1 Timothy 4: 1,6 “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons…… In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, {constantly} nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”

Blessings in the New Year
We hope and trust that you will enjoy the blessings of the Lord in the year to come and that you will grow in the joy and peace and love and holiness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Radio News
On January the 19th, we will begin a new series on the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. In my reading and studying, I was challenged by the observation that most apologetic teachers do a good job of testing biblically what is wrong with the institutional church but neglect to include the good news of salvation in Christ. So back to basics. Over the course of several weeks, we will examine who Jesus is, what He did and continues to do and what response these truths demand from all who hear them.

Since all cults do damage to the doctrine of Christ, either making Him more man then God or more God then man, we will then move on to consider the three major cults operating in the United States. We will be examining the doctrines of the Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons and the Roman Catholic Church to see how their teachings on Christ differ from what the Bible teaches and how adherence to these false teachings will guarantee damnation.

Every Saturday at 3:05 PM Central on WSHO 800 AM and on the Internet @ www.wsho.com and www.fellowshipofbelievers.org .

A Listener Responds To The Teaching
“ I am a long time listener from …….., I have corresponded with you before. I listened this afternoon and one of the topics was abortion.” “There is a side to this issue that I don't think the Church is addressing. I have heard the statistics you gave today that 40 million abortions have been performed. I know that there is always the case of a woman having more than one, but for the sake of this conversation lets say that there has been one to a customer. Generally speaking these women do not arrive at this decision alone. There is always at least a friend, maybe a boyfriend maybe some one else, that said to this woman this is okay. This is what you should do. In many cases there is not just one friend, but a whole "support group". There may be a mom or dad involved with this reassuring process. In short if each woman who has had an abortion has two people in her support group, then the 40 million number swells to well over one third of the population of this nation that has had an "active hand" in abortion. In trying to stop abortion through legislation we must first convince one third of the population of this nation that they have actively participated in the death of a human being. Putting this another way, one third of our nation has a vested interest in keeping abortion legal because the alternative is to confess that they have participated in murder. I believe that there are between 120 and 150 million Americans that do not want abortion stopped because stopping it would force them to face the horror of what they have done.” “I have spoken with people who fall into this category. Many of them are tormented already, not certain that they did the right thing. Many who have some kind of religious background live in fear that they are dammed without hope. What so few of these people do not understand is that the forgiveness of Christ is available to even them. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that we should just let it go or wipe the slate clean. There must be confession, repentance, and acceptance of responsibility and true conversion to Christ. But this message, the Gospel message, is being lost in political rhetoric that heretofore has not stopped abortion and, I fear, at times has not honored the Body of Christ.” “Ultimately we must each one commit ourselves to delivering the Gospel as clearly as possible, to as many as possible, whenever possible. Will we ever close the chapter on abortion in the United States? I cannot answer that. I make no claim to the office of prophet. But this I do know, it will be done only when the hand of God has touched the hearts of men.”

Prayer for our Leaders
1 Timothy 2:1-2 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties {and} prayers, petitions {and} thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”
Whether you are a democrat, republican, libertarian or an independent, if you are a Believer, you are commanded to pray for those in leadership. These prayers result in our ability to lead a tranquil and quite life and to demonstrate godliness and dignity. It is a real temptation to spend more time complaining then praying about our politicians but we need to pray. Our leaders are making decisions that may well result in the loss of life, maybe even ours or our love ones. In spite of the politics and the angst associated with the political process, we must pray for our leaders. To you dads who are training your children in the Word, this is a great opportunity to teach them from a young age to respect the governing authority and to pray for them instead of grousing about them.

Family Devotions
Eph.6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
What a wonderful privilege the Lord has given us fathers to instruct our children in the things of God. This privilege is not offered to any others, not a children’s church director nor a youth pastor not a Sunday school teacher nor any of the myriad substitutes that the institutional church has come up with to take the place of a father teaching his kids the Word. Over the holidays, we were fortunate to have our children and grandchildren from Tennessee visiting for a couple of weeks. One morning early, my eight year old grandchild came into my study with her Bible open and a complaint. “ Pa, pa. I can read the 10 commandments but I don’t know what they mean. Will you tell me what they mean?” We spent an hour going through the 10 commandments. She was hungry for the Word and was waiting for a father or grandfather to answer her questions. While we were talking, my 6 year old wandered in and listened the whole time as well. Throughout their visit we had many opportunities to share the Word with them both as the Spirit drew them to Christ. With this privilege comes an awesome responsibility. Will we as fathers be judged by our Father according to how well we brought our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord? Have we as dads excepted and discharged this responsibility to teach our kids about Jesus and to introduce them to Him? Sadly, the vast majority of dads that I know have abdicated this privilege to others. Instead of gathering daily for the Word and prayer, they have been too busy or too lazy to teach and pray with their kids. As a result, the institutional church has rushed into the gap left by these disobedient dads and created all sorts of programs to try and take dads place. Children’s Churches, Vacation Bible Schools, nurseries, Royal Rangers, Missionettes, Aiwana, Summer Camp and all the other children’s programs are designed to do the very thing that this verse commands the dads to do! The Word did not command a stranger to teach your child the discipline and instruction of the Lord; the word commands us dads to do it! Did you ever notice how these programs attract so many kids with discipline problems? When you abandon God’s plan for teaching your children(dads teaching) and replace it with man’s plan, you invite all kinds of problems. So dads, let’s take this privilege and responsibility and teach our kids the Word and introduce them to Jesus. Let’s take the time out of our busy days to spend time with each child, teaching them discipline and instruction them in the things of the Lord. Let’s not shuffle our children off to someone else’s teaching but let’s show our love to them and obedience to the Word and do devotions every opportunity the Lord gives us. Mike Indest

HARSH PERSECUTION DOCUMENTED IN COMMUNIST CHINA. Friday Church News Notes, January 17, 2003 (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The following is from Religion Today, Jan. 14, 2003: “The New York-based Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China has released detailed reports from persecuted Christians in China, revealing that in the three-month period between June and August 2002, 182 house church Christians from 24 cities and 16 counties were arrested. Most were detained, interrogated and fined and many were tortured by police. For example, in July some 150 Christians praying in the West Lake district of Hangzhou city when more than 70 police surrounded the house, arrested three church leaders and destroyed the church kitchen with a bulldozer. The same month, police arrested eight house church members in the Fengrun district of Tangshan while they worshipped, tortured them with beatings and electric shocks and forced them to pay fines of $121 to $483.”