Free Republic

“Democrat Staffer Who Filmed Himself Having Sex in the Capitol Won't Be Charged.”So reads the headline reporting a video posted by the above-mentioned staffer which showed for the first time ever a nearly naked man on all fours inside the Capitol office building. The video wasn't just nude posing either. The male staffer and his boyfriend filmed themselves engaging in homosexual sexinside a meeting room of the Capitol Building. Sen. Ben Cardin, who employed the staffer, simply dropped the issue. Aidan Maese-Czeropski, the staffer in question, was defiant in the aftermath, claiming he was "being attacked for who I love...

Abortion DistortionBy Dr. Jeffery J Ventrella“Live not by lies” - so cautioned Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn. This admonition, however is often easier said than done. Why? Because the lies we believe and act upon are rarely packaged in stark overt terms such as: “Shakespeare wrote the Declaration of Independence.” Rather, they are often simply assumed and thus remain unexamined in our daily lives, and therein lies the danger.Isaiah describes those ensnared by idolatrous lies:“He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”Paul...

“Free Speech” and the TruthXchange HermeneuticWe live in a culture of communicative clutter and confusion, as the 24/7 news cycle illustrates. And, we live in a state of affairs in which every act is deemed to be a political act.[1] Sadly, this is true of both Left and Right – everyone seeks political power – something which repelled the Framers. As Hamilton described certain public actors: they possess “the love of power, or the desire of pre-eminence and dominion.”[2] True then and true now.Does the TxC hermeneutic clear any fog on this. Does it pertain to ordering society? Does it...

“Did God Say??!!” The Hermeneutic of Suspicion versus the TRUTHXCHANGE (TxC) Hermeneutic By Dr. Jeffery J. Ventrella The term “worldview” populates a lot of evangelical conversations and there exist many fine ministries that engage the culture apologetically at various levels. Hardly any of them, however, pull back the veil of confusion at the foundational level like TxC does. The TxC hermeneutic functions as a set of glasses that brings clarity and connection to what’s really at root in the culture. This clarity provides the pre-conditions for effectively executing the Cultural Mandate and the Great Commission. Let’s get to the gist.First,...

“Eat the Meat, Spit out the Bones”??!! Christianity, Critical Theory, and the TruthXchange HermeneuticBy Jeffery J VentrellaWhile Critical Theory (aka Cultural Marxism) has been present in America for decades, particularly in academia, 2023 saw this ideology again pop on the public’s radar. Two events triggered this awareness. First, a divided Supreme Court rightly rejected discriminatory admission plans utilized at Harvard and the University of North Carolina.[1] These plans, predicated on Critical Theory, disadvantaged better qualified Asian applicants. The colloquy between Justice Thomas in the majority and Justice Jackson dissenting showcases the battle between rival worldviews, the former arguing the constitutional...

The Marxist Origin of Wokism: The Hideous Face of RevolutionI am picking up a subject about which I have already written in an article entitled “Wokism: The New Pagan Morality.”[1] We now live in an increasingly post-Christian society. Interestingly, 56% of American voters deemed the term “woke” to be positive, associated with being informed and educated, while just 39% deemed it negative, likening it to censorship and being overly politically correct.[2] In his book, America’s Cultural Revolution: How the Left Conquered Everything,[3] Christopher Rufo traces the origins of CRT/Wokism, showing how America has been quietly taken over by the ideological...

Many sociologists now speak about the arrival of the post-Christian era in both America and the West in general. Way back in 1976, Newsweek Magazine spoke of “the year of the evangelical.” But church attendance is down in America. Young people abandon any semblance of their childhood faith as soon as they set foot in a university. This is a great concern in our churches. The Wall Street Journal recently published an analysis of national sentiment over the past 25 years on: · Religion: 62% in 1998 vs 39% today.· Having kids: 59% in 1998 vs 30% today.· Community involvement:...

The cultural conflict is no longer simply political. The economic value of socialism or capitalism is no longer the debate separating citizens. It is, rather, what our children are learning, whether in non-Christian state schools or even in some Christian schools, about their sexuality, their family life and the theological issues that determine ultimate meaning. The Sixties was a key moment for Western culture. It might be hard to imagine, but when I was growing up as a lad in working-class Liverpool, England, and even when I became a young man in the Fifties, I had never even heard the...

Many sociologists now speak about the arrival of the post-Christian era in both America and the West in general. Way back in 1976, Newsweek Magazine spoke of “the year of the evangelical.” But church attendance is down in America. Young people abandon any semblance of their childhood faith as soon as they set foot in a university. This is a great concern in our churches. The Wall Street Journal recently published an analysis of national sentiment over the past 25 years on: · Religion: 62% in 1998 vs 39% today.· Having kids: 59% in 1998 vs 30% today.· Community involvement:...

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a conglomeration of Lutheran denominations, had over five million members when it was launched in 1988, joining three independent Lutheran confessions with nearly 10,000 congregations and 65 synods. But now, in spite of the word “Evangelical,” this union is in decline. One of its churches, in Edina, Minnesota, throws a pagan sparkle into the deep meaning of “decline.”[1] This June, Anna Helgen, an LGBT Lutheran “minister,” stood in her Lutheran pulpit, dressed in pastoral robes, and recited what she called a “Sparkle Creed” as part of the church service. This liturgy was riddled with...

Once the shooting begins, there is little place for rational conversation. Alas, recently in Nashville, TN, a 28-year-old disturbed woman, calling herself a male, walked into the Covenant School, which she had attended as a youth, and executed three adults and three nine-year-old children: Evelyn Dieckhaus, Mike Hill, William Kinney, Katherine Koonce, Cynthia Peak, and Hallie Scruggs. We note the names of those slaughtered and pray for their bereaved families. Recently, there has been a call to violence among progressives. Already, violent speech and the refusal of dialogue has taken over college campuses, where screaming and physical threats bring an...

By Mary Weller for truthXchange The documentary Dead Name grips your heart from its first minutes as it tells the stories of three parents and their struggle to fight for their children, caught by the full-force push of radical gender ideology throughout our culture. Devoid of sensationalism, politicization, or manipulation this well-produced movie allows you to meet Helen, Bill, and Amy, each of whom have a son or daughter who has identified as transgender. Viewers are shown the resulting devastation this has caused them and their families. Though each story is unique, what binds the three together is the clear...

The 2023 Grammys made a huge splash, while horrifying Christians with its blatant satanic imagery and pagan religious overtones. But this is not so new! As I sat to write an article about the 2023 event, I remembered my reaction to the 2014 Grammy Awards. I wrote the following account:In 1971, Don McLean sang “Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,” and asked: “…do you have faith in God above, if the Bible tells you so, [or] do you believe in rock and roll, can music save your mortal soul?” Back then there were still options. Asking these two questions in a pop...

“HABEMUS PAPAM.” I will never forget hearing over the radio that declaration in Latin from the College of Cardinals in the Vatican in 2005: “Habemus Papam—we have a pope.” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been elected Pope. I was quite thrilled, since I had personally met the cardinal in 1988. Together with three other colleagues from the Seminary in Southern France (Faculté Jean Calvin, where I taught for 18 years), we had an extraordinary two hour meeting in the Vatican with the cardinal. This meeting was arranged for us by a well-connected Catholic priest from Aix-en-Provence, with whom our professors had...

The Fourth Phase: Persecution? By Dr. Peter JonesIn a perceptive article on the recent history of Evangelicalism in America (which I recommend),[1] Aaron Renn, a writer for First Things, confirms something I have been thinking for some time: politics has become religious. It is thus difficult to speak out about traditional moral behavior without being “cancelled” or charged with being a Christian nationalist—by people who doubtless plan on making America a pagan nation! In other words, contemporary progressivism and biblical faith now occupy many areas of common ground. How has this come about? Renn describes three recent distinct phases of...

Black Fathers and White Fathers Part of Critical Race Theory is the assumption that racism is inevitably related to white male heterosexuality and the oppressive patriarchy that occurs under the selfish rule of powerful father-figures. Thus, the contemporary version of a “man” in U.S. society is “hyper-masculine, straight, and white…the wealthy white male property owner.” So “…we must begin to dismantle the racist and patriarchal systems.”[1] Theorist Rob Okun calls for an “anti-patriarchy Peace Corps with dedicated organizers fanning out across the country to help communities figure out ways to rid their local schools, courts, workplaces, hospitals, and houses of...

In his book Still Time to Care (2021), Greg Johnson, an intelligent Christian thinker, seeks to make a valid case for allowing someone who, like himself, is openly same-sex attracted, gay, and celibate to be an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. Johnson adopts a profoundly orthodox and well exegetically supported view of biblical sexuality. He affirms the fundamental importance of “gender complementarity” (154), that is, of one-flesh, male/female sexuality, as clearly expressed in Genesis 2:24: “therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”...

The Return of Roman Religion The West is increasingly anti-Christian. Recent opposition is not secularist or rationalist, nor is it merely political. It is deeply religious.How do Christians face this competing religious system? It may help us to realize how similar our own culture is to that of the ancient Roman Empire. A serious academic study, Pagans and Christians in the City: Culture Wars from the Tiber to the Potomac,[1] traces the re-emergence of ancient Roman culture in contemporary Washington, D.C. Like ancient Rome, our culture is full of corrupt politicians, many of whom seek to prolong their stay in...

We rarely pay attention to one of the most shocking warnings Jesus ever gave: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea (Mark 9:14). This is the gentle Jesus, meek and mild, speaking to everyone, addressing everyone as whoever. One of the great signs of degradation in our present culture is the attack progressivism has made and is making on our children. The Puritans in Massachusetts in 1647 “ordered that every township in...

The following headline caught my attention the other day: “Parent complains when son returns home from school with Bible.” “I was out of town,” says Bonnie Matthews, mother of the boy. “I came home, and it was sitting there in my house…I questioned my son, and he said a man just handed it to him at school.” The Bible came from the Gideons International organization, but Matthews, who says she doesn’t believe in organized religion but is very spiritual and follows her own spiritual path, objects to the infringement of the hallowed principle of church/state separation. If you want to...