Free Republic

When the Rapture of the Church finally takes place - in which Almighty God the Son calls out His body (saints and ambassadors) - it (The Rapture) will be a wondrous sign unto the apostate western world more so than a sign unto the whole world. For all had better be prepared, for Almighty God's "Day of Wrath" is now at hand (2 Thess. 2:3-12)! The official commencement of this horrific seven year period will be the breaking of the 1st seal (i.e., the "Confirming of the Covenant" - Dan. 9:27) by Almighty God’s Lamb (i.e., The Lord Jesus Christ)...

Atheism is cool. At least, that's the popular perception of a worldview that's enjoyed a rebrand and a renaissance in the last couple of decades. Authors like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have issued forceful public challenges to the claims of the major faiths and the rights they've traditionally been granted, while well-respected and high-profile public figures have lent vocal support to their ideas. When Stephen Fry outlined an atheist (or even anti-theist) position on an Irish talk show, the interview went viral in hours, while comedian Ricky Gervais frequently uses his substantial platform to attack and undermine religion in...

The Great Physician.

At the end of a long day when I was abnormally busy, and cutting back on my coffee intake, I did a 2 hour debate review video. Haha. I may be a bit tired but I think the content here is valuable and I'm looking forward to getting some feedback on it.

10 Reasons we know Christ rose from the dead Tom Hoopes | Apr 18, 2019 At Easter we don’t celebrate a myth or a great psychological symbol. We celebrate a historical event. This Sunday is Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate the Resurrection of the Lord. It’s important to understand what the Church claims. The Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, famous on YouTube, speaks of psychological and symbolic ways he appreciates the resurrection as a great freeing principle, but he says the question of the actual rising of Jesus from the dead is “murky and complicated.”He’s wrong. The question is simple:...

I lived in the Bible Belt when I was an atheist. Was I discriminated against? I don't know. Maybe. I do know that the service industry jobs I applied for were always happy that I was willing to work on Sundays. Discrimination was a term I never thought about in regards to myself. I guess I was more self-sufficient and confident than today's atheists. Definitely more so than those who live in Portland, Oregon. Apparently, the 42 percent of Portland residents who identify as atheist, agnostic, or a religious "none" have been suffering under a great wave of persecution in their...

Anthony Hopkins is one of the most well-known actors of our time. For years, he was a well-known atheist, too. But all of that changed when a woman at an AA meeting challenged his disbelief with one, simple question. That was the beginning of the inspiring Anthony Hopkins testimony! No matter how successful someone may seem from the outside, we all have our own internal struggles. During the earlier years of Anthony Hopkins’ career, he found himself in his own battle with alcoholism. Anthony’s addiction started “innocently.” He adopted a worldly mindset and drank because “that's what you do...

Regulations to “protect” minors from religion reach a new level of absurdity, as churches near schools are forced to close, asked to share lists of youth members.The Chinese government has declared schools to be church-free zones and is taking steps to enforce its will. Bitter Winter obtained a copy of a document entitled Implementation Plan on the Special Governance of Private Christian Gathering Sites, which was issued by the Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs of a city in the northern Shanxi Province. The document calls for the “centralized remediation” of religious meeting venues near colleges and universities (remediation being...

The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky bathed in sunset colors. | ANSWERS IN GENESISOne of the nation’s leading atheist legal groups has sent a warning to over 1,000 public school districts telling them not to take field trips to Answers in Genesis' creationist attractions in Kentucky.The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which claims 31,000 members across the U.S., announced Tuesday that it contacted school districts in five states warning them that field trips to the Ark Encounter or the Creation Museum would be a violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.“Public schools and public school staff may not constitutionally organize...

O little lamb.  I know the journey has been long and the road hard for you.  I know the perplexity of life and the thunderous waves of competing voices make it so difficult to hear the only Voice that matters.  But do not fear, little one.  Do not fear. Sometimes you thought you were holding on by a mere thread, with just the tip of a finger above water.  You could barely utter a prayer, nay even a word.  All you could offer was the wordless, inner groaning of faith.  And in moments of weakness you thought He might...

More and more scholars are becoming skeptical of Messianic prophecy in the Hebrew Bible—that is, the Old Testament. Michael Rydelnik notes that “Although evangelical scholarship still recognizes that there is something messianic about the Hebrew Bible, for the most part it sees it as a story that finds its climax in Jesus, not as predictions that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled” (Rydelnik, The Messianic Hope, 3-4). Yet, such skepticism is not justified. Sure, some passages in the Hebrew Bible have been stretched beyond its scope, something that can become a dangerous trend. Nevertheless, certain passages in the Hebrew Bible enjoy a...

“Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) The gospel was always and ever meant to be good news. It tells us who God is and how we can be saved. For many, the modern gospel has become a fear-based method of behavior control and doubt and jumping through hoops, just in case the “how” didn’t work, or in...

Atheists are fighting the war FOR Christmas? Solstice, Yule, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, and other traditions were blended centuries ago to form Christmas, and embellished with fairy tales and fables into the rich secular modern celebration we have today.See for yourself at http://atheistchristmas.org/ Values like joy, peace, sharing, and celebration are not limited to one faith or culture in December. The foundations of Christmas may be mythological, but the Spirit of Christmas is universal. Keep the Merry, without the Myths!

Regarding the midrash about Osnat's pendant/locket [that identified her to Joseph as a daughter of Jacob], it reminded me of the classic locket shape of a heart. Here is one with Hebrew "love" spelled on it, ahava: אהבה I had further considered that there is only so much information that can be written on a piece of jewelry, so perhaps a pendant with the Hebrew word "love" further represented a statement for Joseph to decode*; e.g. ahava as an acronym for "my husband is the lord of dreams" ("ishi hu ba'al ha-chalomot", which was what Joseph's brothers had derisively called...

A wonderful and deep Truth, worth of genuine reflection. Substitution He has made Him to be sin for us,…that we might be made the righteousness of God.… 2 CORINTHIANS 5:.21 The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sin not by sympathy, but by identification. He was made to be sin. Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable...

(PHOTO: US EMBASSY, Berlin)Vice President Mike Pence (M), Second Lady Karen Pence (L) and their middle child, Charlotte, tour Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial in Germany on February 19, 2017.Vice President Mike Pence has always encouraged his three children to make his Christian faith their own. But in order to do that, at least one of his daughters had teetered on the brink of atheism.Pence's 25-year-old daughter, Charlotte, released her new book, Where You Go: Life Lessons From My Father, on Tuesday. While the book focuses on the advice and words of wisdom that her father has offered her and her siblings...

Dream: A Short Hebrew Word Study on Hindsight With the year 2020 arriving in the not-so-distant future, I decided to look up the Hebrew word for hindsight. It's actually a phrase that literally means, "wisdom after the act": חכמה לאחר מעשה chokmah l'achar ma'aseh What's interesting is that the first letters spell chalam (חלם), the verb meaning to dream. It's the standard dictionary form, which is the 3rd person masc. sing. past tense: "He dreamed." Strong's Concordance H2492 Wiktionary Pealim He [Joseph] dreamed, saw ahead, envisioned the future... chalam - he dreamed (past tense) - is the abbreviation for hindsight....

Some amazing news came out of Australia today with a famous atheist politician receiving baptism. Bill Hayden had been the leader of a major Australian political party, then was the Governor General of Australia for 7 years. (The Governor General is the one who signs bills into law in the Queen’s name in 15 Commonwealth countries.) Recently, at 85, he renounced his atheism and joined the Catholic Church. Getting Close to DeathThe Australian reports his motivation to take this step. Bill Hayden, at age 85, has ­renounced his atheism and been baptised into the Catholic Church. The former Labor leader...

Famed atheist Richard Dawkins continues to see belief in God as a threat to humanity and his latest effort to counter it is more books about atheism. But this time, it's not adults he wants to speak to but children and teenagers. According to recent tweets, the scientist and 'God Delusion' author has two new books in the pipeline, Outgrowing God, which will be about atheism for teenagers, and a second one with the working title of 'Atheism for Children' that will be illustrated. He explained in tweets this week that his 'Atheism for Children' book is not intended to...

“I want to believe God cares about me; I really do,” she told me, wiping tears from under her darkened, bloodshot eyes. Under the harsh fluorescent lights of the hospital corridor, Marci barely resembled the vibrant girl I remembered, that kid I’d watched grow up in our youth group at church. When she was a teenager, Marci was outgoing, fun-loving, and full of life, even as she was growing more and more serious about her faith, coming early to youth group and staying late. No one loved to worship and talk about God more than Marci.Then, in her early 20s,...