Free Republic

Mid-East Prophecy Update - January 27th, 2013 Pastor JD does an in-depth study of who's involved in a yet future nuclear attack against Israel as prophesied in Ezekiel 38, and why it matters to us.

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures El Bethel - GOD of the House of GOD(Genesis 35:7) There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him...

Do This for Your Health! Today's Scripture “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” (Proverbs 14:30, NIV) Today's Word from Joel and Victoria It’s so easy to let the pressures and distractions of life pull our thoughts away from the Father. It doesn’t take long before we are so focused on earthly things that we feel overwhelmed and all stressed out. But, we weren’t meant to live anxious about life; we were meant to live in peace. Did you know the best thing you can do for health is to set your...

How Could Someone So Persecute Jesus! "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" —Acts 26:14 Are you determined to have your own way in living for God? We will never be free from this trap until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of “the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matthew 3:11). Stubbornness and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set on our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our own rights and insist that...

January 28, 2013 Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church     Reading 1 Heb 9:15, 24-28 Christ is mediator of a new covenant:since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. For Christ did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, that he might now appear before God on our behalf.Not that he might offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary with blood...

New nazism; or the same 'old' one. Hard to disengage radical Islam hate/tortures/totalitarianism from those of Nazi Germany; and clear; these two hate-based 'ideologies' shared common ground/hate; and still do; and only have to note the Hitler as icon among Islamists, today to 'get it'. That the Left 'so embraces' both; should shout a message; but in this case; there is no authentic Media in the forest; and the trees are falling; and there is not a sound to be heard.

Jack Koency, an 86-year-old California man, was one of nearly 1.5 million surviving World War II veterans. He was neither terminally ill, nor bedridden, nor immobile. His neighbors remember him as quiet and good natured. Koency died at the hands of Elizabeth Barrett, an acquaintance of his. She served the decorated war vet a cup of yogurt in which she ground up a lethal dose of Oxcontin with two other medications. Barrett, a social worker, pled guilty a fortnight ago to so-called “assisted suicide.” She could have received up to three years in state prison for her role in Koency’s...

Vatican City, Jan 25, 2013 / 04:04 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict has written two new directives modifying the departments in the Roman Curia which are responsible for catechesis and the formation of priests throughout the Church. The Pope gave the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization the task of “caring for...the relevant instrument of evangelization that the Catechism, along with catechetical teaching in all its diverse forms, represents for the Church in order to bring about a more organic and effective pastoral outreach.” “This new pontifical council will be able to provide the local churches and the diocesan...

The Moocher King's second inauguration was pretty much as terrifying as was the first one. He promised to keep piling on the entitlements, cheering his constituency and further enraging the shrinking middle class that will have to pay for them, despite promises to put the entire burden on 'the rich'. "We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future," Obama said. They...

The Gospel for this Sunday is continued next week and so perhaps we can await an analysis of it until then. The First reading from Nehemiah 8 is a wonderful meditation on the glory and wonder of the Word of God and it deserves our attention.The background of the text is that Israel, in 587 BC had been conquered by the Babylonians and the survivors of that war were led into exile in Babylon. After 80 years the Persians conquered the Babylonians and Cyrus, King of Persia, permitted the Jews to return to the Promised Land. Sadly, only a small...

1962 Sunday Missal Mass Readings/Propers for Septuagesima Sunday Colors: Purple INTROIT Psalm 17: 5-7 The sorrows of death surrounded me, the sorrows of hell encompassed me; and in my affliction I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice from His holy temple. -- (Ps.17. 2, 3). I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength: the Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer. V.: Glory be to the Father . . . -- The sorrows of death surrounded me . . . COLLECT - Graciously hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people, that...

ROME, January 25, 2013 (Zenit.org). Why can’t priests marry? It’s a question people often ask and the requirement of celibacy has also been blamed as one of the causes of sexual abuse by priests.A recently published translation of an Italian book addresses the topic in a question and answer format, “Married Priests? Thirty Crucial Questions about Celibacy” (Ignatius Press). It is edited by Arturo Cattaneo, with contributions from a wide variety of scholars.We are faced with a great educational challenge in explaining the Church’s teaching on priestly celibacy, admitted Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.He likened...

Isaiah 45:24 In Jehovah is All my Righteousness and Strength.

In the dispute over homosexuality the Bible plays a less significant role than in the past because it is viewed as a book of miracles and supernatural revelation, having nothing to do with science and the modern understanding of sexuality. This is not based on objective assessment; it is rooted in the Enlightenment rejection of the Bible, especially Hume's dismissal of miracles. Hume argued that unless universals in religion could be ascertained, no religious truth claims can be verified. Since Hume's time, anthropologists have identified universals in religion, notably burial in red ochre, serpent veneration, and water shrines. Kant also...

John Cornelius, who is married, will be ordained this weekend -- and sex-free life beginsJohn Cornelius will be ordained a Roman Catholic priest this weekend — and with the blessing of his wife they're giving up their sex life. Cornelius, a father of three, will become the first married Roman Catholic priest in New York — and Sharyl, his wife of 33-years, has agreed to the whole celibacy thing. “We have decided to do that voluntarily,” Cornelius told WGRZ-TV. “I have always had friends that are Roman Catholic priests and I appreciate what they've given up to serve God and...

The Geneva Convention’s classification of military chaplains as noncombatants has traditionally been interpreted in the United States to mean that chaplains normally do not carry weapons. This often puts them in precarious positions when they are in war zones. Over four hundred chaplains have been killed in the line of duty. Catholic chaplains are especially exposed to dangerous situations by their obligation to administer Absolution and Anointing. They have received every kind of decoration for valor, and seven have been awarded the Medal of Honor. All four chaplains awarded the Medal since the Civil War have been Catholic. Among them,...

This cartoon published in The Sunday Times (subscription-only) would be offensive at the best of times. That it has appeared on Holocaust Memorial Day is doubly so.Penned by Gerald Scarfe (the cartoonist behind Pink Floyd’s The Wall), the caption reads: “Israeli Elections… Will Cementing Peace Continue?”A hideous looking PM Benjamin Netanyahu caricature builds a wall cemented with blood, crushing Palestinians including women and children.Israel’s security barrier (of which the vast majority is a fence and not a wall) is meant to protect Israeli civilians against Palestinian terrorism. In any case, the imagery of this cartoon amounts to a blood libel...

Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem A New Journey…The Names of God in The Scriptures Elohim Bashamayim - GOD in HeavenJoshua 2:11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

Look Again and Think "Do not worry about your life . . ." —Matthew 6:25 A warning which needs to be repeated is that “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,” and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us (Matthew 13:22). We are never free from the recurring waves of this invasion. If the frontline of attack is not about clothes and food, it may be about money or the lack of money; or friends or lack of friends; or the line may be drawn over difficult circumstances. It...

January 27, 2013   Third Sunday in Ordinary Time   Reading 1 Neh 8:2-4a, 5-6, 8-10 Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly,which consisted of men, women,and those children old enough to understand.Standing at one end of the open place that was before the Water Gate,he read out of the book from daybreak till midday,in the presence of the men, the women,and those children old enough to understand;and all the people listened attentively to the book of the law.Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the occasion.He opened the scrollso that...