Free Republic

The liberal-leaning Church of Sweden is expected to lose over one million members in the next 10 years, insiders have said, and will soon have to start selling property it can no longer support. Börje Holgersson, chairman of the church council of Lima-Transtrand in Västerås, said in an article for SVT, the Swedish national public TV, that the parish "simply can't afford to make ends meet." A translation by Breitbart News on Wednesday noted that fears are that the Lutheran church, which has around six million baptized members in the country, will see a dramatic drop in membership over the...

THE Church of England and the Methodist Church moved one step closer together last week. After a wide-ranging debate, the General Synod approved Mission and Ministry in Covenant, a report that proposes creating full interchangeability of ministers between the two Churches, moving towards full communion, if not full unity (News, 26 January). Although a number of concerns were raised on the floor of the Synod during the debate, the report was given overwhelming support, and in the vote received comfortably more than a two-thirds majority in each of the Houses: Bishops, Clergy, and Laity. As a prelude to the debate,...

A Christian university in Washington state will open its stage in March to women who believe aborting their unborn babies was a good thing. The theater department at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington is sponsoring the pro-abortion event in partnership with the Planned Parenthood abortion chain, according to the Daily Caller. The event, “Out of Silence: Abortion Stories from the 1 in 3 Campaign,” will promote the disproved statistic that one in three women will abort an unborn baby in her lifetime. “From the halls of Congress to pulpits and court houses around the country, women’s personal stories about...

The wisdom of the ages are here to be had, But it is the spirit of understanding that will make you glad, For though wisdom is a Ruby, understanding is its light , Revealing Revelation that brings delight, And so it is when your eyes are opened to The All of Me, Through all 7 eyes of The Spirit you shall see, For truly if you retain them with out first having the Fear of The Lord, All these spirits fail to become your Faith and sword, And So it is in all your getting for wisdom to come, You...

The Church of England is facing as many as 3,300 potential sex abuse cases in the form of concerns and allegations, as revealed by the Church's lead bishop on safeguarding issues. The Times reported on Thursday that Peter Hancock, bishop of Bath and Wells, shared the latest figures, which concern sex abuse against children and vulnerable adults reaching up to 2016, during a three-day meeting of the General Synod in London. Hancock did not make it clear whether all the complaints are new or a combination with longstanding ones, but even if a fraction of them are upheld, the CofE...

On February 6 the Pontifical Academy of Sciences run by the controversial Argentinean Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo re-tweeted from its Twitter account “Casina Pio IV” a New York Times article entitled: “No Children Because of Climate Change? Some People Are Considering it.” The re-tweet produced strong reactions. Paweł Chojecki, an US-style Protestant preacher in Lublin, Poland, commented underneath, “Today the Vatican is promoting a diabolical depopulation teaching! This is not a church of Christ.”

My children do you realize all the battles we have walked through together have already made you Overcomers as David over Goliath ?! Now I desire you to take the hand of others I have placed in your path and reveal to them that I AM The KEY to all trials and I alone hold the Key to their Victories as I overcame for you in your Valleys ! Now be that buoyancy compensator for as I have been the Lifter of your Soul Now I desire you to lift up others and love them as I Love you for...

Of those traditions kept by my conservative Mennonite church, a foot-washing ritual was one of the more notable. It is a practice based in the example of Jesus who washed the feet of the disciples and then instructed them to follow his example: When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also...

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Episcopal church in the Diocese of Washington, D.C., passed a resolution last week to stop using masculine pronouns for God in future updates to its Book of Common Prayer. The resolution to stop using "gendered language for God" was passed quickly by delegates to the Diocese's 123rd Convention. “If revision of the Book of Common Prayer is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for...

Some time ago, I read the short book Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Catholicism written by the late Reformed preacher R.C. Sproul. It was a good read; I thought that Sproul treated this controversy with a degree of fairness and accuracy that was not present in other books that I have read on this subject. He basically laid the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Westminster Confession side-by-side as he worked through the major differences. Sure, there were some snarky comments here and there but I overlooked these since it was clear that the book was being targeted...

The United Methodist Church is growing globally while declining in the United States, passing the 12.5 million-member mark, according to recently released statistics. Drawing from annual conference journals sent to the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration mostly from 2016, the UMC saw its numbers grow compared to five years earlier. The statistics were used to determine the number of delegates each annual conference will send to the 2020 UMC General Conference. Delegates for the denomination's 2020 legislative gathering will represent a diverse national background, according to the United Methodist News Service. "The 2020 General Conference in Minneapolis will...

Your burdens are mine says The Lord, So cast all your worries on me and lay down your sword, For I AM Dominion over all, I decide what stands and what falls, I raise up kings and kingdoms I am above all domains, My spirit crushes all that profanes My name, So be at Peace for I AM your all , Allow My Peace to stand you tall, For I AM your plumb line , your standard and frame, Just Worship me for I AM your Fame, Nothing else matters but your relationship with Me, I AM your Tree of...

A member of Germany’s far-right and anti-Muslim Alternative for Germany party (AfD) who recently converted to Islam has said he did so in protest at what he sees as the “moral decline” of the Protestant church. Arthur Wagner, 48, until recently a leading party member in the state of Brandenburg, told the Bild newspaper on Wednesday that his decision was in part sparked by the church’s acceptance of same-sex marriage and the presence of priests at gay pride marches. “One of the reasons (for the conversion) is tied to changes that have taken place in the church, which no longer...

The government is facing a fresh push to ban "conversion therapy" aimed at changing gay people's sexuality. The Church of England has been calling for the highly controversial practice to be outlawed, after its ruling body voted for a ban last year. Ministers condemned the "therapy" but have refused to meet Church campaigners to discuss the issue. Now, Tory MP and church commissioner Caroline Spelman has vowed to set up a meeting with the minister in charge. Labour MP Ben Bradshaw raised the issue in the House of Commons, telling MPs: "This so-called therapy does dreadful, dreadful damage to young...

The Tree of life is yours my chosen one, For you walk with me as my Beloved one, From times gone by I have been with you, And now comes your season of Hermons Dew, A quenching of your thirst for me, The very nectar from My Tree, Your eyes wide open to My view, Of Kingdom Life that Zion renews, A flanking by The Heavenly Hosts , A mantle of My Holy Ghost, Now as Elisha I shall come as you Call, Part the waters for one and all, To cross over into their Promised LAND, FOR YOU AND...

Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White, and a member and elder in a PCA church, is running for Texas governor as a democrat candidate. White, 45, is an elder at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, a conservative congregation that is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). In recent days, he has taken heat from other Democrats for being personally against abortion, though he has said he recognizes that abortion remains legal and that he would not try to change that if elected governor. According to online policy papers, PCA opposes same-sex marriage...

Those who identify as Unitarian Universalists, Atheists or Agnostics are the strongest supporters of legalized abortion in America, according to a report published by the Pew Research Center this week. Ninety percent of members of the Unitarian Universalist Church, a liberal religion professing no creed or specific belief in God, said that abortion should be legal “in all or most cases,” Pew found, while atheists and agnostics followed behind with 87 percent of each group asserting the same thing. Notably, 75 percent of all Americans are against abortion-on-demand and believe that abortion should not be legal in all cases, as...

Coming soon a stepping stone,where no man will rule but God alone,where wisdom speaks and virtue rules,The Spirit of The Lord revealing fools.

One of the most spellbinding sections of the book is Metaxas’s superb retelling of Luther’s confrontation with Emperor Charles V in 1521 at the Diet of Worms. From the fall of 1517, when he posted his 95 Theses, through 1520, Luther continued to write and publish his ideas on church reform including The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, The Freedom of the Christian, and numerous other pamphlets and letters. In the fall of 1520, Rome threatened to excommunicate Luther from the church unless he recanted his assertions and challenges. Luther refused. Luther was excommunicated by a papal bull in January...

* Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, implored members to vote for the motion * But the bishops rejected the move at a private meeting at Lambeth Palace * Dr Beardsley, of transgender group Sibyls, said many Christians would be hurtChurch of England bishops have blocked the introduction of a new prayer celebrating a transgender person's change of sex. The House of Bishops was strongly urged to draw up the 'baptism-style' services for sex-change Christians by the Church's 'Parliament', the General Synod, last summer. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was among senior figures who implored Synod members to vote for...