Free Republic

Indian authorities jailed church leaders and their families after Hindu extremists disrupted a worship service, beat individuals, and livestreamed the events on Facebook in efforts to make the area “free of Christianity.” According to persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, the attack took place on Sept. 8 in the Domchanch villa of Koderma District in Jharkhand state. Dozens of assailants from the youth militant group Bajrang Dal reportedly intruded on the church service and began verbally abusing congregants before tearing up Bibles, breaking church supplies, and stealing the offering box. Following the attack, the group’s organizer, Yadav, went live on Facebook,...

The Reliant, an action film coming to select theaters on October 24, is not a typical faith-based film and the secular community is taking notice. It was made apparent when the Motion Picture Association of America gave it an R rating. Although it had no foul language or sex scenes, and less violence than Disney movies given a PG-13 rating, the screenwriter and producer of the film, Dr. J. P. Johnston, had to appeal to the MPAA to get it changed. The hate mail the producers have received and the trash articles written by those opposed to the film’s nod...

ROME — Pope Francis has publicly endorsed an essay that appeared in 2017 criticizing relations between Evangelicals and Catholics in the United States as an “ecumenism of hate.” On Thursday, La Civiltà Cattolica journal released the transcript of a meeting between Pope Francis and a group of 24 Jesuits on September 5, 2019, during his recent trip to Mozambique in which the pope suggested that certain Evangelical Protestants in the United States “cannot really be defined as Christian.” “Two important articles in Civiltà Cattolica have been published in this regard. I recommend them to you. They were written by Father...

September 25, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — The “Higher Committee to Implement the Document on Human Fraternity” signed in Abu Dhabi in February by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb of Al-Azhar University, Cairo, met in New York last week in the shadow of the United Nations yearly national assembly for the second time in two weeks. Its most spectacular act was the unveiling of the design for the “Abrahamic Family House,” to be built on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as a multi-faith complex giving equal space to a synagogue, a church, and a...

No matter how much God uses a man or woman and no matter how anointed and gifted they may be, we must always remember that there are no superstars in God’s kingdom. There is only one shining star, and His name is Jesus. Everyone else, no matter how “great” they may be in the eyes of people, is merely a servant. Of course, many believers, in their immaturity and carnality, idolize and glorify the instruments God uses. That is a shame, but not a surprise (although after a wonderful piano concert, people have the common sense to praise the pianist,...

A moral and spiritual awakening is taking place in the United States, and it is being helped along by a group of ministers in Capitol Ministries who hold regular, bipartisan Bible studies with members of the U.S. government. According to Brian Hansen, international director with Capitol Ministries, among the several weekly Bible studies in Washington is one attended by 11 out of 16 members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet.

I was recently called eurocentric, in that I am a-okay with Christians hopping over to non-Christian countries and preaching the Really Good News of Jesus Christ. Now while I concede that many instances of said-preaching is eurocentric, the diehard association of the missionary Christian with the racist, swaggering, white man is moronic. First, it is no longer true that Europe is the center of world Christianity — that prize could equally go to the Americas or to Sub-Saharan Africa. If we must intrinsically link faith to a culture, then demographically speaking, it would be more accurate to call the pale,...

Eight months into their control of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hasn't missed many opportunities to draw a stark contrast between the two parties' policies. From defending infanticide and trying to gut the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the job-killing New Green Deal, hardly a day passes that the Left's radicalism isn't on display. But yesterday, liberals took their extremism to new heights -- demanding a tax on Bible-believing Americans. Thursday's hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee wasn't the first time liberals have tried to use the IRS to do their dirty work -- but it might...

In the 8th century, the Great Imam, Abu Hanifa (699-767), coined the term "House of Islam" (Dar al-Islam) as those places where Muslims enjoyed peace and security under the rule of an Islamic government. The rest of the world Hanifa designated Dar al-Harb or "the House of War." Hanifa's triumphalist worldview had been earned by Islamic armies that had already defeated both the Byzantine and Persian superpowers in their first century of existence. In Hanifa's own lifetime, these Prophet-inspired warriors rolled unabated across Buddhist Central Asia and South Asian Hindustan. By the time of Abu Hanifa's writing, Islamic kingdoms stretched...

September 11 is known in our times as the date of a cowardly suicide attack by Islamic radicals which resulted in the massacre of over 3,000 innocents in New York City in 2001. But on September 11 nearly five hundred years ago, another Islamic attack was coming to its ignominious conclusion for the invaders. For on this date in AD 1565, the Great Siege of Malta was drawing to a close. The Turkish army, under the command of Mustapha Pasha, was making preparation for withdraw after a stunning defeat by the Knights of Saint John after a four month long...

Christianity is the foundation of Western Society. However, many in political and academic arenas deny the historical and current benefits of Christianity. Teleios Research recently examined the histories of European tribes (n=35) in the early Middle Ages, from 300 years before to 300 years after conversion to Nicaean (non-Arian) Christianity. We used Wikipedia for group characteristics and societal measures at each specific time period.

How does a committed and passionate follower of Islam reconsider his faith and become an outspoken apologist for Christianity? This is a story of being introduced to Jesus through friendships, investigations, dreams, and visions. What follows is a conversation between the late Nabeel Qureshi (@NAQureshi), author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus (Third Edition) (Zondervan, 2018)—the first book to win ECPA Christian Book Awards® in both New Author and Non-Fiction categories—and his friend David Wood, who led Nabeel to consider the veracity of the claims of Jesus Christ. The discussion took place in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual...

Although the Bible is not an ancient history textbook, it does report events that have been confirmed by other historical works. Consider the following examples: Archeological digs and ancient Assyrian records confirm the Bible’s portrayal of King Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah (2 Kings 18:13–19:37). Until recent excavations at Tell Mardikh uncovered tablets mentioning Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1–29), scholars dismissed the existence of both cities as a biblical legend. The Hittites were also considered a biblical legend until their capital and records were discovered in modern-day Turkey. The palace of King Sargon, an Assyrian ruler mentioned in Isaiah, was uncovered...

There is only one means of forgiveness and only one way into Heaven.  The way is just as available to thieves and prostitutes as it is to those with extreme religious zeal.  The way is simple and the knowledge of this path is available to all—whether wise or unintelligent, old or young.  Yet the way is exceedingly narrow. Enter through the narrow gate.  For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few...

September 4, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – In today’s special episode of The Van Maren Show, Jonathon Van Maren speaks with Alessandra Bocchi, a journalist who just returned from Hong Kong, about the historic protests happening there. The Hong Kong protests started months ago as a peaceful demonstration against an extradition bill passed by the Hong Kong government. The people of Hong Kong are concerned the authoritarian government will use this extradition policy to bring individuals accused of political crimes back to mainland China. Amazingly, according to Bocchi, the protests aren’t organized by a single person, but were more of a spontaneous...

Imperial Japan's emperor claimed to be an incarnate divinity who was to be obeyed completely. It was forbidden for his subjects to criticize him. The Imperial Japanese Empire he inherited grew into one of the largest maritime empires in history, becoming the 3rd largest naval power and having the 9th largest economy in the world. In 1910, Imperial Japan annexed Korea, and in 1918 took control of Russian ports in Siberia. In 1937, Imperial Japan's Army killed an estimated 200,000 in Nanking, China. In 1941, over 3,000 Americans died when Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. In 1942, over 20,000 Americans...

John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" - "The monster was hideous to behold...scales...wings like a dragon, feet like a bear...out of his belly came fire & smoke" What would it be like to be imprisoned for 12 years just for preaching the Gospel without a license from the government? This was the fate of John Bunyan, author of the world renown book Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan was born in Bedford, England, in 1628, nearly a century before the Europe's Age of Enlightenment. He worked as a poor, unskilled tinker by trade. In 1644, at the age of 16, Bunyan joined the Puritan...

egarding the Satanic Temple, A Pink News article on Greaves’s comments to Attitude Magazine reported, “A commitment to Satan is not required to join the Temple, although a commitment to trolling anti-LGBT evangelicals is desirable. The group’s website clarifies that members do not actually ‘believe in the existence of Satan or the supernatural.’” In the context of the internet, ‘trolling’ is a phrase used to describe the act of making random unsolicited and/or controversial comments on various internet forums with the intent to provoke a reaction from unsuspecting readers to engage in a fight or argument. However, in reality, trolling...

Question One: How do we know the Bible is true? (Hebrews 4:12) According to the Bible, all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Peter confirmed this when he said that those who wrote the Bible were not speaking on their own but spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Many parts of Scripture are directly attributed to God through use of phrases like This is what the Lord says (e.g., Exodus 4:22). Finally, Jesus often quoted from the Old Testament and affirmed it as being God’s Word. Prophecies that were later fulfilled...

Christian authors who once identified as gay or lesbian are highlighting the double standard Amazon is applying by removing their books from the platform while continuing to sell titles that promote pedophilia. Restored Hope Network Executive Director Anne Paulk and pastoral counselor Joe Dallas both saw their books removed from the retail giant. Amazon told some authors that their books, which detail how Jesus transformed their lives and sexual identities, were in "violation of our content guidelines." Paulk, the author of Restoring Sexual Identity: Hope for Women Who Struggle with Same-Sex Attraction, said in a statement to The Christian Post...