Free Republic

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who is expected to lead House Democrats in the next term, pushed back on notions that the caucus is in “disarray” and expressed optimism on Sunday that Democrats will maintain unity in the face of a GOP majority. During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” co-anchor Jake Tapper asked Jeffries about Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) telling The New York Times there was “healing that needs to be done in our caucus” after Jeffries emerged as Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) likely successor.

A study highlighting seven encouraging trends within global Christianity was released by Facts & Trends. Here’s what you need to know:1. Christianity is growing faster than the population Aaron Earls, the author, says, “Globally, Christianity is growing at a 1.27% rate…. The world’s population, 7.7 billion, is growing at a 1.20% rate.”A .07% difference may not seem substantial to you. But remember, we’re talking about almost 8 billion people.What this means:Many people believe Christianity has gone out of style and is in decline — that the only people who are Christians today are those raised by Christian parents. However, this...

Complete title: Pope Francis Criticises Proselytization "You Are Not A 'Disciple Of Jesus' If You Try To Convert Non-Believers" Pope Francis. Photo credits: Franco Origlia/Getty Images Advocating a new outreach strategy https://www.dailywire.com/news/pope-francis-tells-students-how-not-to-convert-unbelievers for the Catholic Church, Pope Francis has said that speech should never be used in order to convince a non-believer of the truths of the Catholic Faith. Francis made these remarks while addressing the students of Rome's Pilo Albertelli classical secondary school last Friday (Dec 20). "Never, never bring the gospel by proselytizing," Francis said. "If someone says they are a disciple of Jesus and comes to you...

“I will be so happy if my Lord Jesus Christ accepts me as one of His followers. Is it possible if I was born a Muslim?” That’s a question from a man in the Middle East who reached out to BGEA’s internet evangelism ministry, Search for Jesus, after hearing about Christ through Christian friends. Search for Jesus has over 500 trained volunteers ready to respond to online visitors with the hope of the Gospel. Two of those volunteers, Brian and Kimberly of North Carolina, spent years as missionaries to Muslims in Southeast Asia and now answer emails from Muslims around...

Despite or, in some cases, because of the support it receives from the government and the new “anti-extremism” laws deployed against others, the Russian Orthodox Church is increasingly isolated from Russians in the North Caucasus and is losing many of them to Protestant groups who are also attracting some Muslims as well. Ruslan Gereyev, the director of the Center for Islamic Research on the North Caucasus, says that the major reason for Orthodoxy’s failure and Protestantism’s success is that “unlike Protestant and Muslim preachers, representatives of the Russian Orthodox church do not reach out to the population. Because they are...

From escaping Iran through the mountains as a Muslim refugee, to surviving domestic abuse and imprisonment in a Turkish prison, to carving out a life in Sweden, Annahita Parsan’s story is the stuff of a Hollywood movie. Parsan, a convert from Islam to Christianity and mother of two, has emerged as one of the most prominent religious figures in Europe, both because of her unlikely geographic and spiritual pilgrimage and her decision to reach out to Muslims with the gospel -- at great personal risk. The former refugee is now the leader of two congregations in Sweden. She not only...

We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.” Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said. Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million...

Thousands of Muslims are turning to Jesus Christ and what they view as the "religion of freedom" amid ongoing bloodshed in the Middle East, reports indicate. Some churches hope that millions of people will accept Christ amid a "spiritual hunger" that is forming in the wake of persecution. Voice Of the Martyrs Canada, which supports Christian radio broadcasts in the region, told BosNewsLife that despite the mass exodus of Christians from Iraq and Syria due to terrorism, persecution, and war, scores of Muslims are making the decision to embrace Christianity. "There are thousands upon thousands coming to Christ," VOMC revealed....

BERLIN (AP) — Mohammed Ali Zonoobi bends his head as the priest pours holy water over his black hair. "Will you break away from Satan and his evil deeds?" pastor Gottfried Martens asks the Iranian refugee. "Will you break away from Islam?" "Yes," Zonoobi fervently replies. Spreading his hands in blessing, Martens then baptizes the man "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." Mohammed is now Martin — no longer Muslim, but Christian. Zonoobi, a carpenter from the Iranian city of Shiraz, arrived in Germany with his wife and two children five months ago. He...

In addition to immigration, the state, federal and local prisons of the United States may be a contributor to the growth of Islam in the United States. J. Michael Waller claims that Muslim inmates comprise 17-20% of the prison population in New York, or roughly 350,000 inmates in 2003. He also claims that 80% of the prisoners who "find faith" while in prison convert to Islam.[1] These converted inmates are mostly African American, with a small but growing Hispanic minority.[2] Waller also asserts that many converts are radicalized by outside Islamist groups linked to terrorism, but other experts suggest that...

For the past six years, I have been a passionate, active black member of the Tea Party. Unlike the vast majority of black Americans, I did not fall for the radical left's Trojan Horse in the form of a shiny new smooth-talkin' black man back in 2008. When presidential candidate Obama told Joe the Plumber that he planned to spread the wealth around, I knew he was nothing more than another socialist/progressive liberal who hated America as founded.

Mohammed Bakr al-Baghdadi, the brother of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is the Caliph of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, has converted to christianity, reports Al-Jazeera this morning. The move has brought the man an unprecedented backlash from the Salafist Sunni community that has ordered a fatwa, or death-sentence, on the man as soon as the news was spread in media around the muslim world. "He is no more my brother then the miscreant American pigs we slay everyday" told the self-proclaimed Caliph to a large crowd of his followers. "Let Allah not forget this treacherous swine when he pleads on his...

Kerala, India, Sep 11, 2014 / 05:03 pm (CNA).- A former Muslim imam who converted to Christianity believes that God protected him from death threats and torture at the hands of his family members. “The holy Quran converted me to Christianity,” said Mario Joseph, a former imam who shared the story of his conversion and subsequent persecution with the HM Television program “Changing Tracks,” broadcast by the EUK Mamie Foundation run by the Home of the Mother religious community. The English-language interview, first posted in April 2014, now has more than 250,000 views on YouTube. Mario Joseph grew up in...

 A Supermodel and Actress has left everything to become a nun. (Photo: Google) Olalla Oliveros, age 36 was at the height of her career when she decided to abandon all for God. 

By: Msgr. Charles Pope Last Week I wrote my testimony of meeting Jesus on a fateful day in November of 1995 (HERE). I have also written of the need that Christians have to better witness in a personal way to the faith, and to the relationship they have with the Lord.The other day I read a beautiful conversion story, a witness story of a woman I have long admired, Kirsten Powers. She is a Fox News Commentator. And while I do not always agree with her political perspectives, she is a solid journalist, she gives fair consideration to all issues,...

John Wayne (1907-1979) Today marks the 104th birthday of my favorite movie star (and Catholic convert), John Wayne (1907-1979). Born Marion Michael Morrison in Iowa, he grew up in California and attended the University of Southern California, where he played football. A surfing accident ended his football career and he got into the movie business as a prop boy. From there he found leading roles, mainly in B-Westerns, until his 1939 breakthrough role in Stagecoach. His work with director John Ford resulted in some of the greatest Westerns ever made: Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949),...

Introductory note: On May 4, 2011 National Review Online published my article entitled “Post Abortion Trauma - Jesus What Have I Done” on Aerosmith front man and American Idol judge Steven Tyler’s abortion experience. Shortly after this I was contacted by Julia Holcomb. Julia is the mother of Steven’s Tyler’s aborted son referenced in my article. Julia and her husband Joseph expressed a desire to entrust to me a more detailed account of Julia’s relationship with Steven Tyler, her abortion and post-abortion life journey. Julia has read for many years Steven’s Tyler’s recollection and reconstruction of events from the years...

In Ages Past Black Elk: Lakota Holy Man, Catholic Catechist Black Elk's conversion was actually where he found true freedom and fulfillment as a healer and teacher. By Pat McNamara, May 02, 2011 In his book Black Elk Speaks, author John Neihardt interviewed a Lakota holy man who recounted pre-reservation life and events he witnessed, including Custer's Last Stand and the Wounded Knee massacre. Later, anthropologist Joseph Epes Brown interviewed Black Elk about Lakota religious traditions for his book The Sacred Pipe (1953). Both works are touched with a certain sadness, that of a man whose best days have...

Was Chief Sitting Bull a Catholic convert? Did he convert William “Buffalo Bill” Cody? That was the scuttlebutt around Catholic circles this past week. From stories, to blogging, to Catholic radio shows, to postings from Facebook friends, I heard it multiple times. As a student of the Old West, having read numerous accounts of Sitting Bull and a resident of the once vast Dakota Territory, I thought it unlikely. But was it possible that Sitting Bull was a full member of the Catholic Church? To begin with, there are no baptismal records from Father Pierre De Smet, the most likely...

- Catholicism.org - http://catholicism.org - The Conversion Stories of Knute Rockne and Ralph H. MetcalfePosted By Knute Rockne On March 31, 2011 @ 2:46 pm In Articles,Biography,Catholic America | No Comments [The Conversion Stories of Knute Rockne and Ralph Metcalfe. "Crossing The Goal Line" by Knute Rockne, and "A Race Well Run" by Ralph H. Metcalfe, taken from Through Hundred Gates Imprimatur: Archbishop John McNicholas 1938.]I used to be impressed by the sight of my players receiving Holy Communion every morning, and finally I made it a point to go to Mass with them on the morning of the game....