Free Republic

Country music star John Rich handed over his own firearm to a police officer who used it to defend civilians in a bar during the Las Vegas strip massacre. Rich, who is the star of Big & Rich, explained how it all went down on Fox News. “I had an off-duty police officer, it was a Minneapolis police officer, off-duty, was in my bar hanging out. He came up to me and showed me his badge, and he says, ‘I’m officer – I forget his last name – and I’m [a police] officer and I’m not armed for the first...

“From Tabernacles to Pentecost” (John 7:37-39) Today is the Feast of Pentecost, a major festival in the Christian church year. Today we celebrate the giving of the Holy Spirit, whom our ascended Lord Jesus Christ poured out on his church, as we read about in the second chapter of Acts. That was the beginning of the worldwide spread of the gospel, and you and I are here today as Christians because of what began on that first Pentecost. Actually, though, that was not the first Pentecost. For the Christian Feast of Pentecost has its roots in the Jewish Feast of...

The Professor's tenure at ESPN is coming to an end. NFL insider John "The Professor" Clayton is leaving ESPN as part of the sweeping layoffs at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, sources tell Sporting News. ESPN and Clayton both declined SN's request for comment, but Clayton confirmed his status in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. The well-respected Clayton has served as a senior NFL writer and commentator at ESPN for 23 years.

“Our Anxieties and God’s Care” (1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11) What are your anxieties? What are you worried about? Anxiety is really another way to say worry. They pretty much mean the same thing. To be anxious, to be worried, means that something is weighing on your mind that you’re thinking about, almost obsessing about. You’re worried about what might happen in the future. It’s the negative prospect of what might happen that keep hanging around in your head. That’s anxiety, that’s worry. So what are your anxieties? We all have them. From time to time, some negative possibility...

“A Living, Loving Family” (John 14:15-21) Christ establishes his church to be “A Living, Loving Family.” And you are a part of it. A living, loving family. Now how do you hear that? Do you hear it as heavy demand, something we cannot possibly do? Or do you hear it as gift, something that Christ has graciously made us part of? Does Christ’s call for us to be a living, loving family--do you hear this as burden or gift? As pressure or joy? And besides how we hear it, there is also the question of how we do it. How...

“Hope for the Future and a Present Priesthood” (John 14:1-14; 1 Peter 2:2-10)You gotta have hope. Hope is faith facing the future. You and I, we need something to look forward to. Otherwise, we lose heart, we get depressed, and our hopelessness paralyzes us. So we need hope, hope for the future, in order to function well in the present. And really, we need hope for the big future, the eternal future. Because the reality is, at some point, we’re going to depart this life. At some point, something is going to do us in, and death is going to...

“The Good Shepherd Gives Gifts to His Sheep” (John 10:1-18, 22-30) “The forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” So we just said we believe when we confessed the Apostles’ Creed. This is the faith all Christians believe. This is the faith Dorothy believed. It’s the faith into which she was baptized. “The forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.” These are gifts given us by the Good Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ. They are gifts given to Dorothy. They are gifts given to you. The good news today is...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Tuesday called for the Trump administration to launch a new U.S. military deterrence initiative in the Asia-Pacific region, similar to what is already being done in Europe, as a counterweight to China. The administration could chart a new course with an initiative that includes new military funding to realign U.S. forces in the region, increase combat power, improve bases and add more exercises, McCain said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "I believe there is strong merit for an Asia-Pacific stability initiative which is similar to the European deterrence initiative we've pursued over the...

“Easter Joy Continues!” (John 20:19-31; Acts 5:29-42; 1 Peter 1:3-9) Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Yes, he is risen indeed! And guess what? He is still risen! Christ didn’t stop being risen once Easter Day was over. And so the Easter season continues--and with it, our Easter joy. It’s the Second Sunday “of” Easter! Thus our theme for this morning: “Easter Joy Continues!” The Easter joy was certainly evident last Sunday. Easter Day at St. Matthew’s was a day of great joy. As soon as the resurrection was announced at the start of the service, we...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is praising FBI Director James Comey for his "independence" while investigating politicians on both sides of the political spectrum and for not kowtowing to political pressure during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a short piece published Thursday honoring him as part of the Time 100 Most Influential People list, the Arizona Republican referred to Comey's "integrity" and argued that it "never wavered" over the past year, despite the presidential campaign that made him a household name. "Integrity is a word that doesn't get used a lot in Washington anymore. But that is the quality that has...

Republican Sen. John McCain tore into Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday morning, telling CNN that Tillerson's recent comments about the US's policy in Syria represented "another disgraceful chapter in American history." Tillerson told reporters while he was in Turkey last week that the "longer-term status of President [Bashar] Assad will be decided by the Syrian people." The remark signaled a shift in the US's official position toward the Syrian strongman. Though they were criticized for failing to act against Assad's atrocities, President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State John Kerry had long called for Assad to step...

“The Raising of Lazarus” (John 11:1-53) Our text today is the account of “The Raising of Lazarus,” from John chapter 11. In this chapter, Jesus does three things: He raises the dead. He arouses faith. And he rouses the opposition. Three things, and what he does, he does for you. The most obvious thing Jesus does is to raise a dead man. Think about that. Jesus raises a dead man! Who has ever heard of such a thing? The man’s name was Lazarus. He was a friend of Jesus and his disciples. His sisters you’ve heard of, too. Mary and...

“A Real Eye-Opener” (John 9:1-41) Our text today is a real eye-opener. It’s the story of Jesus healing the man born blind, from John chapter 9. It’s an eye-opener in several senses. Just the fact that Jesus can heal the eyes of a man born blind--that in itself is an eye-opener, in the sense of it being something startling or surprising. As the guy who was healed says, “Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.” But then it’s a literal eye-opener for the man born blind. He receives...

“The Samaritan Woman: A Well-Known Story” (John 4:5-26, 27-30, 39-42) Does God really accept me? I mean, I’m able to hide my faults and shortcomings from people--well, most of my faults from most people, at least. And I’m able to do it well enough so that there are people who do accept me--well, sorta, or at least they put up with me. But what about God? There’s no hiding things from him. He knows the real me. He knows my inner thoughts and my secret sins. Will God accept me? And if so, why? And what difference does that make?...

A few moments ago I spoke via telephone with a Catholic gentleman, a beloved husband, a father and dear friend. His name is John Vennari, and he was told earlier today by his doctors that he is now in the “active stages of dying.” John asked me to do him a favor and help him notify his many, many friends all around the world that he may not live to see his birthday on Friday. He wishes everyone to know that he’s not in pain. He wishes us all to know that, as he put it, “either we believe in...

[Note: The Divine Service at St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Bonne Terre, Missouri, for January 15, 2017, has been iced out. So I am posting the sermon for the equivalent Sunday, the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Series A, from January 20, 2008. CH]“Three Evangelism Pointers: Point, Invite, and Find” (John 1:29-42a) The Epiphany season traditionally is a time for emphasizing the church’s work of evangelism and missions. Why is that? Well, think of the event celebrated on the Epiphany festival: Wise men from the east, being led by a star to find the Christ child--in other words, the spread...

Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham issued a blistering statement Tuesday condemning the US' failure to act to prevent the "slaughter" of hundreds of thousands of people in Syria. "The words 'never again' ring hollow today with reports that Aleppo is falling to Assad regime forces," the senators wrote, amid reports that forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were on the brink of fully recapturing the besieged city of Aleppo from opposition forces. "For four long years, Aleppo has been at the center of the Assad regime's war on the Syrian people," the statement continued. "Together with its...

Sen. John McCain JOHN MCCAIN Senate votes to elevate Cyber Command in military Senate sends annual defense bill to Obama's desk Trump really can't do much to reduce tensions with Putin's Russia MORE (R-Ariz.) is pledging to break his silence on President-elect Donald Trump next year. "On the first of January, I promise to start answering these stupid, idiotic questions," he told reporters on Tuesday. McCain has largely refused to talk about Trump for months, despite a constant stream of questions from Capitol Hill reporters. A reporter on Tuesday again began to ask McCain about Trump, but McCain interrupted him,...

Washington (CNN)Ohio Gov. John Kasich doesn't want to take Donald Trump's place as President-elect of the United States. The former Republican presidential candidate, who ran against Trump in the primary, tweeted Tuesday asking that electors in the Electoral College not cast their votes for him when they meet December 19. Kasich tweeted a statement that said, "I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me when they gather later this month. Our country had an election and Donald Trump won. The country is divided and there are certainly raw emotions on both sides stemming...

Former Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich is hitting back against the claim that the election is “rigged” -- an allegation that GOP nominee Donald Trump has repeatedly made in recent days. When asked in an interview with “CBS This Morning” early Wednesday whether he believed Trump’s assertion of a cooked election was correct, Kasich replied with an emphatic “no.” “Look, to say that elections are rigged and all these votes are stolen -- that’s like saying we never landed on the moon, frankly,” said Kasich. “That’s how silly it is.” The Ohio governor further criticized Trump’s position...