Free Republic

Just north of the City of David (ancient Jerusalem), archaeologists believe they have found the first of its kind engraving on a precious gem of a biblical plant known to many as the Balm of Gilead. Deep underground in a 2,000-year-old drainage ditch next to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, archaeologists say a rare artifact from Second Temple times was uncovered. “It is a stone seal made of semi-precious amethyst stone with an engraving of a dove and a branch of a tree with fruit on the branch,” said Eli Shukron, former archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority. What was surprising was...

Surprisingly, the virus affects only the countries that may have a capacity to control China’s hegemonist ambitions and not those securing aid and assistance from it. It is widely suspected that the COVID-19 virus was manufactured in a laboratory in China and was let loose on the world. It is China which is thus claimed to be largely responsible for the loss of more than 3.3 million lives and causing untold suffering to a far greater number of people. If we look at the list of death by countries, we will see that over half a million died in USA,...

Many may be baffled by this, and some may even disagree, but if you allow yourself to step away from what secular history has told you about the religion of Judaism, you will realize that their is truth in what I am about to share.Let me begin by stating, there is absolutely nothing “Jewish” about God's revelations to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Everything Moses wrote that God instructed him to write, was distinctly Hebraic. NOT Jewish. The Jewish religious tradition was born in the late second temple period, by the Pharisees. There are 613 laws that God handed down...

....Obama took a victory lap on Stewart’s show, ticking off a list of achievements on health care, foreign policy and more. “The VA works better than when I came into office. Government works better than when I came into office. The economy is better than when I came into office,” Obama boasted.

Our altar boys practically fight for the honor of being the thurifer. That's the name for the server who carries the thurible — the censer — in the procession at Mass.  They like being thurifer because they get to wear the more ornate lace surplice, and they know thurifer is the most complicated job and is reserved for the older, more experienced boys. The use of incense is optional for most Masses.  It's used to purify the coffin at funerals and to bless statues and images.  However, many Catholic priests choose not to use incense at Mass, and the...

                Holy Smoke! What is all that incense about? The reaction is rather mixed when it comes to incense. So love it and some love to hate it. But the bottom line about incense is that it is a symbol of prayer. As the incense gently rises it images our prayers going up to God. As the incense slowly settles in is a fragrant symbol for God’s graces. And don’t fan that incense away! Take a breath! It is holy smoke. Like holy water that literally showers a blessing on us, so too does the fragrant incense, blessed by the...

Incense Psalm 140:1-2 "I have cried to Thee, O Lord, hear me: hearken to my voice, when I cry to Thee. Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice."  The "sweet savour" of incense was used in Old Testament liturgy as far back as the time of Moses as an offering to God: Exodus 30:34-37And the Lord said to Moses: Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, galbanum of sweet savour, and the clearest frankincense, all shall be of equal weight. And thou shalt make incense compounded by the...

Why do priests use incense at Mass? — A reader in AlexandriaIncense is an aromatic substance which is the resin from certain trees. When burned over charcoal, the incense produces a sweet smelling aroma. To make the smoke thicker and to enhance the fragrance, sometimes other perfumes are blended with the incense.The use of incense in the ancient world was common, especially in religious rites where it was used to keep demons away. Herodotus, the Greek historian, recorded that it was popular among the Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians. In Judaism, incense was included in the thanksgiving offerings of oil, grain,...