The White Stone Zone

  5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. .. for they give thanks to God. (Romans 14)      I've seen Christians go to extremes to both sides of the Christmas argument.  There are some who claim that the Christmas traditions have its roots in pagan traditons, and thus, should be ignored by the "sold out" believers.  Some have even made the contention that it is satan's way of getting us to worship him.  Others get ornery towards the commercialism of it all and insist we keep Christ in Christmas and adopt an "almost" self-righteous attitude towards those that say "Happy Holidays". I think for God, it is 'much to do about nothing.'  How can I say that?      There is no Scriptural mandate to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  Nowhere is Scripture are we commanded, enc

  In Luke Chapter 7 there is an interesting situation, and in the midst of the interesting situation is the Lord Jesus Christ. In all of our situations, we need to see Jesus Christ in the midst; if we don’t, we will lose ourselves. Here is the passage in its entirety: 1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” 6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say t

 " For you were like sheep going astray,but  now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." (1 Peter 2) God likens us to sheep, and I have heard it said sheep are the dumbest animals on the planet, and this is why God has mad it easy for us to come back into relationship with Him. God has made it easy for us to be in relationship with Him. Peter recognized this when he told the religious leaders of his day that "we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God." The idea that God is some far off deity that we can not reach is foreign to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the first things Jesus said to the crowds is the "kingdom of God is within you."(Luke 17:21) He told the disciples that when He left he would send The Spirit of God to live with us and be in us. He said on that day we would know that Jesus is in the Father, the believer is in Jesus, and Jesus is in the believer.(John 14:20) This spiritual reality

I haven't listened to Bruce Springsteen's song "Wrecking Ball" since Clarence Clemon's death, and today I listened to it in an entirely different light.  The song was written for the final shows at Giant's Stadium which I had written about in a previous blog* The song personifies the stadium telling the wrecking crew to bring it on! The song also is an allegory for the aging process and ultimately death. Bruce had just turned 60 and was defying death itself, saying, "Bring it on!"  Although I admire the Boss's zeal, I could not help to think today that the wrecking ball came to E Street, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it--not even the Legendary E Street Band.  I am not at all trying to be callous or flippant--this is serious.  I cried a lot the week the Big Man went home, and I did not even know him personally.  However, death is inevitable and is part of life even if you think that someone is "too f___ing big to die."* 

 The muslim men who flew the planes into the towers were nothing more than a group of sex addicts in deep denial of their condition due to their toxic faith. Think about it. They sacrificed everything, their very lives, so that they could have 70 virgins in heaven. They were looking forward to nothing more than a wild orgie in heaven.  Sorry to be blunt, but lets bring it all down to the bare facts.  It is quite easy to recognize this as toxic faith, but there is toxic faith within Christianity that is subtle, but it also brings death, a slower death, but it brings death in many ways.  First, when we make man the intiater and God the responder, we become toxic. God is the initiator from start to finish. He initiated creation; he initiated when Adam and Eve hid; he initiated with David when David was hiding. He initiates a realtionship with each one of us and forgave us freely and fully at the cross.  We think forgiveness is something we get when we ask for it, but it is something that

Harold Camping’s prediction of the coming Rapture ushering in Judgment Day was a blatantly obvious error because everyone knows Jesus said, “No one knows the day or the hour.” However, Brother Harold has been preaching a legalistic, morbid gospel for years. According to Harold, anyone who did not believe like He did was following “another Gospel” and was condemned to hell. He has been preaching that for over 30 years. Likewise, Harold Camping’s call to repentance is morbid, and Harold Camping’s view of God is very impersonal. He view’s God’s holiness as a reason for God to be angry and wrathful and unwilling to show grace and mercy unless we beg and plead with God as though the begging and pleading might get God to be merciful and kind. He writes on his website: Sadly, the Holy Bible tells us that only a small percentage of today’s world will turn from their evil ways, and with great humility and fear will cry to God for mercy. Nevertheless, the Bible assures us that many of the peopl

2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.      In this passage, we have Jesus Christ, King of Kings washing the disciples feet which was the task of a common house servant. That is wonderful in and of itself; however, Judas was included in those disciples whose feet Jesus washed. Jesus knew that Judas had already conspired to hand Jesus over to the politicians and preachers who wanted to kill him.  Jesus spoke to each disciple, including Judas with love and compassion.  What kept Jesus from hating Judas and calling him out in front of the disciples and runn

The great news that a believer is under no condemnation is often squelched with the statement, and I have heard it often, "God does not condemen us when we sin, but He will convict us." Really? Is that what the Scriptures teach? As baby Christians, we so often buy hookline and sinker things that are said by preachers, teachers or "mature" Christians because the "BIBLE" says its true. I have found and have been guilty of the same thing, that many folks know what the "BIBLE SAYS," but they have no clue what it means. The present example of God convicting His children is one of those lies. The idea that God won't condemn, but will convict comes from Jesus statement in the upper room. Jesus was telling the disciples about the coming and work of the Holy Spirit. He told them, "Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righ