Free Republic

Link

VATICAN CITY – In an Easter peace wish, Pope Francis on Sunday praised the framework nuclear agreement with Iran as an opportunity to make the world safer, while expressing deep worry about bloodshed in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa. Cautious hope ran through Francis' "Urbi et Orbi" Easter message, a kind of papal commentary on the state of the world's affairs, which he delivered from the central balcony of St. Peter's Square. He had just celebrated Mass in rain-whipped St. Peter's Square for tens of thousands of people, who huddled under umbrellas or braved the downpour...

Have a good and blessed Easter FRpers! Christ is RISEN! He is RISEN INDEED! Hallelujah!

“Just as He Told You” (Mark 16:1-8) Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) And you say that with such conviction! As you should. The announcement of Christ’s resurrection elicits from us a hearty response of faith and joy. And rightfully so. This is the heart of our great hope as Christians, that Christ our Lord has conquered sin and death for us and has secured for us the sure and certain hope of our own resurrection and everlasting life. Which makes our Gospel reading today a little strange. It doesn’t end the way we would like it...

April 5, 2015The Resurrection of the Lord The Mass of Easter Day    Reading 1 Acts 10:34a, 37-43 Peter proceeded to speak and said:“You know what has happened all over Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptismthat John preached, how God anointed Jesus of Nazarethwith the Holy Spirit and power.He went about doing goodand healing all those oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.We are witnesses of all that he didboth in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.They put him to death by hanging him on a tree.This man God raised on the third day...

In an attempt to shore up his cred with Evangelicals, Texas senator Ted Cruz will be rolling out the first ads of his presidential campaign on Easter Sunday. Because, let’s be honest, nothing says “presidential campaign” quite like the resurrection of Christ. Cruz’s ad will air during the Fox News broadcast of Killing Jesus, an adaption of Bill O’Reilly’s best-selling book, and in “key states” during NBC’s broadcast of A.D.: The Bible Continues. Should you dare, you can watch the ad here. Via CNN: “The campaign is spending $33,000 on the 30-second spot, which features Cruz talking about the impact...

John 20:1-10 (KJV) 1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. 2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. 3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre. 4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did out run Peter, and came first to...

Biblical Conspiracies 3 of 4 Secrets of the Crucifixion

All seems lost. On Good Friday, we experienced and celebrated Christ’s Passion and Death, and now the Sabbath has come and gone and there is still no sign of Him. Now darkness has fallen, and it seems that the night of death has overcome the Lord of life. As despair prepares to enthrone itself, a large fire is prepared outside the church. The clergy and faithful have gathered together under the stars. Despair will not take the throne after all, for here in the night, at the beginning of the first day of the week, the Great Paschal Vigil...

This week’s dance around Indiana’s pagan maypole harkens back to the Lord’s temptation by the devil. Told he would inherit all the kingdoms of the world if only he would bow down and worship the darkness, Jesus’ 40 days and 40 nights of hunger and loneliness in the desert culminated in a resolute, purifying light. “Away with you, Satan!” he said “For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Truth and faith kissed, and the world-changing ministry of the Son of God was born. But no matter how piercing and beautiful...

An authentic piety penetrates every recess of our souls, naturally stirring our most intimate emotions. Piety, however, is far more than feelings. It arises deep within ourselves from our knowledge of the truths that govern an interior life formed in accord with the Faith. To be sure, these life-giving truths are often acquired through diligent and disciplined study, but intelligence, like emotion, is an inadequate foundation for piety, which also resides in the will. Thus we must desire to live the truths we know. It is not sufficient to understand that God is perfect, for example. We must also love...

National Geographic's adaptation of Bill O-Reilly book Killing Jesus recently debuted to record-breaking 3.7 million viewers. The telecast would be all-time highest rated telecast. Killing Jesus was aired as a three-hour special which chronicled the events leading up to death of the Jesus Christ. The book was released in September 2013 and till now it has sold more than 6.8 million copies. The Guardian's Selina O'Grady called Killing Jesus "a breathy retelling of the gospel stories by two conservative Catholics, one of whom, O'Reilly, believes that he was inspired to write the book by the Holy Ghost." The telecast will...

Jesus of Nazareth was executed today on the orders of the Roman State. Method of execution: Crucifixion. The charge under Roman law was treason, and under Herodian law blasphemy against the Temple. The evidence against this anarchist was so strong that authorities of both the Roman State and the Kingdom of Herod concurred with the arrest and execution, and he was subjected to trial by both governments. And in a rare uprising of spontaneous collective justice, the mass of people who were gathered for Passover called for his execution as well. The mob affirmed their loyalty to the state, chanting,...

“Where were the sinners, what were they, when Christ died for them? When Christ has already given us the gift of his death, who is to doubt that he will give us the gift of his own life? Why does our human frailty hesitate to believe that mankind will one day live with God?” --St. Augustine. Sermon. The real objection to Christianity is not hell, sin, or death, but heaven and eternal life. Chesterton once remarked that the difficulty with Christianity, when seriously examined, was that it was “too good to be true.” One might turn this observation around to...

A TV interview with Dr. and Mrs. Alan Whanger on their investigations on the Shroud of Turin.Video at Link

ABSTRACT: Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged, and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripelike lacerations and appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar (patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion his wrists were nailed to the patibulum, and after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post, (stipes) his feet were nailed to the stipes. The major pathophysiologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death resulted primarily...

Easter Sunday is sort of like the Super Bowl for preachers. It’s all but guaranteed the pews will be packed and that presented a challenge to Roderick Richardson, the pastor of The Word Center Church in Jackson, Miss. The non-denominational church has a membership of about 1,200 people – but only 275 can fit in the sanctuary. And the preacher estimated they could have as many as 1,500 people show up for Easter Sunday. http://www.thewordcity.com/ So last January Pastor Richardson started scouting out a new location for his growing church. And it wasn’t long before he found a solution –...

The way in which we behave this Easter weekend is as good an indicator as any that this Britain is now an all but totally secular society. How many people have you heard describe the past six days as Holy Week — even though that was what everyone, atheist or Christian, used to call it. I can recall in my teens listening to an edition of Radio Four’s Any Questions on Good Friday. On the panel was a bishop, and a novelist and commentator called Marghanita Laski, an intellectual lady who made no secret of her atheist views.

 April 4, 2015Holy SaturdayAt the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter    Reading 1 Gn 1:1—2:2 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said,“Let there be light,” and there was light.God saw how good the light was.God then separated the light from the darkness.God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”Thus evening came, and morning followed—the first day. Then God said,“Let there be a dome in the middle of...

It was after the crucifixion of the Messiah of Israel that Satan and godless Israelites rejoiced in their demonic triumph of unrighteousness. They thought that they had done away with “This Man”, this Miracle Worker, this Preacher of RIGHTEOUSNESS, this violator of the Sabbath, this One who claimed to be Almighty God the Son and it was exhilarating to their godless mind (Matt. 27, Luke 23). As the Sabbath day was about to begin these godless men made their preparation to finish “their” Feast of Passover and partake in “their” man made traditions (Matt. 15:7-11, 23, John 18:28). Satan the...