2017 - Stone The Preacher

UNPRECEDENTED PRESIDENTIAL PETITIONS

Feb 21, 2017Steve SanchezPolitics, Prayer, Special DaysBishop Wayne T. Jackson, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, franklin graham, inauguration 2017, paula white, prayer for trump, presidential prayer team, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Samuel Rodriguez

One month ago the unthinkable happened….

We live in the Divided States of America right now and there’s only one thing that can bring us together: prayer.

Did you watch Inauguration of President Trump? Did you hear the many godly, biblical prayers delivered? The NY Times reported:

Some inaugurations have had just one, others have had two or three covering different religions, but this is a record.

Listen to the prayer of Reverend Franklin Graham, son of Billy, and president and chief executive of Samaritan’s Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

I was impressed with the God-centeredness of the Inauguration, while others were not so enthused. This is how the Advocate, a pro-LGBTQ journal, put it:

Super Bowl Faith

Feb 9, 2017Steve SanchezPastor's P.O.V., Special Daysatlanta falcons, football, new england patriots, superbowl 51, tom brady

SUPER BOWL 51 WAS THE MOST EXCITING FOOTBALL GAME I’ve ever seen. As an Atlanta Falcons fan, it was wonderful to know that my California friend was going to send me a gift card after the game was over—as he has done for many years—since he has a knack for always picking the losing team, which, of course, was going to be the New England Patriots. Yes, he has endured my razzing for about a decade.

But, as history now shows, he got the last laugh. It was a blow-out of epic proportions. Down 28 to 3, the Patriots came back, and back and back. I’d send a sarcastic text to my California friend, and he would respond with a simple “HOLD ON.” (I think he texted me that sentiment four times, one for each successive touchdown.) And, yes, I ended up sending him the gift card.

The Worst Day in America

Jan 22, 2017Steve Sanchez50 Million+abortion, gosnell, norma mccorvey, pro life, roe v. wade, sanctity of human life sunday, sanctity of life

THE WORST DAY IN AMERICA OCCURRED 44 YEARS AGO TODAY, when the government granted women the “right” to slaughter their children.

Is that too harsh an assessment? Of course not. The image above was from when my family would regularly attend a Long Beach abortion clinic to remind adult women of the baby women (and men) in their womb.

A few paid attention.

ACTOR JACK NICHOLSON said, “I’m very [opposite] my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it. I don’t have the right to any other view,” Nicholson told the National Review in 2003. “My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life.” His mother chose life for him when she was a pregnant teenager.

Russell Moore wrote this, concerning the memorial that was held last Sunday: “I hate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday because I’m reminded that we have to say things to one another that human beings shouldn’t have to say. Mothers shouldn’t kill their children. Fathers shouldn’t abandon their babies. No human life is worthless, regardless of skin color, age, disability, economic status. The very fact that these things must be proclaimed is a reminder of the horrors of this present darkness”

To refresh your memory, the case that changed abortion law in America was when Norma McCorvey, (a.k.a. Jane Roe), sued the state of Texas and won the right to obtain an abortion. Close to 60 million babies have been aborted since then. In all the American wars less than 1.5 million people have died, yet this is close to how many babies are killed each year!

Do humans have a right to kill an unborn baby?

2016 Celebrity Deaths & God

Jan 12, 2017Steve SanchezCulture, Famous Lost Words, SUDDEN DEATH!antonin scalia, carrie fisher, celebrities, celebrity deaths 2016, debbie reynolds Prince, fidel castro, george michael, john glenn, merle haggard, Muhammad Ali, nancy reagan, patty duke, ronald reagan

WHAT DID ALL THOSE CELEBRITIES WHO DIED IN 2016 BELIEVE ABOUT GOD?

Pop star George Michael wrote this in 2005: “As a gay Englishman, should I be more afraid of God? I’ve never had a problem with God, you see. The God that Americans are presented with day after day would, I think, have a few problems with me….”

Every death is a tragedy. Every one of them a great loss. But it really seems to hit home when it’s someone famous, someone you grew up with on TV or the movies, heard on the radio or watched in a sport. Being a Christian pastor, I’m always curious as to what people thought about God. Here are some quotes from the famous before they passed away in 2016.

Carrie Fisher said, “I love the idea of God, but it’s not stylistically in keeping with the way I function. I would describe myself as an enthusiastic agnostic who would be happy to be shown that there is a God.”

Astronaut John Glenn:

The Great Divide

Jan 2, 2017Steve SanchezSeasons, Special Days2017, A.D. B.c., anno domini, before Christ, before common era, Common era, happy new year, the year of our Lord

It’s 2017! Happy New Year!

But why? Do you know what happened 2,017 years ago?

What happened? Simply the most significant event ever….

It’s been 2,017 years since Jesus Christ was born, that babe in the manger. Every time you look at a coin, it’s a marker of time, a reminder that Jesus Christ came into this world to seek and to save people from their sin.

Someone once said: “He has turned aside the river of ages out of its course and lifted the centuries off its hinges.”

We measure time as B.C. Before Christ, and A.D. Do you know what that means? Not “After Death.” No, A.D. stands for Anno Domini, “In the year of the Lord.” It has been changed now to “The Year of Our Lord.” The big question: Is he your Lord?

The wonderful irony of all this is that every book in the library, even those that hate God and Christianity, acknowledge that Jesus Christ was born by the dates contained within them. The former Soviet Union, an official atheistic government, has in its constitution that it was formed in 1917.