Free Republic

Four years have passed since the Islamic State group's fighters were run out of Kobani, a strategic city on the Syrian-Turkish border, but the militants' violent and extreme interpretation of Islam has left some questioning their faith. A new church is attracting converts. It is the first local Christian place of worship for decades. “If ISIS represents Islam, I don’t want to be a Muslim anymore,” Farhad Jasim, 23, who attends the Church of the Brethren, told NBC News. “Their God is not my God.”

On Monday President Trump tweeted support for state initiatives to require public schools to teach the Bible as world history and literature. Numerous states introducing Bible Literacy classes, giving students the option of studying the Bible. Starting to make a turn back? Great!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2019 USA Today calls current proposals in six states “a wave.” “Some of the lawmakers – and leaders of Christian groups supporting the bills – say they want to restore traditional values in schools and give students a chance to study the religious text deeply,” the paper reports. The project...

These are some of the most common lies that many Christians have fallen victim to.  I hear many of these quite frequently and in years past have even fallen for some of them myself.  The enemy has used each of these lies to sow great discord, apathy, and fear in the Body of Christ.   It's time to dispel them all. 1. "I must do _____ to be saved or keep doing _____ to stay saved." This is what virtually every religion teaches, but not true Christianity.   Unsurprisingly, every "Christian" cult teaches this as well.  The very definition of...

When Apollo 11‘s Eagle lunar module landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had to do something hard: Wait. They were scheduled to open the door of their lunar lander and step onto the unknown surface of a completely different world. But for now, their mission ordered them to take a pause before the big event. And so Aldrin spent his time doing something unexpected, something no man had ever attempted before. Alone and overwhelmed by anticipation, he took part in the first Christian sacrament ever performed on the moon—a rite of Christian...

I’ve discovered a work by Dan Buttafuoco, a personal injury and malpractice attorney handling cases nationwide, that really hits it out of the park. His new book, "Consider the Evidence, A Trial Lawyer Examines Eyewitness Testimony In Defense Of The Reliability Of The New Testament," puts the Christian faith inside the courtroom. Having tried many jury and non-jury cases over his 38-year career, Dan brings his legal insight to bear in analyzing evidence for the New Testament 's reliability both in subject matter and in transmission. While other authors have written extensively on this subject what strikes me about his...

An analysis of a recent CNN op-ed by a "progressive Christian."

One striking feature of left-wing hostility to conservative Christianity is its insistence that opposition to secular progressive morality is proof of malign intent. Instead of asking whether progressive intolerance (or the selection of a corrupt Democratic candidate) played any part in the 81 percent white Evangelical opposition to Hillary Clinton, all too many progressives use that level of united opposition as grounds for further hatred. And, yes, there’s also the condescending sympathy: “They’re brainwashed by Fox. They’re voting against their interests.” Last summer I wrote an essay called the Great White Culture War. I argued that a great deal of...

Despite what was a much delayed but important avalanche of headlines about the group’s anti-Semitism, the 2019 Women’s March took place Saturday and it still received nearly 15 times the broadcast network newscast coverage of the 47th annual March for Life that was held Friday.  Between Wednesday morning and Saturday evening, the Women’s March fetched 14 minutes and 26 seconds of coverage on the ABC, CBS, and NBC morning and evening newscasts. This stood in stark contrast to just 58 seconds for the March for Life. The Women’s March still went on despite their controversies with some satellite marches divorcing...

Russia has been ranked among the world’s 50 countries in which Christians face the most prosecution for the first time in seven years. Russia placed 41st out of 50 countries with the highest levels of persecutions faced by Christians, according to the group’s 2019 World Watch List published Wednesday. “Though radical Islam is largely to blame for Russia’s poor standing in how Christians are treated within its borders, the Russian legislation is unfairly applied to non-Russian Orthodox Christians as new laws and restrictions are constantly being imposed,” it said. The last time Russia landed on the list was in 2011,...

(Skip) The best way to describe Trump’s support in the Republican primaries—when he was running against the likes of Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich—would be: white evangelicals who do not go to church. Geoffrey Layman, a political science professor at the University of Notre Dame, noticed this during the primaries, writing: “Trump does best among evangelicals with one key trait: They don’t really go to church.” While writing my forthcoming book, Alienated America, my research assistant Nick Saffran and I crunched some numbers provided by Emily Ekins of the Voter Study Group. We broke down Republican primary...

Second Lady Karen Pence, the wife of the US vice-president, will return to teaching art at a school that requires employees to oppose LGBT lifestyles. The school in Springfield, Virginia, bars teachers from engaging in or condoning "homosexual or lesbian sexual activity" and "transgender identity". Mrs Pence previously taught art at the school for more than a decade while her husband was a member of Congress. A spokeswoman for Mrs Pence has hit back at criticism of her employer. "Mrs Pence has returned to the school where she previously taught for 12 years," the second lady's spokeswoman Kara Brooks said...

Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization, Occidental culture, the Western world, Western society, and European civilization, is a term used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems and specific artifacts and technologies that have some origin or association with Europe. The term also applies beyond Europe to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence. For example, Western culture includes countries in the Americas and Australasia, whose language and demographic ethnicity majorities are European. The development of western culture has been...

My salvation is fully accomplished (John 19:30). I have eternal life as a present possession (John 5:24; 6:47; 1 John 5:11-13). I have Jesus Christ as my present possession (1 John 5:12). I know the one, true God (John 17:3; 1 John 2:3; 5:20). I have been saved by His grace (Eph. 2:1-10). I have been justified by His grace (Tit. 3:7). I have passed from death unto life (John 5:24; 1 John 3:14). I have been quickened (made alive) by God (Eph. 2:1,5; Col. 2:13). I have been made fit for heaven (Col. 1:12). I have the forgiveness of...

I was on the broad way (road) leading to destruction (Matthew 7:13). I was lost (Luke 19:10; 2 Corinthians 4:3). I was condemned already because of my unbelief (John 3:18; compare 1 Corinthians 11:32). I was a lover of darkness (John 3:19). I was under God's abiding wrath (John 3:36) awaiting God's coming wrath (Luke 3:7; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 3:6). I was an ignorant worshipper (John 4:22). I was an evildoer deserving judgment (John 5:29; compare 3 John 11). I was of the world and from below or beneath (John 8:23). I was yet in my sins (John 8:21,24; compare...

Can the Word of God Contain Errors? By Philip Cottraux When I read Lee Strobel’s The Case for the Real Jesus, one quote in particular stood out to me. This was during his interview with Daniel Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary: STROBEL: “It was almost as if (Bart) Ehrman were saying ‘Find me one error and I’ll throw out the whole Bible.’ That’s something you hear at some ultraconservative Christian schools.” WALLACE: “Good grief, that’s such a shockingly naïve approach to take! You’ve basically turned the Bible into the fourth person of the Trinity,...

<p>ISTANBUL (AP) — An independent Ukrainian Orthodox church was created at a signing ceremony in Turkey on Saturday, formalizing a split with the Russian church it had been tied to since 1686.</p> <p>“The pious Ukrainian people have awaited this blessed day for seven entire centuries,” Bartholomew I said in his address.</p>

This mess at our southern border is stirring up the Sunday-school wannabes again, and as a Christian and a conservative I am getting tired of being schooled by liberal Christians and nonbelievers about what my opinions should be, about what Jesus would do. This needs to stop; we Christians need to stand up for our Savior and put an end to the appropriation of our Scripture and misunderstandings of Christ’s commandments. In order to do this, we must first establish a couple of principles that are often ignored in this era of super-sloppy thinking. In the first place, God quite...

Greetings, To the churches of God that are in the United States, Israel, the severed province of Judea and Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth; to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed...

I don’t like to mix politics and rock’n’roll. I don’t look at Bono, Sting and Bruce Springsteen as political. I look at them as being humanitarian. I’ll contribute to anything humanitarian. Helping people who can’t help themselves. But when musicians are telling people who to vote for, I think that’s an abuse of power. You’re telling your fans not to think for themselves, just to think like you. Rock’n’roll is about freedom – and that’s not freedom. I want my shows to take you as far away as possible from politics. It’s supposed to be an escape from the world...

A really good interview. Alice Cooper on Glen Campbell