Free Republic

Orthodox Jews set fire to hundreds of copies of the New Testament in the latest act of violence against Christian missionaries in the Holy Land. Or Yehuda Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon said missionaries recently entered a neighborhood in the predominantly religious town of 34,000 in central Israel, distributing hundreds of New Testaments and missionary material. After receiving complaints, Aharon said, he got into a loudspeaker car last Thursday and drove through the neighborhood, urging people to turn over the material to Jewish religious students who went door to door to collect it. "The books were dumped into a pile and...

We tend to be hard on the Pharisees without seeing the difficulty they faced. They were not cartoons. They were men who, like us sometimes, learned the right lesson but drew the wrong conclusion from the Law of Moses. Under the Law, ritual defilement was intended as a kind of sign or shadow: to show us in our pride that we could not, by our own strength and power, keep ourselves clean from sin. The intended lesson: We need God to cleanse us through Christ.But the Pharisees took away something very different. They concluded they could find sanctity in only...

An Atlanta megachurch took in $69 million in 2006, according to a financial statement the church's minister released in response to a Senate investigation into him and five other well-known televangelists. The Rev. Creflo Dollar disclosed the World Changers Church International's financial information to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, but said the money he spends is his own. Dollar said his income comes from personal investments, including businesses and real estate ventures. But the church gave him a Rolls Royce, which he mainly uses for special occasions, he said. "Without a doubt, my life is not average," he said. "But I'd like...

Each year, at one of our country's leading Catholic universities, a professor does a survey with his incoming class of students.  He puts to them this question: "If you were to die tonight and appear at the pearly gates, what would be your entry ticket?"Nine out of ten bet their good character and behavior will gain them admission.This is exactly the strategy used by the Pharisee in the parable that we find in this Sunday's gospel (Luke 18:9-14) about the Pharisee and the publican.As we listen to this story today, the Pharisee strikes us as conceited.  His real problem, though,...

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who has been put on the “fast track” to sainthood, was so tormented by doubts about her faith that she felt “a hypocrite,” it has emerged from a book of her letters to friends and confessors. Shortly after beginning her work in the slums of Calcutta, she wrote: “Where is my faith? Even deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. If there be a God — please forgive me.” In letters eight years later she was still expressing “such deep longing for God,” adding that she felt “repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no...

Q. In your response about whether a homosexual relative’s male partner should be included in family gatherings, you gave the same response we received from other trusted Catholic sources after much prayer. We have held our ground (which was extremely hard) and have become unpopular with that side of the family. Yet, our family is not exposed to this sinful situation because now only the relative, and not his partner, is invited to family gatherings. Our question is, should we view differently a relative on the other side of the family who has lived with her boyfriend for four years...

The True Lover Of God Mary Lindow Jun 25 2006 06:04PM THE TRUE LOVER OF GOD DOES NOT NEED TO BE LAVISHED UPON BY MAN THE PRESENT EVILS AND PRESSURES OF OUR TIME ARE NOT NEW TO GOD OR......TO THE PRINCE OF THIS WORLD! The Bride of Christ has been either over stroked with false platitudes or has been allowed to be spoiled with a gluttony of self-love, self-analysis, and self-promotion. All members of the Lord’s Body, leaders and simple followers, have all had the virus of “I WANNA BE SOMEBODY” attempt to sidetrack and infect the human nature side...

I have heard the terms "heresy," "apostasy" and "schism" used in describing people and beliefs not in agreement with our Catholic faith, but I suspect that those terms are often used incorrectly. What are their proper definitions? The Church distinguishes three specific genres of what it calls the sin of "incredulity" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2089). Heresy is the obstinate denial by someone baptized of a truth which is to be believed with divine and "catholic" faith, or it may be an obstinate doubt about such a truth. Apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith. Schism...

With many large churches across the U.S. announcing they won't be open on Christmas Day, some pastors are defending their decision to stay closed, even going so far as to blast those who question their motives. Among them is Jon Weece, pastor of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., who received complaint e-mails from Christians in all 50 states. "I was deeply saddened by the knee-jerk response of the Christian community as a whole to give the benefit of the doubt to the media and not a church or a brother in Christ," Weece said in his Dec. 10 sermon....

I keep reading about churches that are going to be closed on Christmas day, which falls on a Sunday this year. What’s up with that? The word ‘Christmas’ comes from ‘Christ mass,’ which is the Roman Catholic service, or mass, for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas falling on a Sunday should be viewed as a special occasion, with people excitedly looking forward to going to church that particular day, not using it as an excuse to close the church doors. Churches that are deciding to not hold services on Sunday, December 25th, are making a huge mistake. Now,...

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The senior minister at central Kentucky's largest church defended a decision to not offer services there on Christmas Sunday and responded to mounting criticism. The Rev. Jon Weese praised the decision of elders at Southland Christian Church during a service Saturday and said they "chose to value families. People over policy." Weese has heard from hundreds of Christians across the nation protesting the closure, Southland officials said. Preaching before a crowd of about 1,150, Weece said the full story hasn't been heard. "I was deeply saddened by the knee-jerk response of the Christian community as a whole...

MIDI - Y M C A Liberals, you're so easy to mock I say, liberals, what you say is a crock Limo liberals, in your mouth stuff a sock Because we don't want to hear it Liberals, we have our eyes on you I say, liberals, we have watched what you do Phony liberals, all your hubris shines through From you we don't want to hear it Hey, Arianna, just S T F U It is about time you S T F U You have your stained blue dress, it's a big SUV Can you say it? HYPOCRISY! Yes,...

CLEVELAND -- Former Houston and Harris County official Oliver Spellman pleaded guilty today to bribery charges filed just last week, saying he accepted $2,000 to influence government contracts while serving as chief of staff to former Mayor Lee Brown. "I took money from an individual in return for favor in winning government contracts," Spellman told U.S. District Judge James Gwin of Cleveland. He said he took the bribe in July 2002. Although neither he nor the criminal information document filed last week named the person who paid the bribe, other court documents indicate it was well-connected Cleveland businessman Nate Gray....

The full 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals (composed of 28 judgeships) recently upheld the wildly unpopular 2-1 ruling of its smaller three judge panel, agreeing with Sacramento atheist Michael Newdow that it was unconstitutional for students to recite the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. Judge Stephen Reinhardt, concurring in the full 9th Circuit order, explained: We may not – we must not – allow public sentiment or outcry to guide our decisions. . . . Any suggestion, whenever or wherever made, that federal judges should be encouraged by the approval of the majority or deterred by...

This year marks 225(older, but timeless article) years since our Founding Fathers gave us our National Birth Certificate. We continue to be the longest on-going Constitutional Republic in the history of the world. Blessings such as these are not by chance or accidental. They are blessings of God. On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to approve a complete separation from Great Britain. Two days afterwards — July 4th —the early draft of the Declaration of Independence was signed, albeit by only two individuals at that time: John Hancock, President of Congress, and Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress. Four days later,...

The History of the Supreme CourtBy David Barton, The founder of WallBuilders talks about the Supreme Court, then and now. Guest of the 700 Club. July 10, 2003.The History of the Supreme Court The Founding Fathers of this nation laid out their elaborate plans for the city of Washington and made no provision for the Supreme Court to have a separate building. As intended by the Founders, the Court met inside the Capitol building for 135 years, first bouncing around from room to room and then finally residing in the vacated Senate chambers. The Founders intended that the Court should...

CBN.com – Conservatives say the Supreme Court's sodomy ruling is just one more example of judicial activism in the courts, that the Court has gotten too powerful and is creating new laws instead of ruling on the existing ones. David Barton is an expert on U.S. history, and he says the High Court is exercising powers that the Founding Fathers never intended. CBN’s Pat Robertson recently spoke with David Barton on "The 700 Club." PAT ROBERTSON: The Supreme Court, ladies and gentlemen. The eyes have been focused on the Supreme Court. Recent rulings by the court have shown how easily...

Did you know that several Republican leaders in Texas have been issuing apologies for slavery and bigotry on behalf of our party? They are and it includes our immediate former Republican Party of Texas Chairman Susan Weddington.Democrat liberals do this sort of thing all the time when pandering and race hustling to Jesse Jackson and his following for votes, but to see this sort of stuff from Republican leaders seems unbelievable.Since this story is so far fetched many have experienced disbelief in it at first. But rest assured, it happened and here is the evidence that could be assembled from...

The Founding of America , Pt 1 Thursday, July 01, 2004 Is our government protecting religious freedom? Wallbuilders president David Barton talks about the founding of America — and shares some disturbing truths about the direction our country is heading. Can America move back to its roots of true religious freedom?

We went to see The Passion of the Christ this week. I leave discussions of the theology of the movie to others. This is about the brutality shown. And about man’s inhumanity to man, then and now. There are lessons for Iraq policy today in the ancient images from that movie. First we cover the history of flogging and crucifixion in the Roman Empire. Flogging consisted normally of forty lashes. It was a severe but limited penalty, mostly in the Roman Army. It was used in the same way under the British Admiralty Rules in the 18th Century. The purpose...