IT'S NOT THAT I LIKE BEING CONTROVERSIAL BUT:  If you saw the home page for our site you know that I am preaching this Sunday on "Great Sex."  I've assured everyone that there will be nothing crass, crude or coarse about what I say but the Bible can be very graphic in its depiction of the love between married lovers.  I know that it will make some people uncomfortable but this needs to be talked about in the church instead of on the street or in schools. 

What is even more controversial is my Wednesday night Bible study.  The challenge or title of the series I am doing is - Pleading the Blood of Jesus - Biblical practice or Christian superstition?  My position is that the Blood of Jesus is only for the remission of sin and any other use like protection etc, is not Biblical.  It has already made some folks mad (or at least upset).  Now this series won't be on the webcast, but it will be available on CD and DVD.  All I am doing is asking people to think about this practice.  We have traditions just like anyone else and this is one of them.  One of the questions I have posed to the folks that come on Wednesday nights is, "If pleading the Blood of Jesus was such a powerful thing to be doing, how come there isn't one reference in the New Testament to any of the disciples doing it, writing about it or instructing us in it?"  Anyway, I'm not doing it to make anyone angry.  As a matter of fact I have said that I don't want to argue about it.  Just present the case, let people consider it and if they choose to keep doing it so be it.  I believe that things happen in spite of Christians pleading the Blood, not because of it so it just doesn't matter.

MORE GREAT QUESTIONS: Why do doctors make appointments so that you can sit in the waiting room for hours? Doesn't your time count for anything?  What if you made them wait? Here's another one I've wondered about.  Why does the dentist ask you questions that require an answer when he/she has their fingers in your mouth? 
 
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?  Okay, Oprah has sunk to new low - the pregnant "man."  What's WRONG with this picture?  Only Oprah has the power, and clout to pull this off and people actually take it in.  The purveyor of her own personal brand of religion, Oprah is the high priestess of a new age cult that she is making up as she goes along.

CRAVINGS:  I had a craving recently for Italian sausage and peppers(ISAP) (the title of the dish assumes the presence of onions too but we just don't say it)  Anyway, I love making it and my mouth was watering for it so we went to the store, got the stuff and I made it.  It was soooooooooo good.  The only problem is that you have to have bread with it.  No bread is like cereal without milk.  Ugh.  So it gets worse.  Immediately after my ISAP craving, I got another one.  Breaded chicken cutlets, salad and a baked potato.  The other stuff isn't important but I love chicken cutlets (especially the way I make them). Again, however, bread is a necessary staple of such a meal.  Yeah you gotta have bread.  I love to cook and now I am craving lemon and garlic chicken.  Guess what, you gotta have bread with that too. 

Gotta run for now....

Jerry