Free Republic

A judge has ruled in favor of First Presbyterian Church in Houston in its legal battle with New Covenant Presbytery for its property. On Feb. 20, Judge Wesley R. Ward granted the church’s request for summary judgment, “finding that there is no genuinely disputed issue of material fact and that plaintiff is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” In his decision, Ward found that there was “no enforceable trust or property interest created by any version of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order or the Presbyterian Church of the United States Book of Church Order under the...

March 3, 2015Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent    Reading 1 Is 1:10, 16-20 Hear the word of the LORD,princes of Sodom!Listen to the instruction of our God,people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves clean!Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;cease doing evil; learn to do good.Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow. Come now, let us set things right,says the LORD:Though your sins be like scarlet,they may become white as snow;Though they be crimson red,they may become white as wool.If you are willing, and obey,you shall eat the good things of the...

When the present world in which we are living in is becoming extremely more hostile and aggressive towards Israel - including America's policies under Obama, ISIS, Iran, Turkey, Hezbollah and Hamas breathing threats and her border enemies following suit - DO NOT expect to see Israel idly stand by and let the world decide their fate and eradicate them from off of the face of the earth. Israel is a military might in that region with nukes and is armed to the teeth. They have one of the best armies in the world and have been soldiers of war continually...

I grew up in a loving family who attended the Catholic Church regularly. Not just my immediate family, mind you(!) - but my entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.) was Catholic! I was a regular participant and played the organ at church and also was a leader in the "folk choir" for most of my teenage years. In short - I was as "Catholic" as they come! I never doubted my faith because I was told to just believe everything the Church taught me without question. The Pope was supreme in his authority, and the priests and nuns were...

Clues found in 'De Locus Sanctis' written in 670 AD by abbot Adomnàn. It was supposedly based on a pilgrimage made to Nazareth by a bishop Text says how Jesus' home was between two tombs and below church. Dr Ken Dark says house located beneath Sisters of Nazareth Convent. is evidence of a Byzantine church here with two tombs in its crypt. One of the doorways has survived, as has part of the original chalk floor In an article Professor Dark said that there was 'no good reason' why the courtyard style house was not the boyhood home of Jesus....

HERRIMAN, Utah (BP) -- You've looked out the front window and seen them coming. Two young males wearing white shirts and black ties are riding bikes in the neighborhood. When they knock on your door, what do you do? North American Mission Board missionary Travis Kerns would encourage you to do what he has learned to do -- to love them. Kerns' love for Mormons has grown to the point that he now lives 35 miles from downtown Salt Lake City, serving as city missionary for NAMB's Send North America church planting initiative. Kerns has something most Southern Baptists don't...

Full Title: Man Dies, Claims To See Michael Jackson And Pope John Paul II In Hell, Comes Back To Tell The Tale Michael Jackson fans will not be thrilled to hear that the King of Pop might be in Hell and apparently keeping company with Pope John Paul II. This is the claim of one Ghanaian man, Kwadjo Peter, who claims he died — not once, but twice — and was resurrected both times. In fact, Peter claims that he spent a month in hell and claims to have seen things other people cannot see, including, of course, Michael Jackson...

March 2, 2015Monday of the Second Week in Lent    Reading 1 Dn 9:4b-10 “Lord, great and awesome God,you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love youand observe your commandments!We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.We have not obeyed your servants the prophets,who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes,our fathers, and all the people of the land.Justice, O Lord, is on your side;we are shamefaced even to this day:we, the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem,and all Israel, near and far,in all...

March 1, 2015Second Sunday of Lent    Reading 1 Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18 God put Abraham to the test.He called to him, “Abraham!”“Here I am!” he replied.Then God said:“Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah.There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.” When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it.Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son.But the...

Who is watching Joel Osteen? Not I! But he does amaze me. How can he preach on the exact same topic every Sunday--"God wants me to be better"--and, yet make it seem different? When it comes to Christian media, and who accesses it, the numbers are revealing. Who Is Watching TV or Listening to Christian Radio? Only 8% of Americans admit to watching Christian television regularly--I'll bet the demographics here are interesting. Probably older women with blue hair, who live below the Mason-Dixon line, and east of Mississippi. 24% watch Christian TV "sometimes," 27% "rarely," and 40% "never." Christian radio...

A brief talk on the reasons for Jewish non belief in Jesus.

February 28, 2015Saturday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Dt 26:16-19 Moses spoke to the people, saying:“This day the LORD, your God,commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.Be careful, then,to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:he is to be your God and you are to walk in his waysand observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,and to hearken to his voice.And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;and provided...

In the Gospel of St. Mark, the Lord Jesus teaches that “from the beginning of creation ‘God made them male and female.’” He then declares a great and beautiful truth inscribed in creation: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mark 10:6–8). For centuries, Christians have proclaimed these words at weddings, for they express the gift of marriage long recognized by all humanity and acknowledged by men and women of faith: Marriage is...

I broke Courtney's text up so I could read it

Many American churches are in a mess. Theologically they are indifferent, confused, or dangerously wrong. Liturgically they are the captives of superficial fads. Morally they live lives indistinguishable from the world. They often have a lot of people, money, and activities. But are they really churches, or have they degenerated into peculiar clubs? What has gone wrong? At the heart of the mess is a simple phenomenon: the churches seem to have lost a love for and confidence in the Word of God. They still carry Bibles and declare the authority of the Scriptures. They still have sermons based on...

Popular American evangelist Joel Osteen is promoting the warrior mentality among Christians, telling them not to be weighed down by their problems because all things are possible with Christ. "If you'll have this warrior mentality and do what you can do, God will help you do what you cannot do. Remember, God has armed you with strength for every battle. Keep praying, keep believing, keep pressing through because with God, you will tap into strength you didn't know you had!" he said.

A homeless man has been buried in the exclusive Teutonic Cemetery within the Vatican.... His burial in a cemetery normally reserved for senior German clerics was funded by a donation from a German family.

February 27, 2015Friday of the First Week of Lent    Reading 1 Ez 18:21-28 Thus says the Lord GOD:If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?says the Lord GOD. Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil waythat he may...

In a mother’s womb were two babies. One asked the other: “Do you believe in life after delivery?” The other replied, “Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. Maybe we are here to prepare ourselves for what we will be later.” “Nonsense” said the first. “There is no life after delivery. What kind of life would that be?” The second said, “I don’t know, but there will be more light than here. Maybe we will walk with our legs and eat from our mouths. Maybe we will have other senses that we can’t understand now.” The first...

THE WORLD HAS DIVIDED MEN into two classes, the stupid good people and the clever wicked ones. This false classification runs through much of the literature of the last centuries from the classics to the comic strip, from Shakespeare's Polomus, who furnished his son with a set of good but dull moral platitudes, to Capp's Li'l Abner, who would never knowingly do a wrong act but who would rather fall on his head than on his feet because there is more feeling in his feet than in his head. In the Holy Scriptures things are quite the opposite. There righteousness...