Free Republic

Six people were arrested and charged with criminal trespass Sunday after heckling Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church. Houston's ABC News Affiliate reports the disruption began following the praise and worship. "The praise and worship was good. His wife had just delivered a quick message. And the moment he started to preach, somebody gets up and they yell, 'Joel Osteen,' you're a liar,'" said Anwar Richardson who posted a video to Twitter of one of the arrests. Richardson, his wife, and son were visiting from Austin, Texas. With thoughts of the June 17 shooting at Charleston, South Carolina's Mother Emanuel...

“When we look at martyrs we see that the Church is not just one, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Throughout its journey through history the Church has also been a suffering Church.” According to the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, martyrdom reveals an essential element of the nature of the Church. A connotation that could be added to those professed in the Creed and which always accompanies those who follow in Christ’s footsteps, whatever life throws at them, acting as his disciples. This is a distinctive trait which can be clearly seen now in many...

We have been saying for the last two years that Turkey will invade Syria and now the media is all over the issue of a serious possible invasion by the second most powerful army in NATO: Turkey. The spark and excuse for this invasion is simple. As Kurdish rebels in northern Syria rack up wins against ISIS, Turkish media is abuzz with talk of military intervention guised under the claim to push ISIS back from the Turkish border. Erdogan vowed that Turkey would not accept a move by Syrian Kurds to set up their own state in Syria following gains...

There aren’t enough homosexuals to wage war on religious institutions—they comprise only 1.6 percent of the population—but they have plenty of support among elites. From Wall Street to Wal-Mart, the corporate elite has gone lavender, embracing the gay-rights movement with as much gusto as exercised by elites in education, the arts, the entertainment industry, and the media. Will they now take the next step and attempt to shut down the churches? Anyone who thinks that radical activists will stop with gay marriage is ignorant: The big prize has always been to force the churches to fall in line. Consider Mark...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlzL4OwfW8kSunday (Morning) Preaching: Jun 28 2015 Culture Wars and Supreme Court's Endorsement of Sodomite/Gay Marriages. Scripture: II Chronicles 7:14

I just read from 9News.com that the Colorado Supreme Court has just ruled against the voucher program in Douglas County School district. While I am disapointed in this ruling, it is technically correct. The Colorado Constitution states in Article IX, section 7: Aid to private schools, churches, sectarian purpose, forbidden. Neither the general assembly, nor any county, city, town, township, school district or other public corporation, shall ever make any appropriation, or pay from any public fund or moneys whatever, anything in aid of any church or sectarian society, or for any sectarian purpose, or to help support or sustain...

A spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has called on all those who idolize the American democratic model to take a hard look at themselves after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize same-sex marriage, Interfax reported Sunday. The United States' highest court ruled Saturday that same-sex marriage should be legalized across the entire country, meaning that the 14 states with bans on gay marriage will no longer be able to enforce them. But Vsevolod Chaplin, a Russian Orthodox Church spokesman, decried the decision to legalize such a "godless and sinful thing" and warned his compatriots to be wary of...

German media are reporting on a fiftieth anniversary panel discussion of Nostra aetate, the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions” of the Second Vatican Council, organized by the German Catholic bishops’ conference. It was meant to be a respectful look back and a celebration of good relationship between Christians and Jews in Germany. But it turned out differently than planned. Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews, unexpectedly called for the revocation of the newly formulated Good Friday petition for the Jews which Pope Benedict wrote in 2008. Even more unexpected, Bishop Heinrich...

AS the Ramadan fast enters the second week, Pope Francis has sent his goodwill message to Nigerian Muslims, urging them to use the fasting period to enrich themselves spiritually, physically and morally. In his prayer, the Catholic pontiff said: “I am pleased to send you, in the name of all Catholics around the world, best wishes for a peaceful and joyful celebration of ‘Id el-Fitr. May your fasting, prayer, almsgiving, help to the poor, visits to family members and to friends enrich your lives.” In a statement signed by the president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Vatican, Jean-Louis...

June 28, 2015 Feast of Ss. Cyrus and John Beloved in Christ, May God bless you always. On June 26, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a decision that effectively defines “marriage” as legal between any two consenting adults throughout our country, regardless of their biological sex, a decision that will no doubt have sweeping effects in our society, not just for these couples but for children, families, churches, other religious organizations and all people of faith. This action by the Court attempting to redefine marriage is deeply wrong, but it gives us an opportunity to reiterate...

The U.S. Supreme Court must think God asleep. In its most odious decision since Roe v. Wade, which over the past four decades has resulted in the slaughter of more than 57 million unborn children, the High Court on Friday declared homosexual marriage a Constitutional right. In a majority opinion at odds with his putative Catholic faith, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggests that those who oppose “marriage equality” just don’t get where lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are coming from. “It would misunderstand these men and women,” wrote Kennedy, “to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that...

Ironically, this claim [“the body of Christ is queer”], by an ordained bi-sexual female, Layton E. Williams, in the PC(USA), appeared the day before the decision of the USSC to legalize same sex marriage in all fifty states. Culturally, this legal decision represents an historic moment for the United States. The Declaration of Independence, declaring that rights and laws are endowed by the Creator, has been rendered meaningless by a fake redefining of marriage, with no reference to the Creator or to any objective standards. The charade is over. This decision indicates that what has been happening for some time...

Social activist ‘surprised but delighted’ to join top cardinal in high-level environment conference at the Vatican She is one of the world’s most high-profile social activists and a ferocious critic of 21st-century capitalism. He is one of the pope’s most senior aides and a professor of climate change economics. But this week the secular radical will join forces with the Catholic cardinal in the latest move by Pope Francis to shift the debate on global warming. Naomi Klein and Cardinal Peter Turkson are to lead a high-level conference on the environment, bringing together churchmen, scientists and activists to debate climate...

After the Supreme Court issued its ruling on gay marriage Friday, President Obama gave a speech in which he said Americans need to change their religious views to be accepting of gay marriage, the Daily Caller reported. To that end, he encouraged gay marriage supporters to "help” people overcome their deeply-held religious views.“I know that Americans of goodwill continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue,” he said. Initially, he exhibited a bit of respect for those who oppose same-sex marriage. "Opposition in some cases has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs,” he said. “All...

...“As your bishop — and from the perspective of the Church — nothing has changed. Even though same-sex marriage is ‘legal,’ no blessings will be given to any priests to conduct same sex-marriages in our parishes. Those who are in same-sex marriages conducted by their respective states, who are unrepentant, will not be communed.

For my non-Catholic readers you may find that title surprising, for some of my Catholic readers you may find it scandalous. However I suspect most of you will know exactly what it means. As you know by now, the Supreme Court of the United States of America in a 5-4 vote decided that two men or two women have the constitutional right to enter into a legal marriage. What a lie. What utter poppycock. As for the comments by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' President, you're a little late. You did this. You and your colleagues and your...

By, Naraj Warkioo – Detroit professor and legal adviser to the Vatican says Catholics who promote gay marriage should not try to receive holy Communion, a key part of Catholic identity. And the archbishop of Detroit, Allen Vigneron, told the Free Press Sunday that Catholics who receive Communion while advocating gay marriage would “logically bring shame for a double-dealing that is not unlike perjury.” The comments of Vigneron and Edward Peters, who teaches Catholic canon law at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, are part of a polarizing discussion about gay marriage that echoes debate over whether politicians who advocate...

According to recent statistics, in the United States alone, there are 327,717 Protestant churches and 19,863 Catholic churches. However, despite the numerous individual congregations here and throughout the world, there’s really only one true Church. Even though many churches have differences in doctrinal opinions or other characteristics, every church which is based on Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is a part of the true Church. Amazingly, there are thousands of different denominational and independent Christian churches who, for the most part, agree on the basic fundamentals of Christ, but who maintain their separate groups for relatively minor issues. They...

Voting Republican and other failed culture war strategies are not going to save us now.No, the sky is not falling — not yet, anyway — but with the Supreme Court ruling constitutionalizing same-sex marriage, the ground under our feet has shifted tectonically. It is hard to overstate the significance of the Obergefell decision — and the seriousness of the challenges it presents to orthodox Christians and other social conservatives. Voting Republican and other failed culture war strategies are not going to save us now. Discerning the meaning of the present moment requires sobriety, precisely because its radicalism requires of conservatives...

Our nation, which was founded on the Laws of Nature and Nature's God has now fully apostatized and our doom is sure with the "Supreme" Court's legalization of sodomy marriage. O godless judges, leaders and nation, will you overthrow the Almighty and His ETERNAL absolutes of RIGHTEOUSNESS and design? O godless dreamers, are not your days but as a smoking flax and at the end of your vanity will you not give an account to the ETERNAL SUPREME JUDGE and CREATOR of the earth and ETERNITY (Acts 17:30-31, Phil 2:9-11, Rev. 20:11-15)! No nation has ever survived the embrace of...