Free Republic

In this message, recorded at College Church in Wheaton, Illinois on March 17, 2015, pastor and author Kevin DeYoung addresses a difficult and often controversial topic: what does the Bible really teach about homosexuality?

The vocal pivot from such traditional social issues marks the first time U.S. Catholic bishops have publicly asked those seeking the White House to heed the admonitions of Francis' June encyclical, said Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines. In Francis' major teaching document, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics called for a "sweeping revolution" to correct a "structurally perverse" economic system that allows the rich to exploit the poor and has turned the Earth into an "immense pile of filth."

About 20 years ago, I was spending time with David Wilkerson in New York City when a storm unexpectedly broke out as we were leaving a building. Sure enough, in true New York fashion, there was someone right outside the door selling umbrellas, and as expected, Pastor Dave bought one to keep us dry in the showers. In fact, just about everyone seemed to buy one as they walked outside into the sudden downpour. I feel like that umbrella salesman today, except that for years now, I’ve been selling these umbrellas in the desert, knowing that a massive storm was...

The West’s Islamic future has already been happening in the Muslim colony Dearbornistan. This 2012 story is worth another look...By now, close to 270,000 viewers [make that nearly 2 million now] have seen the video (see below) of the Christian street preachers being assaulted on the streets of Dearborn, Michigan. They were walking in public areas of the annual Dearborn Arab Festival on Sunday 17 June 2012 (Father’s Day), carrying placards and wearing T-shirts bearing mild statements expressing their Christian beliefs.

While iPhone sales remain strong, Apple Watch sales look limp. Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves on Wednesday raised his Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone sales estimates, but trimmed his targets for the Apple Watch. Hargreaves has a sector weight rating on Apple stock, with a 12-month fair value of 139. Apple stock was up a fraction, near 126, in afternoon trading on the stock market today. Apple stock touched its all-time high above 134 on April 28. "Anecdotal evidence suggests Apple Watch demand is slowing quickly," Hargreaves said in a research note. "This dovetails with recent supply checks, which suggested a...

Tom DeLay appeared on Newsmax TV yesterday, where he told host Steve Malzberg that, just as he had predicted, all Hell is now breaking loose because of the Supreme Court ruling striking down gay marriage bans. Things are now so out of control, DeLay said, that he even knows about a "secret memo" from the Justice Department aimed at legalizing "12 new perversions," including bestiality and pedophilia. "We've already found a secret memo coming out of the Justice Department," DeLay claimed. "They're now going to go after 12 new perversions, things like bestiality, polygamy, having sex with little boys and...

“The judgments that Liberals render on public issues, domestic and foreign, are as predictable as the salivation of Pavlovian dogs”, wrote James Burnham in his 1964 classic Suicide of the West. Burnham continues, “Modern Liberalism does not offer ordinary men compelling motives for personal sacrifice, suffering, and death. There is no tragic dimension in its picture of the good life. Men become willing to endure, sacrifice, and die for God, for family, honor, country, from a sense of absolute duty or an exalted vision of the meaning of history…And it is preceisley these ideas and institutions that Liberalism has criticized,...

It’s difficult to see how the nationwide legalization of gay marriage could have any kind of significant negative repercussions for anybody who’s not gay. Difficult – but not impossible. Because now that the US government formally recognizes marriage equality as a fundamental right, it really shouldn’t skew the tax code so as to give millions of dollars in tax breaks to groups which remain steadfastly bigoted on the subject. I’m talking, of course, about churches.

Freedom of religion and the government "qualified" church Last week’s Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges opens another can of worms that is driving rhetoric in a way that misdirects people from the reality of its affect on religion and the free exercise thereof. No, this does not come from a lawyer, it comes from a missionary who, for more than 20 years, has delved into the legal entities that churches have embraced, essentially transforming their structure. And the change occurred innocently by way of the non-profit organization enticement. Here are some salient points: There is only one Law...

Take government out of the equation and offer up "Civil Unions," "Free Choice" and "Benefit Distribution Licenses." The Supreme Court has ruled that gay marriage is the new norm. But the real question is, should the government have any say in what constitutes marriage at all? What if there was a way to stop the controversy? What if we took government out of the business of marriage completely? We have seen, over the past 6 years, government remove any signs of “Faith” from our schools, our government offices, our memorials, our military and our foreign policy. But why then, are...

Nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition protesting a proposal to turn a Catholic hospital chapel into a Muslim prayer room.

THE FALL OF ORTHODOX ENGLAND Vladimir Moss It is true what I say: should the Christian faith weaken, the kingship will immediately totter.Archbishop Wulfstan of York, The Institutes of Polity, 4 (1023).INTRODUCTION: ENGLAND, ROME, CONSTANTINOPLE, NORMANDY On October 14, 1066, at Hastings in southern England, the last Orthodox king of England, Harold II, died in battle against Duke William of Normandy. William had been blessed to invade England by the Roman Pope Alexander in order to bring the English Church into full communion with the “reformed Papacy”; for since 1052 the English archbishop had been banned and denounced as schismatic...

Troubled and Trusting: A Sunday Prayer after the Supreme Court Ruling on Marriage Last Friday the Supreme Court of the United States handed down a ruling that requires the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in all fifty states.As Christians, we are not of this world, but we are in it and we care about and are concerned for what happens here. And so on Sunday at Desert Springs Church, in Albuquerque, NM, we prayed in reflection on the Supreme Court’s decision for our nation, for the church, and for everything in-between. Here’s how we addressed the Lord when we gathered...

While the Supreme Court of the United States ruled Friday that same-sex marriage is legal in all 50 states, several religious leaders in Corsicana said Monday they will not hold a same-sex wedding service in their churches. ... Pastors of several churches cited Biblical teachings for their stance. ...

The Sword and the KeysKey to resolving the issues regarding how the church must relate to the state is an understanding of the distinct functions Scripture assigns to each authority. Church and state are actually both ministers of God that are appointed to fulfill certain tasks. Historically, human beings have always run into trouble when the state attempts to do the work of the church and the church attempts to do the work of the state.

Time Magazine wasted no time in calling for the end of tax exemptions for religious institutions, with writer Mark Oppenheimer firing the initial salvo.  Oppenheimer writes the “beliefs” column for The New York Times, in which he studies religious matters with the alacrity of a medical examiner performing an autopsy: God is dead, let’s find out what killed Him. I have a different view on the subject, that God’s not dead, but attempts to kill Him surely result in self-impalement on His extremely sharp sword.  Churches don’t need tax-exempt status for God’s sake, but for society’s sake, and I offer...

The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits Two weeks ago, with a decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on the way, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, which ensures that religious institutions won’t lose their tax exemptions if they don’t support same-sex marriage. Liberals tend to think Sen. Lee’s fears are unwarranted, and they can even point to Justice Anthony Kennedy’s opinion in Friday’s case, which promises “that religious organizations and persons [will be] given proper protection.” But I don’t think Sen....

The free will God has given to man has led to the inevitable. Same-sex marriage is now the law of the land in the United States thanks to a 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court, making June 26, 2015, a red-letter, landmark day in American history. By Friday's ruling, all states are now required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and all 50 states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in all other states. The 14 states that had not been forced to succumb to "societal progress" must now do so — by law. Is anyone surprised? You shouldn't be....

While the witch-hunt against Confederate flags, statues, paintings and even stained glass windows continues to distract the masses, it’s really the churches Big Government most covet Now that Gay Day June 26th has come to pass, and Barack Obama had the White House flooded in the colours of the gay rainbow, Sundays will never be the same. Sunday, that is, as the day Christians come to church to worship the Creator. The progressives want Sunday, and as sure as Lucifer is now calling the shots, they will be coming for it. Sunday, the day of rest, will ultimately become the...

When it comes to American Catholic opinions about climate change, a recent poll shows a major gap between whites and Latinos. The Public Religion Research Institute reports that by margins of approximately 20 percent, Latino Catholics are likelier than white Catholics to believe that there is such a thing as global warming; that it’s “due to human activity”; and that it “constitutes a crisis or a major problem.” What’s causing this discrepancy? A false god, suggests writer Patricia Miller. “White Catholics don’t accept the scientific consensus on climate change because it clashes with their other god: the free market,” declared...