Free Republic

If you are a parent who struggles with what kind of bible to purchase for your children then you and I have a lot in common. For a few months I have been debating what kind of bible to purchase for our seven year old daughter Hannah. I cannot recommend to you enough the ESV Children's Bible. Spanning the ages of elementary to junior high, this is unlike many children's bibles that you see on the market today. Absent are the many cheesy and shallow applications of biblical truth to a child's life. Present is a strong gospel presentation at...

(8 July 08 - RV) The Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity issued a Statement Tuesday regarding recent events within the Anglican Communion. The Council is headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper. The statement reads: “We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy. The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches...

The Church: Activities Til I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. --1 Timothy 4:13 In an effort to get the work of the Lord done we often lose contact with the Lord of the work and quite literally wear our people out as well. I have heard more than one pastor boast that his church was a "live" one, pointing to the printed calendar as a proof-- something on every night and several meetings during the day. Of course this proves nothing except that the pastor and the church are being guided by a bad spiritual philosophy....

Make no mistake, the Anglo-Catholics were done over at the General Synod in York in the debate over women bishops. This being the Church of England, their humiliation was accompanied by lots of hand-wringing, a good deal of guilt and a late attempt to stop the beating entirely, when the Bishop of Durham intervened like a worried boxing referee. The Synod was fraught and emotional But it was bloody just the same. After nearly eight hours, all that the Catholic Conscience had to show for its pains was a motion that now indicates that it is the wish of a...

(8 July 08 - RV) The Vatican Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity issued a Statement Tuesday regarding recent events within the Anglican Communion. The Council is headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper. The statement reads: “We have regretfully learned of the Church of England vote to pave the way for the introduction of legislation which will lead to the ordaining of women to the Episcopacy. The Catholic position on the issue was clearly expressed by Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. Such a decision signifies a breaking away from the apostolic tradition maintained by all of the Churches...

Church of England General Synod to touch off an exodus by approving women bishops YORK, England - "There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome," an Anglican bishop told the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, after it was revealed that a group of "senior" bishops from the Church of England has been in secret negotiations with the highest levels of the Vatican to discuss the current crisis in Anglicanism over the acceptance of homosexuality and female bishops. Bishops from both the Church of England's "evangelical" or protestant and "high" or "Catholic" wings are said to have been involved...

A caller to our weekly radio program asked a question that has come up before: Are Roman Catholics saved? Let me respond to this as best I can. But I need to offer a qualifier because I think this is going to be somewhat dissatisfying for some because I am not going to say a simple "aye" or "nay." My answer is: It kind of depends. The reason I'm saying that is because of certain ambiguities. My point is this, I think that in the area of the doctrine of salvation, Roman Catholic theology, as I understand it, is unbiblical...

I have until now refrained from commenting on the turmoil affecting the Church of England, on the grounds that I am not an Anglican and therefore it is none of my business. As a Catholic, I have routinely been disgusted throughout the four decades since the Second Vatican Catastrophe by the propensity of outsiders - encouraged by the bogus ecumenical movement - to harangue the Holy Roman Church about its doctrine, practices and liturgy and to offer impertinent prescriptions for change. Now, however, the Anglican contagion is invading the Catholic Church and that is quite another matter. The news that...

The bloodshed in the late 1500s had a decidedly sobering effect on England. The outrageous spectacle of Protestants being martyred under one regime, and Catholics under another, helped prepare the way eventually for greater religious tolerance. Under James, who became king in 1603, a major move in that direction took place.James faced a nation badly in need of religious unification. The Puritans had grown strong in numbers and also in determination to make their numbers felt, and they petitioned James for reforms.Though he was not sympathetic to the Puritan cause, James felt it politically wise to hold a conference to...

The Church of England's ruling body has voted to go ahead with the ordination of women bishops. But the Church was facing a damaging split after members of its General Synod threw out compromise proposals on females in senior ranks. All safeguards demanded by traditionalists were rejected. Sky News correspondent Mike McCarthy said: "It's a historic and very significant moment for the Church of England. "The real test now is how many people will leave (the Church). There are certainly going to be many wrestling with their consciences." The Synod members voted to approve work on a national statutory code...

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry         www.carm.org Location:  Home > Religious Movements > Oneness Pentecostal Debate Topic: Is water baptism necessary for salvation? On Tuesday, May 13, 2008 I debated a Mr. Roger Perkins on "Is water baptism necessary for salvation?". Mr. Perkins is a oneness believer and an ex-pastor in the oneness movement.  Mr. Perkins holds the position that water baptism is necessary for salvation.  I deny that assertion and maintain that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.Mr. Perkins opened with a 15 minute speech.  I followed with the text below, which I read...

Baptism Verses with responses On May 13, 2008 I was in a formal debate with a oneness believer who said baptism was necessary for salvation. Following are my notes I prepared for that debate.  I put htem here as an additional help to readers.If you would like to read the opening paper I read at the debate, please see Matt Slick's Opening Statement on Baptism. Matthew 28:19-20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I...

It has become a cliché to say that the Church of England is in a mess. But a new chapter of messiness began just recently with the “marriage� of two Anglican clergymen in a festive ceremony in St Bartholomew’s church in London. One of the men is a doctor at the nearby famous St Bartholomew’s Hospital. The wedding – in grand style, with music and flowers and “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…� and vows and bouquets – received widespread publicity.  At no time among any Christians at any stage since Christ himself walked this earth – or...

The Church: Commotion, Not Devotion ...and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a still small voice. --1 Kings 19:12 "The accent in the Church today," says Leonard Ravenhill, the English evangelist, "is not on devotion, but on commotion." Religious extroversion has been carried to such an extreme in evangelical circles that hardly anyone has the desire, to say nothing of the courage, to question the soundness of it. Externalism has taken over. God now speaks by the wind and the earthquake only; the still small voice can be heard...

Thank the Calvinists for one of the most thoughtfully provocative moments of the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. (Of course, if you’re a Calvinist, you’ll say: “No, thank God. That moment was preordained from before the foundation of the world.” Just a little theological humor.) The moment happened while messengers considered the sixth of nine resolutions they passed this year. Resolution Six addressed “regenerate church membership and church member restoration.” It exhorted churches and pastors to “implement a plan to minister to, counsel and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture.” But Tom...

STATEMENT ON THE ANTICHRIST Introduction to the StatementAs Martin Luther grew in his appreciation of the gospel, he also grew in his recognition that the Papacy is the Antichrist. A 1954 WELS pamphlet entitled Antichrist put it this way: “It was because Luther cherished the Gospel so dearly that his faith instinctively recoiled and protested in unmistakable terms when the Pope put himself in the place of Christ and declared His work insufficient and in vain. That is the use to which Luther’s faith put the prophecy of Scripture. For him the tenet that the Pope is the Antichrist was...

Rudyard Kipling realized that when nations rise to wealth and power, just like ancient Israel in Deuteronomy 8, they are inclined to forget God. He immortalized this reality in his poem 'Recessional,' written on the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s reign. Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget —lest we forget! What is true of nations is equally true of the Church. Easily and quickly we forget where we came from and what...

he London Telegraph learned on Saturday evening that some senior conservative Church of England bishops have been in Rome holding secret meetings with members of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. The Telegraph knows the identities of the bishops but has agreed to hold them in anonymity. Following the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in Jerusalem and with the Lambeth Conference soon to be held, the content of the talks is assumed to be focused on the departures from orthodox Christianity within the Anglican Communion. Right now the Church of England is holding its General Synod where women’s...

Southern Baptists inherited the most compelling aspects of all the Baptist Calvinists that preceded them. James P. Boyce summarized this well. He encouraged every preacher to get theological education in some way, even if it could not be at the Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. If no other means were available, he advised, 'work at it yourself.' The fathers of the convention did this, Boyce claimed; 'They familiarized themselves with the Bible, and Gill and Andrew Fuller, and they made good and effective preachers. God is able to raise up others like them.'1 But this is the very difficulty that...

For many in our culture, the word "Calvinism" is synonymous with a grim form of legalistic religion that chiefly focuses on the doctrine of predestination -- the idea that God has determined from eternity who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. This shorthand definition was perhaps given additional ground by the famous essay of Max Weber on "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism." Weber argued that Calvinism's obsession with predestination led to a "this-worldly asceticism," which caused its followers to reinvest their profits in their businesses rather than to spend them on personal luxuries,...

This is a selection of important events from a week of religious history. July 6 In 1535, Sir Thomas More was executed. More, once King Henry VIII's chief minister and friend, had refused to take the oath of supremacy accepting the English monarch as head of the church. A Roman Catholic martyr, he was beatified in 1886 and canonized in 1935. In 1906, Parliament passed the Lord's Day Observance Act to prohibit work, entertainment, sport and almost all commerce on Sundays. The law remained on the books until the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down in 1985. July 7...

Let him who steals steal no longer, but rather let him work with his hands, performing what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who had need. [Ephesians 4:28] Max Weber, the German sociologist and scholar, in his 1904 classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, noted that one of the major contributing factors to western capitalism was Calvinism. How so? Calvin taught that all legitimate work is a calling, that a preacher’s work is no more spiritual than a businessman’s. He also taught that our chief aim is to glorify God...

By the 1500s the darkness of the Middle Ages was drawing to a close. New discoveries were illuminating every field of learning, and a spirit of new life permeated society. It was the time of the Renaissance. Two events of that time would have an especially telling influence on the years ahead. The first was Johann Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press sometime during the 1430s. Gutenberg’s invention required an enormous sacrifice from him, demanding vast amounts of time and his personal indebtedness. He died without realizing much return on his investment; but, like so many other major sacrifices, the...

The crisis in the Church of England over homosexuality is a personal one for the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. Whether you are a supporter or not, a Christian or a non-believer, it is increasingly clear - as the threat of schism over homosexuality and women priests intensifies - that the leader of the Established Church is in a false position. Dr Rowan Williams portrays himself as radically inclined, yet on homosexuality he has aligned himself with a conservative cause. --- This false position arises because there is every reason to believe that he is going against his conscience, and that,...

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I am writing you on the last day of the GAFCON, or Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem. It has been a long week since I arrived, with the bulk of my time spent in our hotel, working with the other delegates on a statement that will provide the groundwork for a new, biblically orthodox, mission-focused, global Anglican movement. Although I did not go on any tours, I was able to pray at various sites in Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Calvary), the Church of All Nations (Gethsemane) and the Western...

The Church: The Missing Supernatural Afflatus Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. --Luke 24:49 Where adequate power is present almost any means will suffice, but where the power is absent not all the means in the world can secure the desired end. The Spirit of God may use a song, a sermon, a good deed, a text or the mystery and majesty of nature, but always the final work will be done by the pressure of the inliving Spirit upon...

Pope John XXIII believed Padre Pio, the hugely popular Capuchin monk who was canonised in 2002, was a fraud who had "incorrect" relations with women and whose soul was in danger.... Sergio Luzzatto...has also found documents in the Vatican archives suggesting that Padre Pio may have faked his stigmata, the marks of the wounds of Christ, with acid. Vatican officials say both allegations are already well known.... Followers of Padre Pio believe he exuded "the odour of sanctity", had the gift of bilocation (being in two places at once), healed the sick and could prophesy the future.

A New Creation By Michael Horton, Ph.D., Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and the University of Coventry, Associate Professor of Apologetics and Historical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in California, and chair of the Council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. This article was published in Modern Reformation magazine, Volume 12, Number 3, May/June 2003. Maureen O'Hara and Walter Truett Anderson have recently underscored the growing suspicion that the therapeutic industry is in bad shape. Based on her own experience as a San Diego psychotherapist, O'Hara introduces us to a few of her patients. The names have been changed. Jerry feels overwhelmed,...

It is interesting that the darkness of the Middle Ages lasted about as long as the Millennium’s light will last—a thousand years. The Middle Ages began in the mid-fifth century A.D. with the fall of the Western Empire and lasted until the mid-fifteenth century, when several momentous events, including the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the invention of the printing press, brought these darker ages to an end and prepared the way for the Restoration.Though the Middle Ages are noted more for retrogression than for progress, there were exceptions. Among the exceptions was a continuation of the spread of the Christian...

The Archbishop of Canterbury has rounded on rebel Anglicans seeking to bypass his authority over issues such as homosexuality and women priests. Dr Rowan Williams adopted unusually forthright language to accuse the hardline traditionalists of lacking legitimacy One of his staff even suggested the rebels were becoming a "Protestant sect". The Archbishop's comments follow the creation at the weekend of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Foca), a global network for millions of Anglicans unhappy at the ordination of the openly homosexual Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson. Dr Williams called for patience from those who want to create an...

The Bishop of Manchester, the Right Reverend Nigel McCulloch, has ordained his wife at Manchester Cathedral. Celia McCulloch is to serve as a full-time stipendiary curate in the parish of Cheetham, north Manchester. She was one of 44 people who were ordained this weekend in three services held in the Diocese of Manchester. "The day of ordination represents the end of one part of a journey and the start of another," Bishop McCulloch said. "It is an honour for a bishop, and in my case a special honour for a husband, to be part of that journey. "I hope the...

Marriage laws, lack of church commitment from newlyweds make faith leaders think twice. Some clergy think churches should divorce themselves from the wedding business.The controversy over same-sex marriage – along with a growing sense that many couples who marry in churches never return – has prompted faith leaders to say it's time to reconsider how California couples tie the knot.After the California Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California began encouraging all couples to marry outside the church. "I urge you to encourage all couples, regardless of orientation, to follow the pattern of...

A High Point pastor faces misdemeanor charges after being accused of soliciting sex online. Randleman police said they arrested Otis Durham outside the Wal-Mart here at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Durham, 55, is pastor of the Sandy Ridge United Methodist Church in High Point. He was charged with solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of crimes against nature and is free on a $1,000 bond. Det. R.K. Hardy said today that a Randleman woman contacted police Friday after getting an unwanted sexual solicitation online. Hardy said he posed online as the woman and arranged for a time and place to meet the...

The Church: A Model for Other Churches ...so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe. For from you the word of the Lord sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything. --1 Thessalonians 1:7,8 I would like to see a church become so godly, so Spirit-filled that it would have a spiritual influence on all of the churches in the entire area. Paul told some of his people, "you became a model to all...

It should be obvious that all the writings which now make up the New Testament did not jump from men’s pens into leather-bound books. As with the Old Testament, the process was slow and piecemeal. Each part was written separately, and those who were fortunate enough to privately possess any scriptures probably, like Paul, would have had separate parchments or scrolls.Precisely what was accepted as authoritative scriptures by the early Christians A.D. is uncertain. Just as the early Christians A.D. accepted as authoritative far more Hebrew records than appear in our current Old Testament, so these church members drew upon...

Thank the Calvinists for one of the most thoughtfully provocative moments of the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. (Of course, if you’re a Calvinist, you’ll say: “No, thank God. That moment was preordained from before the foundation of the world.” Just a little theological humor.) The moment happened while messengers considered the sixth of nine resolutions they passed this year. Resolution Six addressed “regenerate church membership and church member restoration.” It exhorted churches and pastors to “implement a plan to minister to, counsel and restore wayward church members based upon the commands and principles given in Scripture.” But Tom...

Worship: What's Missing Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. -Psalm 95:6 Christian churches have come to the dangerous time predicted long ago. It is a time when we can pat one another on the back, congratulate ourselves and join in the glad refrain, "We are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!" It certainly is true that hardly anything is missing from our churches these days--except the most important thing. We are missing the genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and...

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s highest governing body voted Friday in favor of a proposal that would allow for the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians. The 218th General Assembly, meeting in San Jose, Calif., this week, voted 380-325 to send the overture – that would delete the requirement that clergy live in "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness" – to the denomination's 173 presbyteries for approval. Adding to the blow to conservatives, the Assembly also adopted a supplementary authoritative interpretation of the PC(USA) constitution that would allow gay and...

Because of the Jews, the Christian era from its beginning possessed a body of scriptures as a unique heritage. But unlike orthodox Jews, who believed the collection to be a completed scripture, Christ’s disciples knew there was now a richer portion. They didn’t abandon the Old Word, for new understanding had made it more precious than ever. But they now had the teachings of the Savior as remembered by the Gospel writers and later augmented by the writings of his Apostles and other early church leaders.For Bible scholars, there is major uncertainty in our day about what constituted the “New...

Can we uphold the 39 Articles and still include Charismatics and Anglocatholics in Communion? On anglocatholics (if you mean theological anglocatholics as opposed to those who simply like high-church liturgy), see the comparison above between the Affirmation and the Declaration on the 39 Articles. For anglocatholics, the 39 Articles (which were never “normative” or “confessional” for any jurisdiction except the CoE) have both historical value and theological merit, but that merit is subject to the correction and interpretation of Scripture, the Creeds, the seven Ecumenical Councils, and the consensus of patristic tradition. The Declaration, by contrast, appears to make the...

Over at A Conservative Blog for Peace, an interesting discussion has been in process. Namely, on the recent phenomena of the Orthodox “Western Rite“. The combox discussion can be found here.The Western Rite Orthodox concept has been around for about 100 years. Not to be confused with the Eastern notion that the west “used to be� Orthodox prior to 1054 (but no longer is) when I speak of WRO, I mean to discuss the movement to create parishes worshipping according to traditional western styles under Eastern Orthodox bishops. Like Eastern Catholics who are Easterners in communion with the Roman...

Chapter I. The foundation of the whole ensuing discourse laid in Rom. viii. 13 -- The words of the apostle opened -- The certain connection between true mortification and salvation -- Mortification the work of believers -- The Spirit the principal efficient cause of it -- What meant by "the body" in the words of the apostle -- What by "the deeds of the body" -- Life, in what sense promised to this duty. That what I have of direction to contribute to the carrying on of the work of mortification in believers may receive order and perspicuity, I shall...

STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE Praise the LORD! It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2) Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem! Introduction The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans...

STATEMENT ON THE GLOBAL ANGLICAN FUTURE Praise the LORD! It is good to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. (Psalm 147:1-2) Brothers and Sisters in Christ: We, the participants in the Global Anglican Future Conference, send you greetings from Jerusalem! Introduction The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), which was held in Jerusalem from 22-29 June 2008, is a spiritual movement to preserve and promote the truth and power of the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ as we Anglicans...

Just minutes ago, conservative Anglicans announced what they are calling “The Jerusalem Declaration,” which states their intention to erect a new “fellowship of confessing Anglicans.” "We grieve for the spiritual decline in the most economically developed nations, where the forces of militant secularism and pluralism are eating away the fabric of society and churches are compromised and enfeebled in their witness…Sadly, this crisis has torn the fabric of the Communion in such a way that it cannot simply be patched back together."... The declaration is the unanimous product of the bishops and archbishops meeting here in Jerusalem, whose dioceses together...

Anglican Churches Win on Constitutional Grounds Va. Court Upholds Constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute to End Episcopal Attempt to Seize Control Over Church Property FAIRFAX, Va. (June 27, 2008) – The 11 churches sued by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia celebrated today’s Fairfax County Circuit Court ruling that confirms the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9). The 11 churches named in the lawsuit are members of the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV). “We are pleased with Judge Bellows’ ruling today. After meticulous examination, the judge ruled to uphold the constitutionality of the Virginia Division...

At least one Church of England bishop will defect to Rome soon after the Lambeth Conference, I gather from Anglo-Catholic sources. And there could be more to follow. I can't tell you much more than that at the moment, because the negotiations with Rome are so sensitive - and the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, who distrust Anglican traditionalists, are quite capable of throwing a spanner in the works.It's shaming to have to admit that the bishops of my own Church are the chief obstacle to a significant move of Anglo-Catholic clergy and lay people into full communion with...

Worship: The Program For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. --Matthew 18:20 Now, I freely admit that it is impossible to hold a Christian service without an agenda. If order is to be maintained, an order of service must exist somewhere. If two songs are to be sung, someone must know which one is to be sung first, and whether this knowledge is only in someone's head or has been reduced to paper there is indeed a "program," however we may dislike to call it that. The point...

Anglicanism Nearly Finished Destroying Itself It seems geologic ages of time since Sayers, Williams and Lewis walked the earth. And yet it's only been 50-60 years. Think about that when somebody says "What could happen in the space of a few years?" Stable societies can, under the right circumstances, collapse with incredible speed. Breaking the bonds of communion Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Post  Published: Thursday, June 26, 2008 Formal arrangements have yet to be made, but it now appears that the critical decisions have already been taken for a dissolution of the Anglican Communion. Every 10 years, all...

Worship: In Need of Worshipers But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. --Acts 6:4 Well, we have great churches and we have beautiful sanctuaries and we join in the chorus, "We have need of nothing." But there is every indication that we are in need of worshipers. We have a lot of men willing to sit on our church boards who have no desire for spiritual joy and radiance and who never show up for the church prayer meeting. These are the men who often make the decisions about the church budget...