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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict will hold talks with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on Nov 21 in their first meeting since a Vatican initiative making it easier for disaffected Anglicans to convert to Catholicism. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said on Friday the spiritual leader of the 77-million member worldwide Anglican communion will meet the pope while he is in Rome for a conference at a Rome pontifical university. The meeting will take on great significance because it is their first since the Vatican announced a new structure on Oct 20 to welcome conservative Anglicans who want to...

10 Ways Darwin Got It Wrong This year marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birthday and, coincidentally, 150 years since the publication of his book On the Origin of Species. One of the most influential books in modern history, it has helped shape philosophy, biology, sociology and religion in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. But both Darwin's theory and his book are doomed by major flaws. by Mario Seiglie Was Charles Darwin right about his theory? More importantly, how vital is it to find out the correct answer? Unlike other scientific theories, Darwinian evolution touches not only science but...

Roman Catholic Asks "Do Protestants Believe That True faith = Faith + Works?" John Hendryx Answers Roman Catholic I was recently in an online discussion with a Roman Catholic who made the following assertions: Ultimately, it makes no difference whether you hold that faith + works = justification or faith = justification + works In either case there is no justification apart from good works. According to the reformed view, if you don't have good works, then you don't have the right kind of faith. In other words, according to reformed theology, the equation would be true faith =...

When He Comes November 6, 2009  "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) When He comes our glorious King, All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing; Hallelujah, what a Savior!  The sacrificed, risen, and exalted...

November 6 Spiritual Warfare and Sin: A Saint In Embryo For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. --Romans 7:22-23 The regenerate man often has a more difficult time of it than the unregenerate, for he is not one man but two. He feels within him a power that tends toward holiness and God, while at the same time he is still a child of...

Same-sex relationships go against Scripture and morality, according to a letter mailed Monday by members of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bessemer City. The congregation recently drafted the letter stating its disdain for a resolution passed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “We are writing to express our disappointment with the recent Churchwide Assembly’s approval of the resolution to allow gay and lesbian pastors,” the letter states. “We also disapprove of the resolution to find ways for congregations to recognize same-gender relationships.” The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted in August to open the...

Some Effingham County Lutherans are leaving their churches in an effort to disassociate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country. The breakaway group known as Lutherans for Bible Based Beliefs announced new worship services for those who disapprove of the national church's vote in August to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Alan B. Zipperer said he helped organize the group to give people who disapproved of the ELCA's decision a place to feel comfortable. "There are so many dissatisfied people at several churches around Effingham County, we...

MORE THAN one in ten Britons don't know which famous landmark Guy Fawkes failed to blow up. A staggering 13 per cent of people could not identify the Houses of Parliament as the target of the infamous Gunpowder Plot. Three per cent of clueless participants even named the London Eye as Fawkes' target - even though it was erected almost 400 years later - a figure that, shockingly, rises to eight per cent among London residents. One in 20 thought the religious conspirator - who was captured in a cellar beneath the House of Lords on 5 November, 1605 with...

Writings of the Fathers of the Church  Alexander of Alexandria (Saint)   - Epistles on the Arian Heresy and the Deposition of Arius Alexander of Lycopolis   - Of the Manicheans Ambrose (340-397) (Saint) (Doctor)   - On the Christian Faith (De fide)   - On the Holy Spirit   - On the Mysteries   - On Repentance   - On the Duties of the Clergy   - Concerning Virgins   - Concerning Widows   - On the Death of Satyrus   - Memorial of Symmachus   - Sermon against Auxentius   - Letters Aphrahat/Aphraates (c. 280-367)   - Demonstrations Archelaus   - Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes Aristides the Philosopher   - The Apology Arnobius   - Against the Heathen Athanasius (Saint) (Doctor)   - Against the Heathen   - On the Incarnation...

Christ, Lunatic or God? If reason alone were all we had to establish the existence and essence of God, we might feel curiously dissatisfied. If God is a Supreme Spirit, omnipotent and of total benevolence, the origin and end of us all, why does He not speak and re-assure us? The Christian claim is that, in fact, God has spoken to mankind first in the prophets of the Old Testament and last of all through His Son made man. The historical existence of Christ is what we are now concerned with and also with His claim to be the Son...

Before starting the text of a long article, I want to explain what it is. In discussing the meaning of the Eucharist with Catholics on FreeRepublic, I've frequently been told that the Church Fathers, from the very beginning, have taught it was a 're-presentation' of Calvary. I've read little of the Church Fathers - as have many who have lectured me, I suspect. The norm on both sides of the argument is to pull quotes from those who help your case, and ignore what does not. In excerpts below, taken from his 7,000 page history, Philip Schaff discusses the nuance...

In case you needed an excuse to have a couple of cold ones, burn stuff and light fireworks, look no further. November 5 is Guy Fawkes Day. On November 5, 1605, England held a celebration for the opening of Parliament. Guy Fawkes tried to spark a revolution by blowing up the building – and the royal family along with it – in what is known as the Gunpowder Plot (PDF) . The plot was foiled when one of Fawkes's co-conspirators sent a letter to a friend telling the friend to stay away from Parliament that night. The letter was intercepted...

We are awash in information about how to have healthy and successful churches. Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven church movement claims to have trained many thousands of pastors around the world. The website for this movement states the vision: “Our vision is to see healthy, balanced congregations producing Purpose Driven lives of all ages everywhere.”1 This movement is being called a new reformation: “Saddleback Church is now but one among thousands of Purpose Driven churches – the vanguard of a new reformation.”2 The churches who most successfully copy Rick Warren’s pattern are honored with a “Church Health Award.”3 As contemporary evangelicals...

The Spotless Lamb of God November 4, 2009  "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, . . . But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Peter 1:18-19) Guilty, vile and helpless we, Spotless Lamb of God was He; Full atonement, can it be? Hallelujah, what a Savior!  Before God each individual stands as an absolutely guilty sinner. "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Being more "good" than "bad" doesn't help, "for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and...

November 4 Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Throw Off Hindrances Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.... --Hebrews 12:1-2 Is Satan giving you a hard time in your life of faith-in the Christian race you are running? Expect it if you are a believing child of God! Satan hates your God. He hates Jesus Christ. He hates...

Five Hard Truths That Will Set You FreeBy: Msgr. Charles Pope Some years ago I read an essay by the Franciscan Theologian Richard Rohr. I will say that I do not share a lot of agreement with Richard Rohr (no need to detail that here) but I found this particular essay compelling. I do not recall the exact title of that essay but in my mind the title “Five Hard Truths that Will Set You Free� seems the best title. The following five truths from that essay are indeed hard truths. They tend to rock our world and stab...

Condemned in My Place November 3, 2009  "Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God." (Matthew 27:41-43) Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood— Sealed my pardon with His blood: Hallelujah, what a Savior!  Through the sham of a trial, they...

November 3 Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Satan's Strategy Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. --Ephesians 6:13 Now I do not think that Satan much cares to destroy us Christians physically. The soldier dead in battle who died performing some deed of heroism is not a great loss to the army but may rather be an object of pride to his country. On the other hand the soldier who cannot or will not fight but runs away at the sound of the...

ELCA synods will not have the option of upholding traditional Christian teaching on marriage and homosexuality in their standards for pastors and other rostered leaders according to a draft of candidacy rules released Oct. 10 by the ELCA churchwide organization. No synod or bishop may make decisions on ministry standards that differ from the new policies of the ELCA churchwide organization as defined by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly, the policy draft explains. The ELCA now allows pastors and other rostered leaders to be in committed same-sex relationships. “By the governing documents, all candidacy and call decisions are made on an...

In 1943, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a letter from his prison cell in Nazi Germany to a young couple who had just married: Marriage is more than your love for each other. It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God's holy ordinance, through which he wills to perpetuate the human race until the end of time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to his glory, and calls into his kingdom....

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The western North Dakota bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says congregations are wrestling with a national church policy that allows gay and lesbian people to serve as pastors or in other church leadership positions. Bishop Mark Narum, who leads 192 congregations that make up the Western North Dakota ELCA Synod, said he met with pastors of those congregations this month. He described it as a "wonderful open conversation." "But there is a whole group in the middle of the church wrestling over, 'What does it mean to be faithful?'" he said. "An important...

Planned Parenthood has been a part of Abby Johnson's life for the past eight years; that is until last month, when Abby resigned. Johnson said she realized she wanted to leave, after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. "I just thought I can't do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that's it," said Jonhson. She handed in her resignation October 6. Johnson worked as the Bryan Planned Parenthood Director for two years. According to Johnson, the non-profit was struggling under the weight of a tough economy, and changing it's business...

ELCA Resource Addresses 'Worship in Times of Public Health Concerns' CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The declaration of a national emergency has raised a number of questions across the United States about safely assembling for school and worship during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Worship and Liturgical Resources answered many of those questions in a resource titled "Worship in Times of Public Health Concerns." U.S. President Barack Obama signed an Oct. 24 proclamation that "the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic in the United States constitutes a national emergency." The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services had...

As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger once said so well, one major difference between Protestants and Catholics is that Catholics pray for the dead: "My view is that if Purgatory did not exist, we should have to invent it." Why? "Because few things are as immediate, as human and as widespread—at all times and in all cultures—as prayer for one"s own departed dear ones." Calvin, the Reformer of Geneva, had a woman whipped because she was discovered praying at the grave of herson and hence was guilty, according to Calvin, of superstition". "In theory, the Reformation refuses to accept Purgatory, and...

At Saint Mary the Virgin Catholic Church, the 75-year-old priest is married, members sing from an Episcopalian hymnal and parishioners kneel at the altar to receive Communion. Years ago, the Texas parish and a handful of other conservative Episcopal churches in the U.S. decided to become Roman Catholic. Though they were confirmed by the Vatican, they were still allowed to practice some of their Anglican traditions, including having married priests. Now, these churches may have helped pave the way for Anglicans worldwide, or Episcopalians as they are known in the U.S., to become Catholic under a new Vatican plan created...

Man of Sorrows November 2, 2009  "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." (Isaiah 53:3)  The marvelous hymn of the last century "Hallelujah, What a Savior!" provides in pithy but powerful form an insight into the work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on the cross. For the next few days, let us use its familiar verses to "think on these things" (Philippians 4:8).  "Man of Sorrows!" What a name For the...

November 2 Spiritual Warfare and Sin: Irreconcilable Hostility For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. --Ephesians 6:12 In the early days, when Christianity exercised a dominant influence over American thinking, men and women conceived the world to be a battleground. Our fathers believed in sin and the devil and hell as constituting one force, and they believed in God and righteousness and heaven as the other. By their very nature, these forces were opposed to...

From the comments section: In my other life (the life that pays my salary), I am sinfully proud of my ability to correctly use terms and to grasp semantics. David Swartling, who is my secret hero, has made it impossible for me to ever again use the phrase "simple majority." I now, belatedly, grasp the difference between "vision" and "visions." I'm laughing out loud. Perhaps this distinction could be made into a YouTube video... Sincere thanks for your good work for this church, and a big shalom to you.

Lutheran CORE Responds to ELCA Congregational Mission Director 09-246-JB CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Two leaders of the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (CORE) said, with a "resounding yes," they are serious about their endeavors as an organization. They also said they "take no joy in following a process that will likely lead Lutheran CORE to depart from the ELCA's (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) institutional life and ministry." The comments were in a letter written by the Rev. Kenneth H. Sauer and the Rev. Paull E. Spring -- both former ELCA synod bishops -- in response to an Oct. 12 open letter...

This weekend’s feedback is in response to a number of queries about the Church of England (Anglicans) officially apologizing to Darwin. However, they don’t speak for all attenders of this church, since many of them are still faithful to Scripture and are appalled by their ‘leaders’. There are numerous mistakes in the article by the official CoE representative, a Rev. Dr Malcolm Brown, on the official CoE website, and Jonathan Sarfati replies point-by-point...

After a three-year process, the Vatican recently decided to invite the world's 77 million Anglicans into the fold, offering full communion within the Roman Catholic Church while retaining Anglican liturgy and the married priesthood. While the decision will offer an opportunity to the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion, representing 300,000 to 400,000 Anglicans who sought "full, corporate, sacramental union" with the Roman Catholic Church, it is not expected to dramatically affect the American Episcopal Church, according to area clergy who were pleased or disaffected by the news. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Fall River reacted with cautious optimism, warning that much...

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Psalm 103:1 This is the season when we in the United States tend to turn our thoughts to thankfulness for the blessings of prosperity and peacefulness. And well we should. Our country, with all of its struggles, is still the most emulated and sought after civilization of the modern world. And, in spite of the efforts on the part of some, it is still a nation of moral laws and religious stability. We have much to be thankful for...

Have you ever given it much though about the phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�? Quite often you will here a pastor use this phrase as he instructs you to give glory to God though His Son. But have you ever really consider what the phrase means to you and and the significance of it? Give me a moment of your time and allow me to introduce you to something very few Christians have actually ever considered when hearing this phrase, “Lift Christ up with Praise�. Most people know the verse John 3:16 , many have even memorized it....

Several commemorative events will be held in Augsburg, Germany, over the next two days to celebrate the signing of a landmark ecumenical agreement ten years ago between representatives of the the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Roman Catholic Church. It was on Oct. 31, 1999, that the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (JDDJ), considered one of the most significant agreements since the Reformation, was signed by church officials from the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation, which claims to represent 66.7 million of the world's 70.2 million Lutherans. Members of the World Methodist Council later adopted the...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says it will admit married Anglican priests to the Catholic priesthood case by case. Vatican officials recently announced changes to make it easier for Anglicans to convert, as many conservative Anglicans are disillusioned by their own church's allowing women priests and gay clergy. The new move left some wondering whether Rome would embrace married Anglican priests in large numbers. A Holy See statement Saturday quoted Cardinal William Levada as saying the Vatican would consider accepting married Anglican priests into the Roman Catholic priesthood as it has in the past -- evaluating each case on its...

Vatican City, Oct 31, 2009 / 12:13 pm (CNA).- In an extensive clarification released on Saturday by the Vatican press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. made clear, on behalf of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Levada, that there is no “celibacy issue” delaying the publication of the Constitution that will establish the context in which Anglicans can be received into the Catholic Church.In a statement released in English –breaking the common use of Italian- Fr. Lombardi explained that “there has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian...

Haunted houses, ghosts, demons—our Western culture can’t seem to get enough of the spirit world. The latest Gallup poll indicates that 42% of Americans believe in demon possession, 37% believe in haunted houses, and 32% believe in ghosts. (Not just Americans are enthralled—40% of the British believe in haunted houses, too.) Though interest in the paranormal is widespread, the majority of people are skeptical. They discount all spirit activity, going so far as to deny the existence of Satan and demons. Atheists stated this view succinctly in a sign they planted next to a manger scene last Christmas at the...

(In August the churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted proposals to make it possible for Lutherans in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-gender relationships to serve as ELCA associates in ministry, clergy, deaconesses and diaconal ministers.) In the wake of the ELCA assembly vote to allow gay and lesbian people to serve in the clergy or other leadership positions, the denomination's Presiding Bishop, the Rev. Mark Hanson, has told his bishops and laity to expect some congregations to leave. Whether ELCA congregations will defect in large numbers to more conservative Lutheran denominations remains to be seen. However,...

Four hundred and ninety-two years ago today -- Oct. 31, 1517; the Eve of All Saints' Day, or All Hallow's Eve, or Halloween for short -- the Protestant Reformation began when the Augustinian monk Martin Luther nailed 95 bulletpoints to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany. Over in Rome, Pope Leo X was so mad he stomped the marble floor with his expensive Italian boots. And over in the prosperous Picardy village of Noyon, France, an uncannily brilliant 8-year-old schoolboy was wowing his third-grade teachers with his unearthly mastery of reading, writing, 'rithmetic and rhetoric. [snip] ....the vivid...

I looked over the Halloween article but I was wondering how to explain that to my eleven year old. Do you have any articles written to children on this?—T.H., U.S. Many people celebrate Halloween without considering the history of the holiday. They put on costumes, attend parties, eat candy, and even pull pranks on neighbors. In fact, Americans spend billions of dollars each year decorating and preparing. But there’s more to Halloween than jack-o-lanterns and scary stories. Let’s take a quick trip back in time to see where some of these customs came from—and if Christians should take part. To...

The calendar of the Brazilian Book of Common Prayer (LOCb) of the Diocese of Recife - and of the majority of evangelical churches in our country - registers today as the day in which we commemorate the Reformation. This year we celebrate 500 years of the birth of John Calvin, and we're reminded of the fact that the Protestant Reformation of the 16th. Century was one of the most important chapters in the History of the Church, and that october 31st. 1517 was one of the most significant days since Pentecost. The protestant community, ever growing in Latin America owes...

ELCA NEWS SERVICE October 30, 2009 Paul Manz, Distinguished Lutheran Organist, Composer and Teacher, Dies 09-244-JB/FI* CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Paul O. Manz, a well-known Lutheran organist, composer, church musician and teacher, died Oct. 28 after several weeks of hospice care in St. Paul, Minn. Manz, 90, was surrounded by family at his death as they sang "E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come," his most famous choral work. A memorial service is planned for Nov. 8 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, St. Paul, said Manz's son, the Rev. John C. Manz, a pastor at Gloria Dei, where the elder Manz attended....

The New Jerusalem October 30, 2009  "But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." (Isaiah 65:18)  Here is a remarkable act of creation! The verb "create" always has God as its subject, and it would surely require the divine Creator to "create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy!" Jerusalem throughout her history has been a city of conflict and sorrow, and her people have suffered under oppressors longer than any other nation, not only in Jerusalem (meaning, ironically, "city of...

October 30 Failure and Success: Unsung But Singing But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God; in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses...as unknown, and yet well known.... --2 Corinthians 6:4,9 Unsung but singing: this is the short and simple story of many today whose names are not known beyond the small circle of their own small company. Their gifts are not many nor great, but their song is sweet and clear.... Well, the world is big and tangled and dark, and we are never sure where a true Christian may be found. One thing...

One of the hardest things Ed Donaghy has ever done was leave his ministry as a Catholic priest. For months, he agonized over his conflicting desires to have a family and serve as a priest in the Sacramento Diocese. In the end, Donaghy felt he had no choice. The priest, who served in Woodland, told his bishop he had to leave. That was four decades ago. "It would have been wonderful to be married and be a priest," said Donaghy, 73, now retired as an insurance agent. "I loved the work and would have continued." Donaghy is one of more...

VATICAN CITY — Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, will meet Pope Benedict XVI on November 21, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi confirmed Friday. Lombardi told AFP that Rowan's visit to the Vatican was "already planned" before the Vatican's October 20 announcement of a structure for welcoming Anglican converts into the Roman Catholic Church. Williams will be on hand for celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Johannes Willebrands, a Dutch cardinal who was a pioneer in Catholic ecumenism and who died in 2006. The Vatican announced last week that Pope Benedict XVI has...

The announcement that the First Unitarian Church will celebrate its 225th anniversary next year is a reminder of the long and contentious epic of religion in this community. First Unitarian started in 1785 as the Second Parish Church. It split off that year from the First Parish, the established Congregational Church located on the Common. It is remarkable that Worcester’s two oldest churches still survive and flourish whereas dozens of others have since blossomed and faded away. The First Parish Church is now located in Tatnuck, where it proudly displays its Paul Revere bell on its lawn. The Second Parish...

Berlin -- A divorced woman once described as "a cross between Mother Teresa and Demi Moore" was Wednesday elected head of Germany's Protestant church, the first woman to hold the post. Margot Kaessmann, 51, received 132 of the 142 votes cast at the church's general assembly in Ulm, southern Germany. She now leads 25 million faithful across the country. "Trusting in God's help, I accept the vote," she said. Kaessmann, who was elected for a six-year term, was the only candidate for the post. The charismatic Kaessmann hit the headlines around the world in 2007 when she became the first...

The Sacrifice of Praise October 29, 2009  "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." (Hebrews 13:15)  A sacrifice is a costly thing. But the sacrifices which God desires are not merely animals on an altar, or fruits of the harvest, or gifts of money and goods. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" (Psalm 51:17). "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings" (Hosea 6:6). "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies...

October 29 Failure and Success: Not Measuring Up Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. --1 Corinthians 15:58 It is good to come to the understanding that while God wants us to be holy and Spirit-filled, He does not expect us to look like Abraham or to play the harp like David or to have the same spiritual insight given to Paul. All of those former heroes of the faith are dead. You are alive in your generation. A Bible proverb...