: Her writings are increasingly popular amongst unconverted but professing Protestants who find her ‘mystical spirituality’ attractive in their own ‘pursuit of God.’ We are thus alerted to a dangerous ‘enemy within the gates.’ She is revered by Romanists as ‘a quintessential Catholic’, ‘a revolutionary mystic’, ‘a saint and doctor of the Church’, and a co-patron of Spain. This gives us an inkling of the influence she wields over Roman Catholic hearts. Her works, ‘long seen as merely devotional treatises . . . are now being mined more seriously for...

Just a little chill went down my spine as I read this hour's headline on the DR. Curious if anyone felt likewise.

APOSTASY WE MUST START FROM THE ‘GREAT POSITIVE STATEMENTS OF SCRIPTURE’ John Owen is one who has written comprehensively on this subject. I have, therefore, taken his writings as the basis for what I want to say, while drawing on the contribution of others here and there, and interjecting some comments of my own. By way of definition, Owen helpfully says that “apostasy is the relinquishing of any important truth or way in religion; and heresy is the embracing of any new distinctive opinion, or principle, or way in the profession of it.” A man may be an apostate by...

Christ our righteousness The apostle Paul writes, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of...

FAITH IS A GIFT OF GOD Fall flat before Christ, cast yourself upon him and rest upon him completely. He can support you for ever. Faith looks to Jesus Christ as he is indeed the Son of God, as he is indeed perfect, sinless, and true man. by Geoff Thomas By this phrase "faith in Jesus Christ" we are referring to a saving grace, whereby sinners receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel, and we are affirming that that faith is a gift of God. We are talking about a...

Peace with God and False Peace Thirty years ago today, Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones died, March 1 1981.1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Rom. 5:1, 2) We now proceed to look at the ‘peace with God’, that results from justification by faith, from the two sides – the God-ward, and the man-ward. Far too often it is taken even here in a purely subjective sense. While it...

Expounding on the importance of our actions for salvation is, I suppose, my primary “thing.” I have been in so many informal debates over the issue that I have started to lose count of them. I have written about the topic many times. And often, I become angry (like God in 1 Kings 11:9-10) at the mere thought of sola fide (“faith alone”), because I know that it is completely contrary to “what the Lord [has] commanded.” But why? “Faith alone” was, without a doubt, the primary reason that I left Protestantism. Even though I was ill-educated in theology at...

The atheist community hailed last year’s scientific confirmation of the existence of the Higgs boson, for which the British theoretical physicist Peter Higgs was co-recipient this past week of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Higgs had theorized, all the way back in 1964, that there must be something that gives subatomic particles their mass, which enables them to form atoms, which, in turn, form molecules, all of which is integral to creation as we know it. That something turned out to be the Higgs boson. And its discovery, declared Dan Barker, co-president of the so-called Freedom From Religion Foundation, an...

Just curious to know how many FReepers listen to this weekly show. The guy does the entire show as if he himself was actually Jesus. It sounds, on the face of it, odd at best and sacrilegious at worst, but he does have an encyclopedic knowledge of scripture, and dispenses wisdom and advice in a caring and just manner.

Individual Discouragement and Personal Growth ". . . when Moses was grown . . . he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens" —Exodus 2:11 Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After he launched his first strike for God and for what was right, God allowed Moses to be driven into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that...

Getting into God’s Stride "Enoch walked with God . . ." —Genesis 5:24 The true test of a person’s spiritual life and character is not what he does in the extraordinary moments of life, but what he does during the ordinary times when there is nothing tremendous or exciting happening. A person’s worth is revealed in his attitude toward the ordinary things of life when he is not under the spotlight (seeJohn 1:35-37 and John 3:30). It is painful work to get in step with God and to keep pace with Him— it means getting your second wind spiritually....

Hazelmary and Peter Bull Hazelmary and Peter Bull are taking their case to the U.K. Supreme Court this week. At a time when so many of our Christian leaders are guilty of compromising the gospel before the media, dishonoring the Lord as they try to make God’s Word palatable to the world, it was an older British woman—nearly 70 and the owner of a bed-and-breakfast—who displayed a backbone of steel, a deep and consistent faith, and a theological clarity while being grilled on national TV. Cheers for Hazelmary Bull! Hazelmary and her husband, Peter, already in his 70s, owned and...

Who God Rewards Today's Scripture “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When God is first place in your life, and you make pleasing Him is your highest priority, then you can fully expect to live a blessed, fulfilled life! In today’s verse, notice who God rewards. It’s not people who half-heartedly seek Him. It doesn’t say “people who only think about Him when they’re having a problem”...

God’s Silence— Then What? "When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was" —John 11:6 Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without...

October 11, 2013 Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2 Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!wail, O ministers of the altar!Come, spend the night in sackcloth,O ministers of my God!The house of your God is deprivedof offering and libation.Proclaim a fast,call an assembly;Gather the elders,all who dwell in the land,Into the house of the LORD, your God,and cry to the LORD! Alas, the day!for near is the day of the LORD,and it comes as ruin from the Almighty. Blow the trumpet in Zion,sound the alarm on my holy mountain!Let all who dwell in...

October 4, 2013 Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi    Reading 1 Bar 1:15-22 During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:“Justice is with the Lord, our God;and we today are flushed with shame,we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,that we, with our kings and rulersand priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egyptuntil the present day,we have been disobedient to...

Staying Rock Solid Today's Scripture “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria When we have rock-solid faith, we won’t be moved by what’s happening around us. We have peace in our hearts and minds because our hope is in God. We have an attitude that says: “I’m not moved by this medical report. I respect and honor people that are trying to help me, but I know God can do what medical...

How Will I Know? "Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’" —Matthew 11:25 We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,� we are cleansed “from all sin� (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if...

In defiance of Deuteronomy 17:17, Matthew 19:4-6, and other Biblical passages, the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, endorsed the practice of polygamy. However, the largest Mormon church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), later outlawed the practice. This presents a problem for LDS theology. In verses 61-63 of Section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith reveals a "revelation" about polygamy supposedly given to him by God. The verses teach that a man "cannot commit adultery" -- even if "he have ten virgins given unto him by this law" of polygamy -- as long as his...

Rosaria spoke for 35 minutes and then fielded questions from the audience for another hour and a half. While she received many challenging questions from opposing viewpoints, the audience was mostly very respectful of her and her time. In short, the Gospel was clearly proclaimed both in her lecture and during Q&A. Even several from USF’s administration told how thankful they were for her lecture and for how smoothly the whole event ran. As I reflect on the events of the past week, especially the past 48 hours, it is difficult to express all that the Lord has done through...

October 10, 2013 Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Mal 3:13-20b You have defied me in word, says the LORD,yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?�You have said, “It is vain to serve God,and what do we profit by keeping his command,And going about in penitential dressin awe of the LORD of hosts?Rather must we call the proud blessed;for indeed evildoers prosper,and even tempt God with impunity.�Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,and the LORD listened attentively;And a record book was written before himof those who fear the LORD and...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The federal shutdown has found its angry prophet. Senate Chaplain Barry Black is usually a calm, pastoral presence on Capitol Hill, doling out spiritual wisdom and moral counsel to his high-powered flock. But the Seventh-Day Adventist and former Navy rear admiral is mad as hell about the shutdown — and he’s letting the Senate, and the Lord, know about it. “Lord, when the federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of (soldiers) dying on far-away battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough,” Black said in his prayer opening the Senate on Wednesday. “Cover...

The New Birth John 3:1-8 ‘Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his...

October 9, 2013Wednesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time    Reading 1 Jon 4:1-11 Jonah was greatly displeasedand became angry that God did not carry out the evilhe threatened against Nineveh.He prayed, “I beseech you, LORD,is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,slow to anger, rich in clemency, loathe to punish.And now, LORD, please take my life from me;for it is better for me to die than to live.�But the LORD asked, “Have you reason...

God Has the Final Say Today's Scripture But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24, NKJV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria God is a faithful God! You may be praying for things that haven’t happened yet, but just because things aren’t happening on your timetable doesn’t mean they aren’t going to happen. Don’t give up on that promise; God...

Building on the Atonement ". . . present . . . your members as instruments of righteousness to God" —Romans 6:13 I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot make atonement for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot right what is wrong, purify what is impure, or make holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Do I have faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made the perfect atonement for sin. Am I in the habit of constantly realizing it? The greatest need we have is not to do things,...

It certainly makes for a good story: a scrappy kid from Baltimore flunks out of an English class at what is now Loyola University Maryland only to become an international bestselling author. The problem is that the oft-told tale concerning Tom Clancy is just as fictitious as Jack Ryan. “It was an urban legend that just wouldn’t die,” said Carol Abromaitis, the English professor accused of giving Clancy an F in her class. For decades, Abromaitis urged English majors to let others know the truth. Her efforts bore little fruit. “One major said to me, ‘Of course not. It makes...

Growing in the Waiting Today's Scripture We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Hebrews 6:12 NIV. Today's Word from Joel and Victoria If God made everything happen right away, or whenever we wanted it to happen, it wouldn’t require anything of us. We would miss the opportunity to grow because we grow in the difficult times. We grow when our faith is being stretched, when we have to believe when we don’t see any reason to believe, when we stay in faith when our...

Coming to Jesus "Come to Me . . ." —Matthew 11:28 Isn’t it humiliating to be told that we must come to Jesus! Think of the things about which we will not come to Jesus Christ. If you want to know how real you are, test yourself by these words— “Come to Me . . . .� In every dimension in which you are not real, you will argue or evade the issue altogether rather than come; you will go through sorrow rather than come; and you will do anything rather than come the last lap of the race...

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren received criticism this week after posting a photo of a Chinese Red Guard on his Facebook page Monday. The photo....showed a smiling worker in uniform for the Cultural Revolution, which was a social-political movement in China from 1966 to 1976. Millions of people died due to the impact of the revolution. Along with the photo, Warren posted the caption, "The typical attitude of Saddleback Staff as they start work each day.” “People often miss irony on the Internet. It’s a joke people! If you take this seriously, you really shouldn’t be following me!” Warren posted as...

For vast numbers of people, Roman Catholicism is the religion of choice. Rome can be attractive for a wide variety of reasons. The most significant is familial, people born into and persevering in the Roman Church. But other attractions of various sorts can be readily found: theological, philosophical, liturgical, moral, psychological, and historical.Defenders of Protestantism over the centuries have entered the lists, confronting at great length all of Rome's attractions. Understandably, the discussions have often focused particularly on biblical and theological arguments. But historical arguments are of great importance as well. Rome often claims that it represents two thousand years...

(Salt Lake City, UT) — A group of activist women seeking access to the Priesthood Session at the 183rd Semiannual General Conference were turned away. The 200 women are part of a group called Ordain Women, which is lobbying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to allow for the ordination of women. A BYU graduated founded the group last year after returning from a mission to Barcelona.

Advertising for an event in the Marshall Student Center next week has caught the attention — and concern — of some students: Blue posters and a banner advertising a lecture on “Homosexuality and Christianity,” a lecture that will be given by Dr. Rosario Butterfield, a self-proclaimed former “leftist lesbian” professor at Syracuse University who became heterosexual after becoming a devout Christian. According to Butterfield’s website, she advises people to “have no contact with pornography or with secret lovers—physical, non-physical, virtual or real,” not to “misuse Christ by asking Him to baptize your feelings” and to stay away from ministry if...

Meet "Kosher Frank" This story needs no commentary because it speaks for itself. Jorge Bergoglio is not a Catholic nor a Pope - but an apostate. What we are seeing here are the next steps in the amalgamation of all religions into one, the prelude to the Antichrist. [Taken from Vatican Insider, 9/29/13. Coloring added for emphasis.] [But no coloring on FR] "Pope Francis and Rabbi Skorka make history in the Vatican" by Gerard O'Connell, Rome ... “We hold to different traditions, but we are creating a dialogue that has not existed for centuries. Both of us believe that God...

Full Title: Singapore megachurch founder on trial for 'stealing more than $40million to fund his wife's American pop star dream' A Christian evangelical pastor is on trial accused of stealing more than $40million from the megachurch he founded to fund his wife's dreams of being a pop star in the U.S. Kong Hee, 47, the pastor and founder of the 20,000-strong City Harvest Church in Singapore is gripped in the scandal along with five other officials for an alleged scheme of trying to siphon off almost $20million. They then allegedly spent another $20million trying to cover the embezzlement up. Known...

<p>An extremely rare convergence this year of Thanksgiving and the start of Hanukkah has created a frenzy of Talmudic proportions.</p> <p>There's the number crunching: The last time it happened was 1888, or at least the last time since Thanksgiving was declared a federal holiday by President Lincoln, and the next time may have Jews lighting their candles from spaceships 79,043 years from now, by one calculation.</p>

Steven Furtick, the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, is building a 16,000 square foot mansion - and according to Furtick an investigative reporter is asking questions about where the money came from. In the middle of his sermon on "suffering" last week, Furtick told his church how HE is suffering for the Lord: by having to endure an investigative reporter ask questions about the financing of his mansion. Wow, the pain and suffering of mega church pastors - how DO they endure such hardships? They must really love Jesus to suffer so much. Watch the excerpt below from...

The following debate between Mike Gendron and Tim Staples appears in the January - February 2012 Issue of Catholic Answers Magazine. Mike Gendron's First Affirmation God promises eternal life to those who repent and believe the glorious Gospel of Grace. When He gives spiritual life to those who are dead in their sins, He does not place them on probation or give them conditional life. Eternal life is given by grace through faith so that the divine promise can be guaranteed (Rom. 4:16). God's promise is upheld by His holy character, unlimited power and sovereign purpose. Listen to the Lord's...

For 15 years, Heather Ann Clement was a faculty member at Azusa Pacific University, an evangelical Christian school in Southern California. But that changed last month, with the start of Azusa’s new academic year, when Heather came out as a transgender. The professor of theology began referring to herself as Heath Adam Ackley. And she even started to develop a more masculine appearance. The professor of theology formerly known as Heather demanded that Azusa officially recognize “his” new name and gender change. So university administrators sat the prof down for several “thoughtful conversations.” After hearing out Heather/Heath, it was abundantly...

What exactly is TRUE BEAUTY? Well... quite simply, TRUE BEAUTY is NOT the genetic make up given to an individual at the moment of conception. How many millions have been deceived into thinking that their genetic make up or human "beauty" is actually their true self. Oh deceived one. The world's history is full of the "beautiful" who fill the world's graves and have been long forgotten. We as persons live in these bodies which gives us access to outwork life here in time in this physical world but our bodies and genetic make up is not who we are....