Free Republic

As we approach the second anniversary of the NATO-provoked Russian military invasion of Ukraine, and the world is finally getting to hear Russia's side of the story thanks to the courageous journalist Tucker Carlson, I would like to republish my article of March 23, 2022, that might have saved us all from two years of war propaganda and social manipulation had it gotten that kind of exposure and had conservatives adopted its quintessentially American talking points.Why? First, because it summarizes the history and reasoning of our own Monroe Doctrine as the most logical basis for comparing Russia's demands, and second,...

[Catholic Caucus] Can Doctrinal “Development” Flout the Laws of Logic?Above: Cardinal Burke at the Vatican. The new “Dubia Brothers” include two of the original four (the other two now deceased), plus the modern confessor Cardinal Zen, the contemplative Cardinal Sarah, and Mexican stalwart Cardinal Íñiguez.Editor’s note: as the subject of doctrinal development is at the heart of the new Dubia, and indeed, the whole question of Modernism and neo-Modernism, we present again the work of theologian Fr. Brian Harrison with his logical analysis of the death penalty controversy. This analysis can be applied to evaluate all the alleged “developments” now...

Family-run fishing businesses face a fraught and competitive environment, even independent of burdensome regulations. But one such outrageous regulation is now before the Supreme Court, in a case with significance far beyond our nation’s fisheries. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), part of the Department of Commerce, promulgated a rule that pertains to most herring boats, such as those portrayed in the Oscar-winning movie CODA. If a vessel is determined to need a federal monitor and has not already been assigned one under a federally funded program, it must pay for the monitor itself. The cost of doing that for...

Most of what is called Christianity today in America is very, very weak, causing the apostasy, which drives any nation. No one wants to deal with it and, when you do, you are mocked, called names, etc. Why? Well, when people cannot defend their position from God's Word, they are left to personally attack you, which is what they did to those in Scripture. The difference is that then soon here, the attacks were bodily, to the point of death by crucifixion, upside down in Peter's case, in Jerusalem. Not a single person in Scripture dealt with heresy nicely, nor...

ROME — Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, the newly appointed prefect of the Vatican’s doctrinal office (DDF), insisted in a recent interview he is not a Freemason or a “Soros spy infiltrated in the Church.” The progressive Archbishop Fernández told Crux, an online U.S.-based Catholic news outlet, that insinuations that he is a Soros plant looking to advance a New World Order are “pure fantasies.” As Breitbart News reported, on July 1 Pope Francis announced the elevation of Archbishop Fernández, his longtime friend and ghostwriter, to the post as head of the Vatican’s powerful doctrinal office.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST: DOES IT SAVE US?(Ecclesiastes 12:12 [KJV]) And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. WHEN YOU GO INTO THE MAINSTREAM YOU FLOAT DOWNSTREAM, and God never once asked you to follow any man, only Him. Even Paul said to follow him as he follows Christ. A mainstream rank heresy, out out by some famous preachers, such as John MacArthur, of another Gospel (Galatians 1) is that the Blood never saves us. Jesus Christ could have been strangled, whatever,...

The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, praises the Vatican's rejection of the 'Doctrine of Discovery' and expresses hope that other governments follow Holy See's lead.The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, José Francisco Calí Tzay, has welcomed the Vatican's recent rejection of the 'Doctrine of Discovery' and has expressed hope that other governments would follow the Holy See's lead, reported www.un.org. The Doctrine of Discovery was a theory that served to justify the expropriation by sovereign colonizers of indigenous lands from their rightful owners. “The doctrine of discovery," the...

In this episode of MWI’s Urban Warfare Project Podcast, John Spencer is joined again by Michael Kofman, director of the Russia Studies Program at CNA. He researches Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in Russian armed forces, military thought, capabilities, and strategy. He also recently returned from Bakhmut, Ukraine—the scene of intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces over the past several months. In the conversation, he describes that trip and what he learned there. He also analyzes the situation from the perspective of both sides in the battle, including their approaches and motivations, as well as the battle’s...

“Sound Doctrine: Applying Law and Gospel” (1 Timothy 1:5-17)Sound doctrine: When you hear that phrase, what comes to mind? Maybe you think of a proud, triumphalistic claim: “We in the Missouri Synod have the pure doctrine, not like those other churches!” Maybe you think of sound doctrine as having all your facts in order, in your head, in a sterile, intellectual way, unrelated to real life. Or you think of sound doctrine as unloving, not caring about people, only about guarding the truth. Well, I’m here to tell you that nothing, none of that, could be further from the truth....

In 1823, when the emperor of Tzarist Russia invited the United States to negotiate a resolution of contested coastal lands along the northwest of the North American continent, President James Monroe responded with a proclamation in an address to Congress that would forever-after be called the Monroe Doctrine. In his own words, he said that when "the rights and interests of the United States are involved … the American continents … are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. … We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between...

The battle was a training exercising but the ramifications of the loss, which reveals the damage progressives have inflicted on the military, are extremely serious. For many Americans, the Marines occupy an almost mythic place in their minds as an invincible force that runs to the guns and fights no matter what. That’s why it was so shocking to learn that, during a joint training exercise in the Mojave Desert, Britain’s Royal Marines inflicted such a shellacking on the Americans that the latter had to surrender halfway through the exercise. This is a direct result of the Pentagon having gone...

A Catholic school teacher resigned last week from the Shrine of the Little Flower elementary school in Royal Oak, Michigan after being confronted for having a Harvey Milk poster in her classroom. The late Milk was a so-called gay icon and activist from California in the 1970s. School administrators confronted the teacher, who reportedly felt bullied and resigned. Another teacher resigned in support. A group of outraged parents and alumni organized a protest Monday, claiming the school is not respecting inclusivity and diversity. The Detroit Resistance group met them to counterprotest in support of faithful priests. Detroit Resistance member: "We're...

Viganò: Pope Benedict ‘surrounded himself with inadequate, unreliable or even corrupt collaborators’Archbishop Viganò in a wide-ranging interview speaks of Pope Benedict's collaborators and the situation of the Church under Pope FrancisNTERVIEW WITH ARCHBISHOP CARLO MARIA VIGANÒ BY RADIO SPADA (Translation and Notes on square brackets by Dr. Robert Moynihan. Printed by LifeSiteNews.com with permission of Archbishop Viganò.) Radio Spada: Good morning, Your Excellency, we thank you for the dialogue we will have. Let’s begin with Galleria neovaticana [the book title may be translated as “The Neo-Vatican Gallery”], a new book by Marco Tosatti for which you wrote the Preface. Allow...

In a world that changes constantly, people wonder if the Church can change its doctrine.

On Nov. 10, in Spell v. Edwards, a Louisiana federal district court dismissed a suit by megachurch pastor Tony Spell challenging the state's COVID-19 limits on worship services. Plaintiff filed an Emergency Application for an Injunction Pending Appeal with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, contending: This case presents a threshold question that other applicants did not present to this Court in prior religious liberty challenges: Whether the First Amendment places the decision of whether to assemble solely within the jurisdiction of the Church and not the State.

A church with one service a week will likely sing over 200 songs in a year. Our church has five services in two languages at two sites on Sunday. We also have Wednesday night programming. Throw in the student service and children’s ministry, and we probably sing close to 2,000 songs in a year (obviously some are sung more than once).Songs elicit emotion. That’s how the art form works. Worship is no exception. Most have a favorite worship song. Most will have a few worship songs they don’t like. One song can mean something different to two people standing next...

Each of the Persons of the Trinity were present at Christ's baptism as recorded in all four gospel accounts Two topics I haven't touched on much before, although we've discussed them at great length on the forum, are the Trinity and the deity of Christ. In this article I will address these fundamental theological truths. What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity? This is the belief, as revealed in Scripture, that there is a single, immutable, eternal God (monotheism), who eternally subsists as the mutual indwelling of three Persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). When properly...

Venezuela's military will escort Iranian tankers bringing fuel to the gasoline-starved country as soon as they enter its exclusive economic zone, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Wednesday. His comments came after Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said the shipment should "alarm" Latin America. Both OPEC members are U.S. adversaries whose oil industries are under U.S. sanctions. Trump administration officials say Washington is considering a response to the shipment. The tankers - Fortune, Forest, Petunia, Faxon and Clavel - are carrying around 1.5 million barrels of fuel, and passed the Suez Canal in the first two weeks of May, Refinitiv...

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...

God's progressive process of redeeming the world has been done through covenants and dispensations.  These terms somewhat overlap, though not always.  You can generally find various Christian denominations, sects, and theological systems somewhere along a continuum from intellectual legalism on one extreme and behavior legalism on the other.  And placing too much emphasis on either covenants or dispensations can lead one away from the solid middle ground and into one of these two forms of legalism.  This closely mirrors other articles in which I've written about how the same demons of the early Church still haunt us today, specifically...