Free Republic

The Guy Fawkes story, the Gunpowder Plot and the history of Bonfire Night linked to Hatfield House. The current Marquess of Salisbury, who lives at Hatfield House, is a direct descendant of the man who uncovered the plot to kill King James I. He is the great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great (11 times) grandson of the gnarled monarch’s Machiavellian Secretary of State, Robert Cecil. And Lord Salisbury’s ancestral seat at Hatfield House was also swapped for the original Cecil home at Theobalds, in Waltham Cross. Cecil was one of the chief architects of Scottish...

Early in the morning of November 5, 1605, King James I of England learns that a plot to explode the Parliament building has been foiled, hours before he was scheduled to sit with the rest of the British government in a general parliamentary session. At about midnight on the night of November 4-5, Sir Thomas Knyvet, a justice of the peace, found Guy Fawkes lurking in a cellar under the Parliament building and ordered the premises searched. Some 20 barrels of gunpowder were found, and Fawkes was taken into custody. During a torture session on the rack, Fawkes revealed that...

Frankly, how could I, or any Catholic, forget. Today is the day when Britons still burn an effigy of the Pope - and do so, joyously, in public. [SNIP] What distinguished me from the great majority of Britons I met was my faith. Being a Catholic marked me out as the "odd one" (my rather obvious nickname at college). I couldn't believe the prejudice I encountered. My first boyfriend's mother warned him that if he married me I would send all his money to Rome, to line the Vatican coffers. The science teacher at school said he knew why I...

MOSCOW, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and senior Russian officials attended the opening of a resurrected Tsarist-era obelisk outside the Kremlin walls Monday. The monument was originally unveiled 99 years ago to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Russia’s Romanov dynasty, but its Tsarist iconography was removed in 1918 on the orders of Vladimir Lenin and the names of Romanov emperors replaced by famous international revolutionaries. In the renovated version unveiled Monday, criticized by some architectural preservation groups for poor quality work, the communist-era changes have been reversed. “Today, an unjust historical action has...

What will keep ONE out of Almighty God's perfect Heaven will not be one's application and practice of conservative virtuous living or the base indulging of a decadent life style BUT REJECTING Almighty God's saving solution, which is ONLY found in Jesus Christ the Lamb of Almighty God. (John 3:36, Rom. 10:2-4). Almighty God wants to help you and to bring you and your loved ones unto Himself, to LOVE you as only He can (John 3:16-17, Acts 16:28-31). The question we must ask ourselves is, "Will we let Him?" As mankind’s godless rebellion today knows no boundaries and all...

Originally entitled, "Relating Environmental Fascism to Baalism and the End Times," the Gulag has posted a very interesting presentation on the connections between ancient fertility cults, modern environmentalism, and the road to the apocalypse. And yes, one way to aptly characterize National Socialism's eugenic policies is to compare it to an ancient nature worship fertility cult like Baalism, all dressed up in modern vernacular, and presented to the German people as the latest 'science,' even though it was nothing but crackpot biology with strong ecological undercurrents …

I admit I often demonize abortion supporters in my mind. The ones I usually deal with are the hard core industry or political types, and they can indeed come across beyond cold and calloused. Nevertheless, having been convicted through Scripture, I’ve been trying (although admittedly failing as often as I succeed – but I’m getting better, truly!) to more even-handedly communicate with them. This week I read Romans 15:15-16 and took the passage our direction. The pertinent sentence: I’m doing this because God gave me the gift to be a servant of Christ Jesus to people who are not Jewish....

Kirsten Powers in Christianity Today: Just seven years ago, if someone had told me that I’d be writing for Christianity Today magazine about how I came to believe in God, I would have laughed out loud. If there was one thing in which I was completely secure, it was that I would never adhere to any religion — especially to evangelical Christianity, which I held in particular contempt…. I remember walking into the Bible study. I had a knot in my stomach. In my mind, only weirdoes and zealots went to Bible studies. I don’t remember what was said that...

We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.—Russian President Vladimir Putin, open letter to the American people, September 11 In the countries of the former Soviet Union, in particular in Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia and Moldavia, an unprecedented religious revival is underway. In the Russian Orthodox Church over the past 25 years there have been built or restored from ruins more than 25,000 churches. This means that a thousand churches a year have been opened, i.e., three churches a day.—Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, October 30 Pope Francis has said...

From Jihad Watch by Robert Spencer: Kenyan pastors ask for AK-47s to counter Islamic jihad attacks Christianity has never opposed self-defense. “Kenyan Pastors Ask for AK-47s Amid Radical Muslim Persecution,” by Fredrick Nzwili for RNS, November 1 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):As attacks on Christians mount in Kenya’s coastal region, some evangelical pastors in the Mombasa area may no longer be willing to turn the other cheek.Worried about attacks against their churches and congregations, some pastors are asking for rifles to protect themselves from suspected Islamic extremists.The violence intensified on Oct. 20 and 21, when two evangelical church pastors...

As American troops prepare for possible military action in Syria, "Duck Dynasty's" Uncle Si tells Beltway Buzz why America's troops have a special place in his heart. “A lot of these people have gave their lives, a lot of them have gave their limbs, okay, you know, that's a, that's a, that's a heap you know, that's might near like, you know, like the son of God, okay that gave Himself for us all okay. That's a great sacrifice, okay, giving up life and limb you know just for your freedom and my freedom. So, they, you know, they've got...

I am not a huge fan of Utopian visions, but I have always had a fond place in my heart for the dreamers who have invested time and money in the movement known as New Urbanism. I love older neighborhoods that are close to shopping areas, especially those that have retained their old trees, wide sidewalks and other evidence that human life existed before automobiles.So I read with great interest that recent news feature on the front page of the newspaper that lands in my front yard (here in a classic blue-collar community well inside the vast ring of Baltimore...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The Rev. Billy Graham turns 95 next week, and Sarah Palin and real estate mogul Donald Trump are among the 800 people planning to attend his celebration.---snip---Graham spokesman Jeremy Blume says there are ties between the Graham family and Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican presidential candidate. Relief aid headed to Russia provided by Samaritan's Purse, the international charity run by Franklin Graham, is staged in Alaska....

VATICAN CITY — Claims of eavesdropping on the Vatican are nothing new. But it’s hard to imagine any current foreign snooping could match the spying frenzy of the Cold War when the communist “East” and democratic “West” were locked in an ideological battle. After Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope John Paul II in 1978, the Vatican did come under increased scrutiny as it was seen to be a decisive player in the anti-communist chess game. Apparently double agent priests infiltrated the upper echelons of the Vatican and Czechoslovakian spies reportedly bugged the private studio of then-Vatican Secretary of...

Moscow, November 1, Interfax - Victims of political persecutions suffered for faith were commemorated at the Butovo firing range, the Moscow Patriarchate reports at its official website. Names well-known today (of about thousand people) killed in Butovo in the years of Great Purge were declared near the funeral ditches for several hours. The NKVD "shooting list" was voiced in compliance with the days when verdicts were carried out, photos of the killed people were shown at a special display. Rector of the Novospassky Monastery and other clerics read out the first names, then parishioners continued the reading. Several dozens of...

The Conservative movement in America - much like those who fought valiantly at the Alamo - will shortly be overrun and butchered at the hand of a godless and lawless world (Matt. 24:12, Gal. 1:4; Eph. 6:12, Rev. 13). These sobering realities are too much for the majority of American conservatives to think on and understandably so, they do not want to retain this reality in their thoughts. These individuals have put ALL of their trust in this sound and crucial ideology for fallen humanity and rightly so, true conservatism is key for a healthy society and beneficial for obtaining...

Psalm 7:10 My Defense is in God, Who Preserveth the Upright in Heart.

Martin Luther “did more than any single man to make modern history the development of revolution,” declared Lord Acton. (Lectures on Modern History) The Protestant Reformation profoundly changed the trajectory of Western Civilization. While the Reformation changed every facet of society, it is important to remember that the Protestant Reformers were of course, primarily theologians. In their view, they believed they were recovering truth about God’s Word and revelation to the world. Today is Reformation Day and many Protestants around the world already have or will celebrate the roots of their churches. But there is also a crisis going on...

R&L: In what way did the Reformation reshape education in the modern world? Herman J. Selderhuis: Fundamental was the insight that there was no distinction between nature and grace as a lower and an upper level. This means that theology is not seen any longer as higher and more important than other subject matters and faculties, which caused a re-evaluation of other fields of employment, and of other educational tracts.The development of the universities, like the academy in Geneva, University of Leiden, and many other institutions focused on the broad spectrum of creation, natural science. That imparted an impulse by...

It's been said that the ideas of 16th-century church reformer John Calvin helped shape modern democracy and capitalism. Now, 500 years after his birth, the German Historical Museum in Berlin is taking a closer look. With more than 360 historical documents, works of art and liturgical objects, the Berlin show is the largest exhibition in Europe during the Calvin Year, which marks half a millennium since the reformer's birth on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, France. The exhibition focuses on Calvin as a person and his influence on Europe. It also touches on issues like expulsion, migration and minorities --...