Free Republic

Those who identify as non-religious experience a lower level of human flourishing than the general public, while practicing Christians enjoy the most flourishing, according to a new report. The latest installment of the State of the Bible USA 2024 report, released by the American Bible Society on Thursday, focuses on “Nones and Nominals.” The title of the seventh chapter of the report refers to the religiously unaffiliated and those who identify as a member of a religious group but do not attend religious services at least once a month.The latest batch of research, based on 2,506 responses to a survey...

“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” So asked the 1980 presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan, channeling one of the main reasons we vote for one candidate over another: the economy.That seemingly glib line helped propel him into the White House for the first of two terms. “It seemed to resonate with voters,” says Pete Earle, a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. “Many people vote on the basis of kitchen table issues and how far their dollars go.”The last few years have been tumultuous for the economy. The pandemic lockdowns and the...

As we speed southwards along the potholed road near Lake Malawi’s shores, I tell my colleague Helen that overpopulation in Africa is just a myth. On either side of the road is an unbroken procession of women carrying firewood on their heads, of barefoot children, of poor men on bicycles, avenues of huts, suicidal goats, blighted crops and dusty lands rising towards distant, once–forested hills. Malawi had four million people at independence from Britain in 1964 and today it’s five times that number. It may look like a land that has eaten itself — but it’s going to be all...

Chuck Parry is the Director of Healing Ministries at Bethel Church in Redding, California, and one of the primary teacher of the schools. According to his bio, his life is “marked by both faith and the miraculous” and he’s “seen the dead raised, food multiplied, storms move out of the way, the supply of heaven released through supernatural finances, and countless people healed and their lives transformed.” Readers of Protestia will recognize him as overseeing Bethel Church’s healing schools which spent nearly two years shut down during COVID. In fact, in October of 2020, Bethel and their school had so...

On May 19, 2024, prosperity-gospel heretic Joel Osteen preached his 1000th sermon before a packed crowd at Lakewood church, giving a message of health and wealth in a sermon titled A Thousand Times More. Osteen was ordained through his father’s church in 1983 and preached his first sermon on January 17, 1999. He was a stand-in for his father, John Osteen, who was in a hospital bed at the time and passed later that day. Bristling with nervous energy and wearing a suit and jacket too large for him, a mulleted Osteen fumbled his way through 1 Corinthians while encouraging...

Mark Fisher, a co-founder of a Black Lives Matter chapter in Rhode Island and founder of Black Lives Matter, Inc. announced he is supporting Trump for president in the 2024 election, saying "I like Trump. President Biden is just a deep disappointment. I have disdain for him and I really dislike the Vice President Harris, as well." "Black Americans have been mental slaves to the Democratic Party, who have abused us for so long," he added. "We're tired of being relegated to the welfare plantation. We want to create wealth and leave something for our children. Trump understands how to...

Against the backdrop of current events, it is worthwhile revisiting the speech President Donald Trump gave in 2017 from Riyad, Saudi Arabia. This speech led to the longest timeline of peace in the Arab world and was the foundation of the historic Abraham Accords.Within the speech, President Trump provides a clarity that none in the audience had heard before. After this speech, all of the nations attending began a process to isolate the terrorists and confront the financiers (Qatar). WATCH (Transcript Below):[TRANSCRIPT] I want to thank King Salman for his extraordinary words, and the magnificent Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for...

Kimberly Jones is the Senior ‘pastor’ of Limitless Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. Known by her moniker Real Talk Kim, she is a “mother, pastor, entrepreneur, mentor, motivational speaker, entertainer, and best-selling author” featured in the spiritually crass and unseemly TV show Preachers of Atlanta. She was previously co-senior pastor of Church of The Harvest alongside her husband, Mark Pothier, but she divorced him and formed her own congregation after he allegedly cheated on her. A mixture of the worst excess of Joel Osteen and the most irritating parts of Steven Furtick, her preaching style might be described as prosperity gospel...

An increasing share of American Protestant churchgoers believe that financial prosperity is part of God's plan for them and that giving more money to their church and charities will result in blessings from God, according to a recent study by Lifeway Research.The study, conducted from Sept. 19-29, 2022, and released this week, found that 52% of churchgoers say their church teaches that God will bless them if they donate more, up from 38% in 2017.Additionally, 76% believe God wants them to prosper financially, an increase from 69% in 2017. The belief that they must do something for God to receive...

Heavily taxed blue states such as New York and California last year had some of the country's most drastic drops in tax revenue. At the same time, Republican states are enjoying the highest revenue increases even as they keep income taxes low. Under Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, California has turned a $100 billion budget surplus into a $32 billion deficit, Bloomberg reported Friday, forcing the state to trim its "lofty climate change program, delay funding, and increase internal borrowing." In this year alone, the once-Golden State has seen its tax revenue crater by nearly 25 percent as it hemorrhages wealthy...

There are two kinds of prosperity, one fake, one real. Bogus “prosperity” depends on credit-asset bubbles inflating, magically creating “wealth” not from labor, production or improving productivity, but from the values of assets soaring as bubbles inflate.This bubble-generated “wealth” then fuels a vast expansion of credit and consumption as assets soaring in value increase the collateral available to borrow against, and the occasional sale of soaring assets generate capital gains, stock options, etc., which then fund sharply higher consumption.When the value of a modest home skyrockets from $200,000 to $1 million in a few years, that $800,000 in gain was...

President Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America, is joined by Governor Henry McMaster, Senator Lindsey Graham, members of the South Carolina congressional delegation and state lawmakers as he unveils his South Carolina Leadership Team.

Michael Savage on Newsmax T.V.

Job Creators Network has launched the “American Small Business Prosperity Plan” with the help of Newt Gingrich, members of Congress, and small business owners to put American entrepreneurs first. The “American Small Business Prosperity Plan,” which was announced during a press conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday, includes an eight-point plan giving Congress and congressional candidates what JCN calls “a positive, pro-growth economic agenda and specific policies to enact into law in the next Congress.” “Small businesses across the country are suffering as they endure 40-year high inflation, the lingering consequences of the pandemic lockdowns, labor shortages, and...

Three thieves were caught on tape barging into a Brooklyn church on Sunday where controversial bishop Lamor Whitehead — an ally to Mayor Adams — was preaching and snatched $400,000 worth of jewelry off of him and his wife. Whitehead, the Rolls-Royce-driving bishop who recently tried to broker a deal for the surrender of a man accused of a subway murder to the mayor, was preaching at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry on Remsen Ave. near Avenue D in Canarsie about 11:15 a.m. Sunday when three masked bandits stormed into the church, the pastor and cops confirmed. When the armed...

The new American government of 1788 served God’s kingship proxy within His creation to maintain the liberty of His people. But, as fallen beings, we can never govern at any level remotely on par to God’s kingship. The ancient Hebrews, God’s chosen people, were not able to perform in this regard either. James Madison acknowledged this in Federalist 51: “God’s rule of the universe may be monarchical,” explains Dr. Edward Erler, “but from the point of view of the Declaration of Independence it is impious to believe that God’s omnipotence can be translated into merely human hands.” Hence the necessity...

Plunging poll numbers have President Biden in a snit. He's particularly irked that his intended "ultra MAGA" smear tactic has backfired as Trump proudly appropriated the phrase for his own use saying "after a year-and-a-half of ultra Biden incompetence and disaster the American people are eager for a return of the policies that had this country on track for record-breaking prosperity." "The runaway prosperity that Trump inflicted on the American people was wrecking the environment," Biden complained. "I don't understand why I'm not getting more credit for reversing course. It's as if voters prefer selfish personal gains over ecological virtue....

The inevitable bankruptcy of the Social Security system prompted Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to propose cutting the pensions of youthful workers as "the best way out of our dilemma. This would preserve the incomes of those already drawing Social Security by shifting the burden to those who will still be in the workforce for several more decades." "The political benefit of this approach is that it won't produce a backlash from those currently dependent on these benefits," he explained. "At the same time, the age cohort that will suffer is probably not even aware of whats going on." The Senator...

The global supply chain crisis that led to historic levels of inflation unseen in decades may have reached a tipping point and may soon be over, according to a new barometer used by the US Federal Reserve to monitor supply chain pressures. The Fed tool demonstrated that while supply chain pressures are still at dangerous level, the gridlock may have peaked, CNBC reported. The new barometer, called the Global Supply Chain Pressure Index (GSCPI), analyzes supply chain disruptions beginning with 1997. The current pandemic supply chain crisis is far more severe than other increases in the metric, even spikes seen...

An Evangelical pastor in the US has said people can “speed up” the process of Jesus returning to earth by donating more money to congregations. Speaking during a live TV program Victorython, right-wing evangelical pastor, Jesse Duplantis, said: “I honestly believe this – the reason why Jesus hasn’t come is because people are not giving the way God told them to give.” “When you understand this, you can speed up the time,” he continued. Pastor Duplantis leads Covenant Church in Louisiana and is the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries.