Free Republic

1:43 PM – Tuesday, December 12, 2023 During a speech, Turkey’s Saadat Party representative experienced a sudden heart attack and abruptly collapsed to the ground. On Tuesday, Hasan Bitmez, 53, a representative from the Kocaeli province in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, appeared to lose his breath and balance and was sent to the hospital via ambulance. Prior to Bitmez’s collapse, he had just declared that “Israel will be smitten with the wrath of Allah,” cursing the Jewish State.

Shalom from a very different Israel than what we had one month ago. Back then, we were mired in political friction. There was a huge divide over judicial reform with threats being leveled from all sides. Culturally, we were not just two different countries with a conservative population and a liberal population, but we had countless subgroups centered around religious beliefs and lifestyle choices and ethnic backgrounds. When I looked at my nation back then, I felt incredible sorrow. We were a nation fighting an internal war and I could see my country falling apart. That is no longer so....

A top Russian official warned the US Wednesday that it could face the “wrath of God” if it pursues efforts to help establish an international tribunal to investigate Russia’s action in Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, denounced the US for what he described as its efforts to “spread chaos and destruction across the world for the sake of ‘true democracy.’” “The entire US history since the times of subjugation of the native Indian population represents a series of bloody wars,” Medvedev charged in a long diatribe on his Telegram channel,...

A group of Canadian clergy sent an open letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this week rebuking him for invoking the Emergencies Act to quell the Freedom Convoy and for other actions they described as "tyrannical." "We are writing to you as representative pastors of Christian congregations from across the nation and as law-abiding citizens who respect the God-defined role of civil government and uphold the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the highest law of our land, which recognizes the supremacy of God over all human legislation," read the letter, which was signed by 29 clergymen and...

What can we expect in 2022? Personally, I would very much like to experience the fulfillment of Paul’s words in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. I know it will happen soon, but who can say if this will be the year when Jesus takes us to the place that He’s preparing for us (John 14:1-3)? The only safe prediction I can make for the upcoming year is that the “perilous times” (2 Timothy 3:1-5) of the past few years will continue unabated. The word translated “perilous,” or “difficult” in some translations, is chalepos. This term denotes the last days as “dangerous” and...

Every empire at one point had some beauty and/or uniqueness that made it stand apart from all the rest. At one point in their being, each empire/kingdom/nation had signs of their distinctive existence dotting their landscape and was reflected by the vibrant towns and cities teeming with their people and customs. However, just as with the laws of thermodynamics regarding entropy, every empire returns to the common ground of absolute zero after they are collapsed. “When we look back through the remnants of the once-great kingdoms, we repeatedly see man’s attempt to thwart the ravages of time. Great structures, towering...

How lonely sits the city That was full of people! How like a widow is she, Who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces Has become a slave! Lamentations 1:1 The thought of ghost towns has been on my mind as of late. Not so much the dilapidated wooden remnants of the old gold and silver prospecting communities scattered about the old American West, but the abandoned cities in the central and eastern United States. Some of these were abandoned when the local steel or paper mill closed down. Others were closed due to some type of...

What is the Wrath of God? By: Msgr. Charles PopeIn Yesterday’s (Sunday of the 30th Week) Mass there was a reference to the wrath of God and how only Jesus can save us from it. St Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, commends them who have turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath (1 Thess 1:9-10). Well thank you, Jesus!But what is God’s wrath? It is spoken of often in the scriptures and it is a concept with which...

Not long ago I saw a bottle of hot sauce with the creative name “Wrath of God!” Now that’s gotta be some hot sauce! But what is God’s wrath? It is spoken of often in the scriptures and it is a concept with which we have to be careful. On the one hand we cannot simply dismiss the concept as contradictory to the fact that God is love. But neither can we fail to see God’s wrath apart from his love. As a followup from yesterday’s blog it seems worthwhile to consider some aspects of the very complicated and reality...

Scripture is a prophetic interpretation of reality. That is, it tells us what is really going on from the perspective of the Lord of History. As an inspired text it traces out not only the current of the times, but also the trajectory, the end to which things tend. It is of course important for us to read Scripture with the Church and exercise the care the Church would have us show and, at the end of the day, to submit our understanding to the rule of faith and the context of Sacred Tradition.With those parameters in mind, I would...

Not long ago I saw a bottle of hot sauce with the creative name “Wrath of God!” Now that’s gotta be some hot sauce!But what is God’s wrath? It is spoken of often in the scriptures and it is a concept with which we have to be careful. On the one hand we cannot simply dismiss the concept as contradictory to the fact that God is love. But neither can we fail to see God’s wrath apart from his love.As a follow up last week’s discussions on Hell, it seems worthwhile to consider some aspects of the very complicated and...

I saw this over at Denny Burk’s blog today. Apparently the reason the Presbyterian Church USA doesn’t like “In Christ Alone (one of my favorites), is because of that unpopular, un-politically correct word, “Wrath.” As we’ve pointed out many times here at SUFTT, the more sin is watered down, the less we have of the true Gospel. In other words – no sin = FALSE gospel. The PCUSA has been going down a concerning path for quite some time now, and it appears that this is just another symptom of the problem the devil delights in: a departure from Truth...

“Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables” (John 2:15).- John 2:13-17 Clearly, there are some things that are right for the Lord to do that are not right for us to do. For example, because He is the Creator and sovereign of the universe, it is right for the Almighty to demand worship from His creation. However, though we are made in His image, Scripture tells us we are not to do the same. It is evil for a man...

Newt Gingrich took the stage at the Georgia Republican Party state convention on Saturday wearing a Mitt Romney sticker, focusing his attacks on President Barack Obama and attempting to energize the crowd around his former Republican rival. "To every conservative, everywhere in America: When your choice on the one hand is Barack Obama, and your choice on the other hand is Mitt Romney, no serious conservative could possibly believe that electing Barack Obama is acceptable ... for America."

Muslims told Valentine’s Day can invoke wrath of God KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — An invitation “to be my Valentine” on February 14 is against Islamic beliefs and would incur the wrath of Allah, Muslims were told today in the official Friday sermon prepared by the federal government. The sermon warned Muslims against celebrating Valentine’s Day, which the federal Islamic authorities claimed was in breach of the tenets of their religion. In the text of a sermon provided by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) titled “Awas jerat Valentine” (Beware Valentine’s trap), Muslims were told that asking someone to...

THE hit series Underbelly is among shows under fire from a major Christian group demanding tougher rules on sex and violence on TV. With standards governing on-screen content being reviewed for the first time in six years, the Australian Christian Lobby launched the "Tame the Tube" campaign to combat what it says are industry attempts to weaken TV standards. "Sex, violence and foul language are normal fare these days as TV networks push the boundaries," ACL managing director Jim Wallace said. ACL said it had about 10,000 registered supporters, mainly from orthodox and evangelical churches. As well as wanting less...

There is an old joke around these parts. Question: Other than Jerusalem, what do ultra-religious Jews, Muslims and Christians love? Answer: They love to hate homosexuals. But travel the 60km (40 miles) from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, and you enter a world apart. Major streets are decked with the multi-coloured Gay Pride banner. In this centenary year of the city, this is now Gay Pride month. On Friday, in Meir Dizengoff park, tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the annual Gay Pride parade which will end, this year, with a twist. Four couples will take part in...

Some in our community have written letters to the News-Sentinel suggesting that the wildfires in California are a result of God's judgment on our state for the state Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage. As a pastor, I would caution all of us against making such claims. Jesus directly addressed the issue of whether disasters mean that God is judging in Luke 13:1-5: "Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. "Jesus answered, 'Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other...

Manchester, New Hampshire - Was it a sign from above? Lightning zapped remarks by Republican presidential contender and former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani during a debate Tuesday night, just as he began defending his pro-choice stand on abortion rights against criticism by a Roman Catholic bishop. 'I guess I'm here by myself,' Giuliani quipped after a loud buzz momentarily interrupted the sound system. He turned around, then looked skyward as the audience broke out laughing. 'For someone who went to parochial schools all his life, this is a very frightening thing that's happening right now,' he said. Debate host...

There was a strangely comical moment when the debate topic turned to abortion.........Rudy Giuliani attempted to defend his pro-choice position in response to a RI bishop who likened him to Pontius Pilate, the sound system suddenly went haywire. Wolf Blitzer said it was lightning.