Free Republic

Actor and comedian Russell Brand announced Friday that he is going to be baptized this weekend, the culmination of his months-long public wrestling with the tenets of Christianity. "This Sunday, I'm taking the plunge," Brand, 48, said in a video he posted to X. "I'm getting baptized."

"And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to...

Things of ominous import are ratcheting up in the Syrian and Lebanese regions of the Middle East cauldron. So high have rumors of a major Israeli strike soon to come raised fears that Bashar Al-Assad, the Syrian dictator, has deemed to take his entire family on vacation somewhere distant from Damascus. Both Israeli and Arab press report Assad has abandoned the Syrian capital and that he did so suddenly and with little announcement. The latest war-making revolves around the IDF taking out a major Iranian terrorist leader/diplomat in a building near the Iranian Embassy. Iran has gone on a campaign...

This video is dedicated to the victims of Benny Hinn. Benny Hinn is a very bad man. It's past time everyone knew it. Timestamps: 0:00:00 Intro 1. 0:07:31 Benny's Old Lies 2. 0:45:06 Benny's Many False Prophecies 3. 1:30:45 Benny's Fake Healings 4. 2:30:10 Benny and Chris the "Man of God" 5. 2:35:11 Benny Raising the Dead 6. 2:46:51 How He "Slays in the Spirit" 7. 3:04:10 Benny's Recent Repentance 8. 3:19:54 Proof Benny Is Still Grifting 9. 3:54:27 Benny's Resurgence and Current Influence 10. 4:09:59 How Do We Stop Him? My notes have tons of links which you may...

Arch-heretic Benny Hinn is deleting a raft of videos from his YouTube channel, willingly losing millions of views in the wake of a devastating exposé against him. Two weeks ago, we reported that a ministry associated with Benny Hinn was claiming copyright strikes against Mike Winger, unjustly targeting him on account of a video critical of the famed con man* After Winger released a four-hour-long blistering critique of Hinn, replete with multiple videos and commentary demonstrating that the money-grubbin’ heretic is a two-fold son of hell (Our description, not his), the video was struck by Jesus Image Ministries, an enterprise...

26 April 2024 Friday of the 4th week of Eastertide The tomb of Rafael Arnáiz Barón in Venta de Baños, Spain Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 13:26-33 ©God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the deadPaul stood up in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, held up a hand for silence and began to speak: ‘My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to...

"Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no? "But he perceived their craftiness, and said unto them, Why tempt ye me? "Shew me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it? They answered and said, Caesar's. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's."" Luke 20 1 And it came to pass, that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the temple, and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders,...

This past week, The Times of Israel reported that Turkish President Recep Erdogan laid the blame squarely on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Iran’s large-scale attack on Israel earlier this month. “The main one responsible for the tension that gripped our hearts on the evening of April 13 is Netanyahu and his bloody administration,” Erdogan declared. He further went on to say, “Those who have been silent for months about Israel’s aggressive attitude immediately condemned the Iranian response, but it’s Netanyahu himself who is the first who should be condemned.” It is pretty sad that Erdogan won’t admit that Iran...

Thursday 25 April 2024 Saint Mark, Evangelist Feast St. Mark the Evangelist, Summerfield, FLReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II).First reading1 Peter 5:5-14 ©My son, Mark, sends you greetingsAll wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favour the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you. Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking...

Christians in west Africa were the victims of a new wave of suspected Islamist attacks in the weeks after Easter. Suspected Fulani militants carried out a three-day massacre in the Diocese Pankshin in Nigeria’s Middle Belt on 12-14 April, killing at least 29 Christians and burning down churches and houses. Speaking to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Fr Andrew Dewan, the diocese’s director of communications, said the attacks were “designed to drive away the owners of the land, so the Muslim extremists can take over”. He added that the attacks have “religious and ethnic components, all mixed up...

As ChristianTwitter catfights over whether or not John Lindell was justified to bring on noted sword-wallower Alex Magala to perform at his 2024 Stronger Men’s conference, and whether or not disgraced and disqualified Pastor Mark Driscoll was right to call it out in the bizarre and Driscollian way that he did, another question remains: what about the other performers that Driscoll did NOT call out? Amid the brawl, Magala took a shot at Driscoll for comparing his Chinese pole to a “stripper pole” and for describing his performance as “a man who ripped his shirt off like a woman does...

24 April 2024Wednesday of the 4th week of Eastertide St. Fidelis Church, College Point, New York Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 12:24-13:5 ©'I want Barnabas and Saul set apart'The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers. Barnabas and Saul completed their task and came back from Jerusalem, bringing John Mark with them. In the church at Antioch the following were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and...

23 April 2024 Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide Basilica of Saint Adalbert, Grand Rapids, MichiganReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 11:19-26 ©They started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord JesusThose who had escaped during the persecution that happened because of Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they usually proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus to them as well. The Lord helped...

When Kelly Shannon learned her preborn baby had Down syndrome, she was upset to discover she wouldn’t be able to have an abortion under Alabama law. So she traveled to Virginia to have the abortion, and believes that her decision was the correct one — so correct, in fact, that she says since she is “a married, white, straight, Christian, grew-up-in-the-church woman,” pro-lifers should listen to her and change their minds about abortion. Shannon spoke with the States Newsroom about learning at 16 weeks by ultrasound that her preborn baby girl had Down syndrome along with a buildup of fluid...

(LifeSiteNews) – Far-left actress and The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg falsely claimed on Monday that the Ten Commandments held as sacred by Christians and Jews do not contain a prohibition on abortion, as part of a broader recitation of general pro-abortion arguments. The comments came as part of a discussion of former President and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump coming out on Monday against additional pro-life laws at the national level, instead saying that further legislative action on abortion should be relegated to individual states. “No one is obligated to have an abortion. You never have to have one, and...

22 April 2024 Monday of the 4th week of Eastertide Painting of the church of San Caio in Rome by Achille Pinelli in the early 1800sNow demolishedReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 11:1-18 ©God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to lifeThe apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by...

We are living on borrowed time. Many people believe there is nothing that can be known about the timing of the Lord’s return because Jesus said He would return like a “thief in the night” (Matthew 24:42-44). But Paul makes it clear in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-6 that Jesus’ statement does not apply to believers: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief…” He then proceeds to explain why: “for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not...

21 April 2024 4th Sunday of EasterSt Anselm's Catholic Church, part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Pembury, Kent, UKReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 4:8-12 ©The name of Jesus Christ is the only name in which we can be savedFilled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said: ‘Rulers of the people, and elders! If you are questioning us today about an act of kindness to a cripple, and asking us how he was healed, then I am glad to tell you all, and would indeed be glad to tell the whole people of...

20 April 2024 Saturday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Shrine of Saint Agnese - Montepulciano Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 9:31-42 ©The churches grew and were filled with the consolation of the Holy SpiritThe churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight...

New information is emerging about the suspects charged with kidnapping and murdering Jilian Kelley, 39, and Veronica Butler, 27. As ChurchLeaders has reported, the four defendants—now being held without bond—belong to a religious anti-government group called God’s Misfits. This week, news surfaced that suspect Tifany Machel Adams, 54, is the GOP chair for Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Adams is also the paternal grandmother of Butler’s two children, ages 6 and 8, who are at the center of an ongoing custody dispute. The last weekend in March, Butler had driven to pick up her children from Adams, taking Kelley along as a...