Free Republic

The Gospel reading this weekend is the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man from the Gospel according to Saint Luke. I suspect that throughout the world many homilies and sermons ended up saying something to the effect of, “Rich people bad. Poor people good.” This like all heresies is the result of a gross simplification of the Gospel, a deliberate misreading of the message of Jesus, and an imposition of a foreign ideology. The sin of the unnamed rich man was not that he had wealth. Rather it was that he did not pay attention to Moses and the...

In his 1835 book Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville noted that for Americans, "equality is their idol." Among such a democratic people, he reports, "there are certain epochs at which the passion they entertain for it swells to the height of fury." They prefer equality in freedom, he noted, but if "they cannot obtain that, they still call for equality in slavery." Even barbarism, servitude, and poverty are acceptable offerings to "this irresistible passion." The same-sex marriage debate might have focused on the purpose of sexuality, or the nature of homosexuality, or the etiology of marriage. Instead, the dominant...

It’s the curse—or maybe the blessing—of living in a place that doesn’t make or break presidential elections: The president and those running for the job just don’t come around very often. So President Barack Obama’s two-day bus tour this week through swaths of western and central New York, a state that reliably backs Democrats in presidential elections, set the region abuzz. … Bus tours have long been standard fare in presidential campaigns. But Obama has occasionally hit the open road outside of the campaign cycles, boarding his black Secret Service-approved motor coach in search of an escape from the insular...

I've got what I believe to be a spiritual insight into the "victimidation" phenomenon which is behind a lot of modern American political liberals' folly. I share it for discussion and refinement. I'd like to go into what I believe is the history here. Liberalism as we know it today began as a movement within Christianity to pay special attention to its call (and the call of the Judaic faith that led up to it) to raise up people who were down and out. At that time there was still a robust faith in God, and that He would glorify...

Dan Sandini at Daylight Disinfectant recently posted video from the “May Day” protests in Portland, Oregon, and one of them alarmingly shows a group of young individuals dancing around a golden calf. Sandini’s description of the video reads: Warning: Video can not be “unseen.” ”It is useless to resist it,” or so go the lyrics. On May 1 2013, Occupy Portland dragged an idol of a Golden Bull down to O’Bryant Square. Dressed as Egyptian belly dancers they then proceeded to sing and dance about it. You just can’t make this stuff up folks. About three minutes 34 seconds of...

(They)… changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.(Romans 1:25)The apostle Paul described the degeneration of Ancient society in a way that is prophetic of what we see happening in the decay of our own formerly Judeo Christian world. The downward trajectory goes like this, * The refusal to acknowledge God as creator…(Secularism) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is...

Pyongyang, April 10 (KCNA) -- An oath-taking meeting of young people took place before the statues of Generalissimos Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill Wednesday. They vowed to uphold the leadership of the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un with loyalty, true to the behests of the great Generalissimos. Laid before the statues were a floral basket in the name of the participants in the meeting and flowers. Jon Yong Nam, chairman of the Central Committee of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League, read out a letter of pledge. Thanks to the pure loyalty and...

A Saudi man on a hunting trip in the rugged mountains near the border with Yemen stumbled across a little dark stone, which he instantly recognized as that mentioned in the holy Koran. A year later, he was offered $four million for the stone but he refused. Saleh Musfer Al Gamdi said the stone, which carries drawings of birds and elephants, weighs 131 gm, exactly the same number of words in the Koran verse that mentioned the stone-- “Surat Al Fil (elephant).” According to that verse, God the Almighty sent Ababil birds to throw Sejil stones (pebbles of hell) to...

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?(Proverbs 1:20-22) I believe that the Wisdom of God cries out to us through current events, though most just pass by paying no heed to what the Spirit is saying . Of course the Scriptures are full of the revealed Wisdom of God, and the clearest revelation of it...

Publication date: March 20, 2012 "The Gospel of Barack Hussein Obama According to Mark" is designed to initiate the reader into a meditation on what it means to be human, what it means to be a manifestation of God, and how Barack Obama is a unique and important manifestation of God’s desire for human flourishing. In a blend of words from his public speeches, imagined conversation, and fictional situations, the book highlights Obama’s real stance on social justice and, in particular, economic and political empowerment. It juxtaposes ancient Biblical form and contemporary reality, challenging the reader to see and seek...

ESPN makes great commercials. It has been that way since it first launched its “This is SportsCenter” ad campaign back in 1995. Nearly 400 commercials later, the campaign rocks on with its wry send-ups of famous athletes (usually hanging out at the ESPN offices in Bristol, Connecticut), its comical use of team mascots, and its amusing storylines involving rapid sports fans. But a recent ESPN commercial is anything but wry or comical or amusing. It shows the actual graves of truly die hard sports fans whose headstones pay homage not to their Creator, but to their favorite sports teams. Such...

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — An artist has removed a halo from a mural of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno amid the school's child sex-abuse scandal. Michael Pilato had put a halo over Paterno's image after the beloved coach's death in January, but said he felt he had to remove it Saturday after a report that Paterno, former university president Graham Spanier and others buried allegations of child sex-abuse against ex-assistant Jerry Sandusky. Paterno's family denies the claim.

Regular readers have been able to follow along as I chronicle the 17,384-employee wrecking crew that is the EPA. This week the racket put the coal industry out of business, helped raise electricty prices for everyone, and did it all for the low, low price of $9,000,000,000 per year. Underpinning the confidence game is deceptive science that manufactures evidence of climate change/global warming by pointing out people's natural curosity about natural weather events.          A New York Times story that ran in the Environment section on March 28, 2012 is a textbook example of all that is wrong with the supposed “scientific” method liberals are employing to...

Rick Santorum's latest attempt to use a Mitt Romney aide's "Etch-A-Sketch" remark against the Republican front-runner instead gave his rival a chance to fire back on Thursday, after Santorum seemed to say he'd rather see President Obama reelected than send Romney to the White House. Speaking at an event in Texas, Santorum again made the case that Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom's comments Wednesday on CNN about a "reset" of the campaign if Romney clinched the nomination showed the former Massachusetts governor's efforts to appeal to conservatives were insincere. "You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision...

Did God enlist some creep to steal a religious relic? It wouldn’t be the first time the Almighty used an infidel to do his bidding. Pagan Cyrus of Persia released long-enslaved Jews, enabling them to return to Jerusalem in 537 BC. The preserved 834 year-old heart of St. Laurence O’Toole (AD 1128-1180) disappeared Saturday from Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland and one has to wonder if God’s sovereignty was at work behind the scenes of that seemingly dastardly act. The Almighty is known for His slash-and-burn attitude toward icons and idols, knowing that such lifeless items steal the affections,...

Seriously… - American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe was impressed with President Obama's short version of the Al Green tune "Let's Stay Together." So much so that he Tweeted the President and invited him to come perform on the show, stating the following… "@BarackObama we loved your vocal performance so much we'd love to invite you on to #AmericanIdol this Season for a duet with Al Green."

Rome, Italy, Dec 8, 2011 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI reflected on the biblical description of a “woman clothed with the sun” in his remarks at Rome's Spanish Steps on the 2011 Feast of the Immaculate Conception. “What is the meaning of this image? It represents the Church and Our Lady at the same time,” the Pope told the crowd assembled before the nearby statue commemorating the 1854 definition of Mary's Immaculate Conception. “Before all, the 'woman' of the apocalypse is Mary herself.” The 12th chapter of the Biblical Apocalypse – also known as the Book of...

The U.S. Air Force Academy has pulled out of a Christian-sponsored children’s toy drive after commanders were accused of religious intolerance. Mikey Weinstein, an academy graduate who runs the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said the academy’s participation in Operation Christmas Child is inappropriate because of its evangelical Christian roots. Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, headed by Franklin Graham — the son of evangelist Billy Graham. It packs toys and other items into shoe boxes and sends them to needy children around the world, along with a Christian message in each gift. “This is arrogance beyond measure,” Weinstein...

For the first time in Senate history, a bill has been introduced to encourage agencies not to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples seeking to adopt. “As more and more LGBT couples are getting married and starting families, we have a great opportunity to place children without a family into happy homes,” said Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, New York Democrat and lead sponsor of the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, Monday at the Huffington Post. The past year has seen many moves toward gay equality, and “the momentum is there to build on our progress,” she said,...

Q. In the Old Testament, the terms "Israel," "Jacob," and "Jew" all seem to clearly be applied to the grandson of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the man Jacob and his physical descendants (Gen. 32:28; 35:10). But in the New Testament, the terms "Israel" and "Jew" are used in passages which are more difficult to understand which some interpret as teaching that faithful Gentiles are described as "Israel" or "true Jews" (e.g., Rom. 2:28-29; 9:4; Gal. 6:16). Can you shed some light on this? A. I believe that much of the confusion concerning the use of the term “Israel” in...