Free Republic

A high-ranking communist official who defected to the United States in the 1970s now says the Soviet KGB was behind the tidal wave of “liberation theology” that swept through Catholic countries in Latin America before the opposition of Pope John Paul II effectively ended the movement. Ion Mihai Pacepa, a former three-star general in Romania's Securitate, or secret police, said he first learned of liberation theology during meetings with Nikita Khrushchev and General Aleksandr Sakharovsky, then chief director of the KGB, when Sakharovsky accompanied the Soviet premier on a six-day visit to Romania in October of 1959. “Khrushchev wanted to...

Today, I’m excited to announce the launch of a new eBook that I’ve been designing and editing in order to share for free with the world – Galatians: Selections from Martin Luther. Martin Luther is a theologian whose writing has changed my life. Luther, in a day when the Church hijacked the message of the Gospel, stood boldly for the proclamation of Christ alone. In a world that literally sold people forgiveness for a few bucks, Martin Luther came onto the scene recovering the message of the scriptures that said, “The price has already been paid.” But here’s the thing...

It was after the crucifixion of the Messiah of Israel that Satan and godless Israelites rejoiced in their demonic triumph of unrighteousness. They thought that they had done away with “This Man”, this Miracle Worker, this Preacher of RIGHTEOUSNESS, this violator of the Sabbath, this One who claimed to be Almighty God the Son and it was exhilarating to their godless mind (Matt. 27, Luke 23). As the Sabbath day was about to begin these godless men made their preparation to finish “their” Feast of Passover and partake in “their” man made traditions (Matt. 15:7-11, 23, John 18:28). Satan the...

Never Thirst - Taking Jesus "Literally" can be Fatal Roman Catholics like to try to claim that they are just taking Jesus "literally" when they interpret "this is my body" to mean that what was in Jesus' hands was not bread but his physical body [FN1]. Three passages in John help to illustrate the problem with that approach: John 4, John 6, and John 7.  In the first, Jesus refers metaphorically to living water, in the second Jesus refers to himself as food and drink, and in the third Jesus offers drink to those who thirst. In John 4, Jesus...

LifeWay Christian Resources has stopped selling all "experiential testimonies about heaven" following consideration of a 2014 Southern Baptist Convention resolution on "the sufficiency of Scripture regarding the afterlife." ...The resolution, adopted by messengers to the SBC annual meeting in June, warned Christians not to allow "the numerous books and movies purporting to explain or describe the afterlife experience" to "become their source and basis for an understanding of the afterlife."

“How can you call yourself a Christian, let alone a minister?!” I get asked that question frequently and the questioner is hostile more often than not. Still, I like to answer it if I believe the questioner is sincere. Though I self-identify as a Christian and I am an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I raised eyebrows a few years ago when I posted an article on my website about how my personal beliefs don’t align with those of most Presbyterians. For example, I believe that: - Religion is a human construct - The symbols of faith are...

Dear homosexual, We are your fellow sinners and no better than you. We know this. We are saved from eternal torment, self-wrought, by the grace of Christ alone. If you are an unrepentant, “out and proud” homosexual practitioner, then you are not. It is our deepest prayer that you, too, will accept the free gift of eternal salvation, repent and “go and sin no more.” The alternative is a living hell. Let us be direct. According to the unequivocal moral precepts of biblical Christianity, explicit throughout both the Old and New Testaments, your homosexual behavior is sin. Sin is evil....

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (RNS) The collected works of Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century preacher and one of America’s most famous theologians, are now available for download thanks to Logos Bible Software. But for those who don’t want to cough up $1,289.95 to purchase them, there’s good news: The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale Divinity School lets you view them online for free. The colonial preacher was instrumental in America’s Great Awakening and is known for fiery sermons such as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The 26-volume collection, “The Works of Jonathan Edwards,” comprises more than 10,000 sermons, articles...

St. Vincent of Lerins and tradition The famous dictum of St. Vincent of Lerins was characteristic of the attitude of the Ancient Church in the matters of faith: "We must hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all" [Commonitorium, 2]. This was at once the criterion and the norm. The crucial emphasis was here on the permanence of Christian teaching. St. Vincent was actually appealing to the double "ecumenicity" of Christian faith — in space and in time. In fact, it was the same great vision which had inspired St. Irenaeus in his own time: the One Church,...

Why These 66 Books? Have you ever looked at your Bible and wondered, “Why do we regard these 66 books, and no others, as comprising the inspired Word of God?”That is a critically important question, since there are many today who would deny that these 66 books truly make up the complete canon of Scripture.The Roman Catholic Church, for example, claims that the Apocryphal books which were written during the inter-testamental period (between the Old and New Testaments) ought to be included in the Bible. Cult groups like the Mormons want to add their own books to the Bible—things like the Book of Mormon, The Doctrines and Covenants,...

HOLY ORDERS St. Pius X on Priestly SanctityThe Ordination into the Priesthood is the Sacrament known as Holy Orders. This sacrament is administered by the 'laying of hands', the candidate Deacons for Priesthood, kneel before the Bishop. In silence the Bishop lays his hands upon the head of each individual candidate. The prayer belonging to the imposition of hands is said by the Bishop; by this, the Holy Spirit then enters the candidate imparting on him all Priestly powers. The Sacrament of Holy Orders confers Sanctifying Grace to the recipient. The Bishop, through his power of ordaining, is enabled...

Ash Wednesday 2015 was a perfect time for President Obama to lecture us about religion. No, wait, that’s every day. Never gets old sitting at the knee of Baal, does it? But Ash Wednesday’s call for repentance did happen to sync up with Obama’s hallowed summit on “extremism.” The Cultural-Marxist-in-chief grabbed the teleprompter microphone in the wake of a months-worth of severed heads and charred bodies, and unwrapped the mysteries of the universe for us. Oh, what blessed diversity! There is no god but ourselves, and Obama is our messenger. Some of us put sooty crosses on our forehead to...

Moby Dick is full of allusions to the Bible. A major theme in the Bible is salvation and (in the New Testament) new birth. This essay will summarize what the Bible says on the subject and then show ways in which this applies to Moby Dick. Moby Dick depends a lot on the Old Testament. Job and Jonah, Ahab and Noah stalk its pages. (Originally I had thought of doing a paper contrasting Melville's Ahab with Job, but I was overwhelmed at the magnitude of references and allusions--anyone willing to stake me for a two-year sabbatical?). Moby Dick does also...

Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" had another jaw-dropping weekend, reaching an impressive $200 million at the domestic box office. Despite the film's colossal success, liberals like former DNC chairman Howard Dean and director Michael Moore just won't let "American Sniper" go. Over the weekend, Moore invoked Jesus in a slew of incendiary tweets aimed at dishonoring American soldiers and the Iraq war. One tweet stated "Tomorrow's Sunday School (1 What Would Jesus Do? Oh, I know what he'd do --hide on top of a roof and shoot people in the back!" He followed that tweet with: Sunday School: (2) But What...

In my new book, Behold Your Mother: A Biblical and Historical Defense of the Marian Doctrines, , I spend most of its pages in classic apologetic defense of Mary as Mother of God, defending her immaculate conception, perpetual virginity, assumption into heaven, her Queenship, and her role in GodÂ’s plan of salvation as Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix. But perhaps my most important contributions in the book may well be how I demonstrate each of these doctrines to be crucial for our spiritual lives and even our salvation.And I should note that this applies to all of the Marian doctrines. Not...

Catholic Theologians Protest ‘Deep-Seated Racism’ Of US, Compare Eric Garner To Christ A "statement of commitment to racial justice." More than 400 Catholic theologians signed a statement protesting the “deep-seated racism” of the US and compared Eric Garner to Jesus Christ. Written by St. Louis University Professor of Theological Ethics Dr. Tobias Winright, it is called a “statement of commitment to racial justice.” Advertisement-content continues below What prompted the writing of the statement was the killing of blacks by police officers. The statement reads: The killings of Black [sic] men, women and children—including but not limited to Rekia Boyd, Eric...

EWTN Live - Protestant Theology - Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J. with David Anders - 06-23-2010

Pro-aborts periodically take time off from hating religion to remind those of us nutty enough to think God values the children He creates that they’ve got believers on their side, too. ThinkProgress’s Tara Culp-Ressler provided a refresher course on “the religious abortion advocates that history forgot,” casting these clergy for child-butchering as selfless underdogs on a vital divine mission. Yes, really: The New York legislature had just failed to pass an incremental reform to the state’s strict anti-abortion law, leaving the status quo in place. At that time, deaths resulting from illegal abortions accounted for 42 percent of New York...

Has science now proven that God exists? Douglas Ell, author of the new book Counting To God, will speak about this and other “big questions” related to science and faith in two lectures at Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach. Times: Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 6:00 pm Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 6:00 pm Location: Trinity Episcopal Church 2365 Pine Avenue Vero Beach, FL 32960 Both talks are open to the general public and there is no charge. In Counting To God, Ell applies the lens of mathematical analysis to a series of scientific discoveries, drawing startling conclusions about the relation...

The intellectual role that used to be occupied by theology is now largely filled by science fiction. Wikipedia lists only a dozen of possibly hundreds of books where writers, some of them practicing mathematicians or scientists themselves, examine the consequences of our current understanding of the universe. The familiar, everyday world that we know isn’t what it seems. It is actually a strange place. On large scales it isn’t governed by ‘common sense’ Newtonian physics but by the paradoxes of relativity. At very small scales, perhaps at its foundation, it is governed by quantum phenomena, which is stranger still. Arthur...