Mailing Address and Staff List
Mailing Address and Staff List 
Mailing Address and Staff List 
MORNING STAR is produced and published monthly, by a staff of
born again believers in Jesus, located across the United States
of America. Correspondence to MORNING STAR may be sent via the
U.S. Postal Service or one of several computer networks.

POSTAL ADDRESS: 
Morning Star
P.O. Box 7755
Nashua NH, 03060-7755

ELECTRONIC MAIL LINKS:
AOL/PC LINK/PROMENADE E-Mail (DOS Files): MStarDOS 
AOL E-Mail (MAC Files): MStarMAC 
GENIE Network E-Mail: J.Jones93 
COMPUSERVE Network E-Mail: 73710,2524 
DELPHI Network E-Mail: Derr1ck
(Note on Delphi name: It is a number "1" between the "r" and "c") 

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MORNING STAR STAFF:

EDITOR IN CHIEF 
Toby Trudel - Nashua, NH

SENIOR EDITOR - Biblical Department 
Geoffrey Kragen - Roseville, CA

SENIOR EDITOR - Christian Life Department 
Teresa Giordanengo - Canonsburg, PA

SENIOR LITERARY EDITOR 
Al Murillo III - El Paso, TX

SENIOR PUBLISHER - DOS Version 
Steve Paulovich - Derry, NH

STAFF EDITOR 
Wayne Eisenberg - Wynnewood, PA 

DIRECTOR OF NETWORK DISTRIBUTION (GENIE and COMPUSERVE)
Jeffrey Jones - Bakersfield, CA

DIRECTOR OF NETWORK DISTRIBUTION (DELPHI) 
Derrick Shipman - Greenville, SC

BBS DISTRIBUTION MANAGERS 
Danny O. Dennis - Opelika, AL 
Jack Lavallet III - Alpharetta, GA 
Walter H Bauer Jr. - Sugar Land, TX 
Bruce Derouen - Beaumont TX

Letters
From the Editor-In-Chief
Letter from the Editor by Toby Trudel
Welcome to the premier issue of MORNING STAR, a computer network
based Christian magazine. This publication is unique, in that
it emerged from the ideas of several born again believers in
Jesus, who came to know of each other through a computer network
link. This entire publication was created over such a network. 
The transfer of text, formatting, publication, distribution and
all staff meetings, were done over the telephone lines, using
modems and home based computers. The senior staff members at
the time of this publication reside in California, New
Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas. None of
these people have ever met face to face, with the exception of
the two New Hampshire brothers that the Lord was wise enough to
place only twenty miles apart, though they first met over the
network. Literary contributions for this, (and future), issues
have come from Christians across the country representing over
twenty states. This wonderful group of brothers and sisters in
the Lord, encompasses several denominations including;
Assemblies of God, Baptist, Evangelical-Free, Presbyterian and
Messianic Jewish congregations.

Although believers from a number of denominations are involved
with this work, MORNING STAR is not an "ecumenical" publication.
This magazine ministry is based solely on the born again Gospel
of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible. We do not compromise one
"jot or tittle" on what the Word of God has to say. Our Mission
Statement which is found at the beginning of every issue,
explains our purpose and outlook. Every issue of MORNING STAR
will consist of five major sections; Letters to the magazine, a
Feature Area, a Biblical Department, a Christian Life
Department, and a Resource Department.

The LETTERS AREA, which you are now in, is being used in this
issue solely for this introductory column. In the future, it
will be made up of an editorial commentary, letters from
readers, and replies.

The FEATURES AREA, is a collection of short articles from people
across the country, often having to do with a particular theme. 
(This month's theme is "witnessing")

The BIBLICAL DEPARTMENT, overseen by Pastor Geoffrey Kragen of
Roseville, California, is a combination of regular columns and
special articles. The columns you will see on a regular basis
include:

"New in Christ" ... looks at the basics of Biblical Christian
teaching. "Bible Study" ... will take a close look at specific
teachings, verses, chapters and books of the Bible. "Witnessing"
... features articles from believers who have expertise in
bringing the Gospel to specific groups of people. "Messianic
Studies" ... will help direct all of us back to the Jewishness
of Jesus and the Bible. It will also include a testimony from a
Jewish believer in Yeshua, (Jesus name in Hebrew!), in every
issue. "Bible Quiz" ... will get us all looking in the Bible, to
see how good we really know the Word. "CFI Report" ... direct
reports from "Christian Friends of Israel" in Jerusalem, on
events in Israel, and those around the world which affect the
land and people of our Lord. (The Editor in Chief of MORNING
STAR is also a U.S. distributor of CFI material.)

Our CHRISTIAN LIFE DEPARTMENT, headed by Ms. Teresa Giordanengo
of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, is made up of unique feature
articles concerning people, churches and ministries as well as
these regular columns:

"Education" ... interviews, articles and ideas concerning the
Christian Education scene. "Music Column" ... stories and
articles related to Christian song. "Teens" ... reports,
testimonies and articles from the under-20 believers. "Prayer
and Praise" ... requests and reports from around the world
"Testimony" ... is where we profile our "gentile" testimonies.
"Ministry Profile" ... will give an in depth look at a unique
ministry.

Lastly, our RESOURCE AREA, will be a collection of helpful
information for the believer, including;

1. Lists of names, descriptions and addresses of worthy
ministries and magazines. 2. Sources of Bible study aids and
books. 3. Book and Software review column. 4. Christian Newsdesk.

A unique feature of MORNING STAR, is the MSTAR program which comes
with every DOS version of the magazine. MSTAR was developed by 
our Senior Publisher, Steve Paulovich of Derry, New Hampshire.
It enables MORNING STAR to be read by any DOS based computer. 
We also publish a Macintosh version of MORNING STAR in Hypercard 
version 1.2.5. We selected version 1.2.5 deliberately in order to 
make it accessible to as many Macintosh users as possible.

Anyone who wants MORNING STAR for themselves or a friend, but
does not have access to one of the networks we upload it onto,
can still receive it. Disk versions in both 3.5 or 5.25 size
for DOS based computers as well as the Hypercard version are
available at a low subscription rate. The subscription form for
all of these is on the last page of each issue.

At the time of this publication, MORNING STAR is being uploaded
onto the Quantum Services Network, (America Online, PC Link,
Promenade), as well as onto the Compuserve, Genie and Delphi
Networks, making it available to about two million people. If
you like what we are doing with this ministry, and are a member
of another network, and would like to be a distributor, please
contact us at any of our mailing addresses. MORNING STAR is
also being uploaded onto Christian electronic bulletin boards
across the United States. Here too, if you feel directed to be
part of this ministry and can make a monthly commitment to
upload onto a local electronic bulletin board, get in touch with
us!

Plans are presently being made to make MORNING STAR available in
Canada, England, France, Israel and the Phillipines. Needless
to say, this is a big undertaking, and we ask you to keep us in
prayer as we go forward. We hope you find this magazine a
pleasant and useful reading experience, and that you tell others
about it.

MORNING STAR accepts literary contributions from the body of
Christ wherever they may live. We are always looking for
articles, stories, poems, testimonies, Bible teachings, and
other material. If you have an original work, please send it
in! We cannot, however, reproduce copywritten material without
verifiable written permission. We are open to ideas and
suggestions as well. If you can help us improve this computer
magazine, please contact us!

On behalf of the entire MORNING STAR staff, I thank you all for
your interest in this ministry.

In service to Jesus the Messiah,

Toby Trudel Editor in Chief of MORNING STAR

Features
Death Takes, On a Holiday
Death Takes, On a Holiday by David J.Beiswenger
It was last Father's day when my friend David, 37, climbed into
his Pitt's biplane and headed out for the practice area. He was
a competitive acrobatic pilot and needed to work on part of his
routine. He'd been out about twenty minutes on this lazy Sunday
afternoon doing his usual assortment of loops, rolls, and
hammerheads. At about eight minutes after 5 p.m., during a
maneuver, he lost control of his elevator (a part of the tail
that makes the plane go up and down) and came crashing down into
the bank of a small river in a grassy field. A scene that, a
moment before was serene, was suddenly filled with explosive
violence, and then silence.

The plane came down nearly vertical. Witnesses said that in the
last few seconds David tried to right the craft using the trim
tab (a device that exercises some control over the elevators)
but it was too little, too late. He was wearing a parachute as
required by law, but was too low to the ground to use it. It
was estimated that he hit the ground at well over 100 m.p.h. and
was killed instantly. A fifty-cent part is suspected as the
culprit that took away his life.

I work at the airport that David flew out of. I was not on the
day of his accident. David had often come into my office and
talked with me about flying. We talked about death, as all
pilots do. Several times, we even discussed stunt pilots who
had ridden their planes to the ground instead of bailing out,
trying to save their crafts and losing their lives in the
process. He joked about one pilot who bailed out of a bad
situation only to have the pilotless plane right itself and fly
on for miles before striking the ground. It was funny at the
time. David assured me he'd bail out if he ever had to.

Of all the things we talked about, God was not one of them. I
told David that I wanted to fly for a missions organization
somewhere, but it came out like, "I want to be a bush pilot." 
To this his only reply was, "Really?" There were always more
interesting things for us to talk about. Besides, I didn't want
him to think I was a fanatic, or a weirdo.

I can't say for sure where Dave is right now. I can say that I
would rather be sure. Could I have reached him? I don't know. 
It wasn't a priority. There was plenty of time. Death was far
away for both of us. (So we thought.) Had I known what was to
happen that day, I would have been at his side right up until
the last moment, sharing, praying, pleading. But that's just
it. The time I spent with him WAS the last moment.

It is a difficult balance that must be struck when witnessing to
someone. Too much is often just as bad as not enough. I don't
claim to be an expert, but I have learned one thing. You never
know when it will be too late. I look at people now as if today
was their last day. In a way that keeps David's memory alive for
me. As for my friend, I can only say that I hope I'll see him
someday. As for me, it has been a baptism of blood; the blood
of a friend.
Be Thou an Example
Be Thou and Example by Derrick Shipman
"When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut." "When I grow up, I
want to be a fireman." "When I finish school, I plan to be a
programmer for a large corporation." These are some typical
statements we may hear from any young person that we talk to. I
still consider myself a young person (at 27 years of age) and I
have many plans for the future also. I talk to my friends from
school and they tell me things like, "When I finish school, I
plan to be a missionary to Africa," or, "When I finish school, I
plan to start a church." God reveals to us His plans for our
lives when He sees fit. We need not get in a hurry about
planning our lives, for God has a plan for each of us and will
reveal it in His time.

"How do I find God's will for my life?" That certainly seems to
be a difficult question at times. One of the most profound, yet
simple, statements that I have ever heard regarding the subject
was made by a teacher in college. He said, "God's will for your
life is not future, it is now." Though God has a future plan
for our lives, He has laid-out what his will for our lives is in
His Word. As young people, we tend to think of what we will do
in the future and do not think about what we can be doing right
now.

David was just a young person when he slew Goliath. He visited
his brothers who were gone to battle and heard the Philistines
mocking Israel and her God. All of the soldiers were afraid of
big, bad Goliath. David took the challenge, and God used him in
a mighty way! Don't think that because you are a young person
God cannot use you for His work.

Right now, near my home town, there is a youth revival going on
and many people are coming to know Christ as a result of the
labor of an 18-year-old preacher. The revival was scheduled to
go for a week, but has now been extended to two weeks because
God is moving in that church.

Paul wrote to Timothy, who was a young preacher himself, and
said, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of
the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit,
in faith, in purity. Until I come, give attendance to reading,
to exhortation, to doctrine" (I Timothy 4:12-13). When we read
this, if we aren't careful, we might say, "Well, no one is
supposed to despise my youth!" This is true, but it is OUR
responsibility to not let them despise our youth! Paul said,
"Timothy, don't let them despise your youth," so the
responsibility fell upon Timothy. 

"Well, how am I supposed to do that?" By being an EXAMPLE! 
Make your life an example for older people to follow. Live your
life as a young person in such a way that everyone can see
Christ in you. Be an example in what you say (in word), in what
you talk about (in conversation), in the love you show to others
(in charity), in your attitude (in spirit), in your faith in God
and His Word, and in purity. A young person should keep himself
from the sin of this world and not partake in things just
because others do. The world should be able to look at the way
you live your life, to look at the way you dress, and to listen
to the things you say and be able to tell you are a Christian! 
Paul told Timothy to read his Bible, to lift up the brethren,
and to make sure his doctrine was right until he was able to see
him again.

We, as young people, should be like Timothy and be an example to
those around us. We should do God's will for our lives NOW by
being a witness for Him and studying his Word, and by praying to
Him about what else He would have us do.
The Joys and Frustrations of Witnessing
The Joys and Frustrations of Witnessing by Jerry E. Sullivan
Call me a victim of the Television Age. While I don't mind
working hard at accomplishing a goal, I like my results to come
easily in a nice, neat, thirty-minute package. Witnessing just
does not fit into that category.

I should have known that, especially considering my own personal
story. People witnessed to me for the better part of ten years
before I decided to take the "Nestea Plunge." "Save your
breath," I would say. "I don't need it. After all, I'm
Catholic." Jesus finally reached me in 1988 through a wonderful
creature named Sharon Witkowski. There was something different
in the way she presented The Word that made me wake up and
listen. I listened so well, in fact, that we married just over
nine months after I first asked her out.

Witnessing is something that must be worked at and strived for. 
A lot of people invested a lot of time to get me to this point
in my Christian life. I am truly thankful for them because they
saw something in me, worth saving, that I, at the time, did not
see in myself.

Even after I said that I was born again, I found that it took a
publicly pronounced conviction in Christ in order to chase Satan
away from my heart. It was only then that I truly began to
"feel" Christian. Realizing how difficult it was to convict me,
I suppose it should have come as no surprise that I would
experience similar difficulty in trying to witness to others.

One particular source of frustration for me is an individual who
I call "Randy." My friendship with him goes back almost ten
years. We were stationed together in the 101st Airborne
Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. After I was born again in
1988, one of the first things I did was to write Randy and
witness. I knew what would be going through his mind, as we
were cut from a similar cloth: "Jerry's turned into a holy
roller," he would think.

From that point on, continuing in some form to today, Randy has
treated me differently. He has taken the viewpoint that I am
not the person he previously knew, and therefore
"unapproachable." In a sense, he is right: I am a changed man.
I have explained to him that I'm by no means unapproachable,
but I now have a new dimension that previously did not exist. I
tried all of the conventional methods, such as the assembly and
mailing of a variety of Christian literature, but if Randy ever
looked at it, I'll probably never know. I have personally
written volumes to him, and rare is the time that he even
comments on it. We were artillery officers in the Active Army
(we're both Reservists today), so I decided it was time to roll
out my Christian cannons. I tried to compare his life to mine,
narrowing the time frame to when I became a true Christian, at
Thanksgiving of 1988 in Sonthofen, Germany.

We have each had our fair share of adversity in our lives, even
in that short time. Neither of us were selected for promotion
to major on Active Duty. While Randy took it as a cruel stroke
of bad luck, I viewed it as the course Jesus wants me to take,
because His plan for me involves something better than the Army.
This particular leap of faith was exceedingly hard to make, as
we both had eleven years of our earthly lives invested in the
Active Army. It would have been easy to feel betrayed, as Randy
continues to feel, but I had to put a Christian emphasis on my
own travail, as I had asked Christ repeatedly to direct me to
those things that would fulfill His perfect plan for me and my
family. If I did not get selected, as I had fervently hoped,
then it could only be because Christ has something else,
something better in store.

Randy has not yet grasped that Christ makes his presence known
through His believers here on Earth and the wonders His Father
created. I have pointed to the multitude of blessings that the
Lord has bestowed upon me since becoming born-again; a beautiful
wife, two beautiful children, a decent job that allows us to
live comfortably, a Master's Degree from Boston University, a
scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati. I
tried to tell Randy that these are not the result of "luck" or
"coincidence," but rather because of a higher plan devised by
Jesus with a loftier purpose in mind.

The message has yet to sink in on him. But that doesn't mean I
have given up. Quite the contrary, I continue to witness to
him. It's not because I thrive on rejection, but because in so
doing, I reinforce and strengthen the faith that brought me to
Christ to begin with. I remind myself of just how much love
Jesus has blessed us all with. Randy may look forward to a
lifetime of "nagging."
God's Time Bank
God's Time Bank by Terri Giordanengo
Imagine you had a bank that credited your account each morning
with $86,400. This bank, however, would not carry over your
balance from day to day.  It would not allow you to keep any
cash in your account at closing time.  Every evening, this bank
would cancel whatever part of the account you failed to use
during the day. What would you do in such a situation? 
Wouldn't you withdraw and invest every penny of what you were
credited with each morning?

Well, we all have such a bank! It's name is "Time."  Every
morning God credits us with 86,400 seconds. Every night God 
rules off, as lost forever, whatever time we have failed to
invest to good purpose. He carries over no balances until the
following day.  He allows no overdrafts. Each day He opens a
new account with us.  Each night He discards the unused seconds
of the day. If we fail to use the day's "deposits," the loss is
ours. There is no going back to withdraw from yesterday. 
There is also no drawing against "tomorrow's account." We must
live in the present, on today's deposits.  We should invest it
wisely, by spending some of it each day telling someone about
God's love and forgiveness through Jesus.
College Devotions
College Devotions by Joe Sewell
Colossians 2:12; 3:1-4          Terrible to Terrific

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 
(2 Cor. 5:17 NIV)

Our college Christian group had a time during meetings in which
we would go around the room, saying first the names of those who
preceded us in the circle, then our own. We did this as a means
of learning everyone's name. No one wanted to be the last
person in the chain, having to remember all thirty or so names
of everyone there. The technique WAS effective, though.

One evening we decided to add a new twist. Each person would
think of an adjective describing himself that began with his or
her first initial. One of the girls, the unsaved sister of a
regular member, decided to use the word "terrible" to form 
"Terrible Theresa." This saddened me, but even sadder was that
everyone else went along with it. Soon I was the one giving
the list of names. Hoping the others after me would follow my
lead, I decided to call her "Terrific Theresa," adding, "no one
is terrible in God's sight.

A few weeks later, Theresa accepted the Lord into her life. I
saw her one day, wearing a T-shirt that bore the word
"Terrific!" emblazoned across it's front. Since then she has,
with God's help, lived up to that adjective.

PRAYER: Father, help us to remember that everyone, including 
ourselves, is terrific to You. Amen.

=================================================================

Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16; Luke 24:46-47
Campus Observations

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: "All the world" (Mark 16:15) includes where
you are!

You hear a lot of strange things while walking around a college
campus ... "The quantum number is one over r squared, except in
this case when it's one over r." ... "The system's down again! 
I won't be able to get that darn matrix program done!" ... "I
bombed on that fluids quiz. And I pulled an all-nighter on it,
too!"

Technical terms combine with light banter in such an academic
environment. Few talk about God and His love. The people study,
the people work. Books are carried, papers are written and
graded. Tests are crammed for. Few study about God and His love.

"I must work the works of Him that sent me, while it is day; the
night cometh, when no man can work." (John 9:4 KJV)

PRAYER: Father, forgive us for not proclaiming You. Increase
our boldness, that we may tell the people that You care. In
Jesus' name. Amen.

=================================================================

Acts 5:34-41                Worthy to Suffer Shame

THOUGHT FOR TODAY: "And they departed ... rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." (Acts 5:41
KJV)

How many times have we wanted to share our faith with friends,
but stopped because we were afraid of what they might think of
us? I know I have missed many opportunities to witness because
of "shame-o-phobia."

The apostles were brought before the council because they taught
the love of Jesus. Did they say, "Uh, we didn't mean that. 
We'll stop," just because they were afraid of public ridicule? 
NO! They were PROUD to be "counted worthy to suffer shame for
His name. And DAILY they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ." (Acts 5:41-42)

PRAYER: Lord, may we be proud, not fearful, to suffer shame for
Your Name. Amen.

Biblical Department
New In Christ
New In Christ
"New in Christ" is a regular MORNING STAR column written
primarily for people who wish to learn more about the basic
teachings of Biblical Christianity. The first two issues will
contain articles on what it means to be "born again" into a
saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Beginning with the third
issue, the "New in Christ" column will address such topics as
the Accuracy of the Bible, the Believer and the Holy Spirit,
Christian Lifestyle, Satan and demonic forces, and others. The
editorial staff at MORNING STAR encourages all readers to freely
use this information to help new Christians grow in their walk
with the Lord.

=================================================================

One of the most shocking truths a person finds as they begin to
seriously read the Bible is that no one who sins can get into
Heaven. Not one of us! (1st Corinthians 6:9) The Bible also
states that if you try to live by God's laws yet break just one
of them, you are as guilty as if you broke them all. (James
2:10) Now don't think that anyone has ever gotten off the hook
by never sinning, for the Bible also says that we have all
sinned. (Romans 3:23) This seems to cause quite a problem for
us, as the price we have to pay for sin is death. (Romans 6:23) 
Not just physical death, but spiritual death, which is
separation from God forever, in a very real place called Hell.

The Bible also informs us that there is nothing we can do on our
own to pay the penalty for sin, or to escape God's judgment. 
God laid down the law that the wage of sin is death. All
individuals have sinned and therefore face death, and God cannot
change His rules. If He did, He would be going back on His
Word, and this, He will not do. (Titus 1:2) The debt of our sin
(death) still has to be paid, or we cannot get into heaven. No
human, man nor woman, can pay the bill for anyone else, after
all, being debtors ourselves, we cannot pay off each others
debts.

Our good deeds cannot pay the debt either. The Bible says such
attempts are like offering filthy rags before God. (Isaiah 64:6)
 What chance do we have then?  Fortunately, God loves us enough
that He gives us one opportunity to escape our unpleasant
destiny. This is where Jesus comes into the picture. He came
to earth, born by a miracle of God to a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14,
Matthew 1:18-23) As such, he did not inherit the sin nature,
which is passed down from one human generation to the next. 
Jesus lived His entire life without sinning, and so, became the
only person in history qualified to die and pay the debt of our
sin. He died an agonizing death by crucifixion, then came back
to life after being buried for three days, as He said He would
do, to prove He is God, and show that there is life after death.

A lot of people have heard much of this teaching at some point
in their lives but never understood how it applies to them
personally. Many grew up with the rules and ceremonies of a
religion which had little or nothing to do with Jesus dying on
the cross for their sins. Just what is the connection between
what Jesus did in the first century, and people do today in
1991? Did Christ die so that everyone automatically goes to
heaven? Or, is there something specific we must do individually
in order for this payment of debt to apply to us?

Looking in the Bible, you will find that although Christ died so
we could get to heaven, Scripture does not say that everyone has
a free ride regardless of what they do with their lives. Jesus
Himself told us what the condition was that we must meet in
order to get into heaven. In fact, he was emphatic about it
being the ONLY way to get in! In the Gospel of John, chapter 3,
verse 3, he made it clear when He said, "Verily, verily, I say
unto thee. Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom
of God".

Many who have read the New Testament don't realize the great
significance of these words spoken by Christ. This is why Jesus
said so few people find the way to heaven. (Matthew 7:14) Here
is the answer to the single, most-important question in life! 
(How do I get to heaven?) But what did Jesus mean by the words
"born again"? The answer to this question is found in the New
Testament. According to God's Word, to be "born again," a
person must;

1. Understand that he/she is a sinner who needs a Saviour 2. 
Repent (agree to turn from) all sin 3. Accept Jesus Christ as
his/her personal Savior and Lord of his/her life.

God says if you do this for real, with all your heart (as you
cannot fool Him) you will end up living in heaven forever. 
"...if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe
in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be
saved" (Romans 10:9). If you do not accept God's "born again"
way to heaven, you will still live forever, only not in Heaven. 
This then conversely answers the important question, "How do I
get to Hell?" The answer is, you don't have to do a thing, just
go on with life as is and you automatically qualify!

To "repent" however, does not mean simply asking for forgiveness
for certain bad things you have done. Asking for forgiveness is
only part of repentance. True repentance means turning from
sin. And the desire for this turning is the product of becoming
a believer. This means ALL sin! Not what you or someone else
thinks is sin, but what God says is sin in His Word. (Colossians
2:8, 1st Timothy 6:3, 1st Corinthians 3:9 & 4:3,4) This will
most likely result in a dramatic change in lifestyle for many
people, and will be noticed, (as well as criticized), by those
who know you. (1st Peter 4:4)

If someone thinks repentance is some type of half hearted effort
to "try and be a better person," "turn over a new leaf," or
"change a few bad habits," they are mistaken! It doesn't matter
how committed you are to such concepts. (Romans 10:2,3) The
Bible teaches repentance involves a 100-percent turning from all
sin, as God defines it, whether you "agree" with it or not. You
have to surrender your will to God. This is what Jesus taught
concerning "dying to one's self." (Matthew 16:24)

The New Testament letters explain clearly how your old self dies
to your old values, beliefs, thought patterns and behaviors. 
You are reborn into a brand-new life empowered to follow all of
God's teachings. (And only His!) Although this isn't a
complicated process, IT IS a huge step for anyone that is
serious about it. Jesus said a person should take a good look
at those things in his or her life that contradict with God's
Word. He compared it to a general reviewing of all the facts
before deciding to enter a battle. (Luke 14:27-33)

If a person says he or she can repent but refuses to read what
the Bible says about sin, or justifies sin by saying it doesn't
apply in this day and age, they are in opposition to what the
Lord has to say, and there is real doubt as to whether or not
they have accepted the gift of salvation.

God is very clear that we are not to be unwise but to be aware
of what He expects of us. (Ephesians 5:17) Jesus told the
religious leaders of His day that their teachings were in error
due to their lack of knowledge of God's Word. (Mark 12:24) He
also stated that the Word of God never changes, to even the
slightest degree (Matthew 5:18), and that heaven and earth may
pass away, but His Word never would. (Matthew 24:35) The Bible
tells us that Christ and the Word of God are one and the same,
and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews
13:8, John 1:1) God the Father never changes to any degree
either. (Malachi 3:6, James 1:17) There is no "gray area" with
respect to God's Word changing with the times. The Bible says
it does not!
Bible Study
Bible Study
There is much confusion in the world today over exactly what to
believe about Jesus Christ. Some groups, like the Mormons,
believe that Jesus was God's first-born spirit child. Though
they teach that He was a preexistant spirit, they believe that
about everyone. Others, such as the Jehovah Witnesses, say
Jesus is, "a god, but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah".
(Let God Be True, p.33) They believe Jesus is "a created
individual ... the second greatest personage of the universe". 
(Make Sure of All Things, p. 207). The Unification Church, (Sun
Yung Moon's Moonies), teach that Jesus' value is no greater than
that of any other man, stating, "It is plain that Jesus is not
God Himself" (Divine Priciple p.255) The WAY International
teaches, "Jesus Christ's existence began when he was conceived
by God's creating the soul-life of Jesus in Mary. (The Word's
Way, Vol. 3 pp. 26,27) Islam teaches that "Jesus ... was only a
messenger of Allah". (Surah 4:171, the Koran). The Unitarians
teach that Christ was sent to earth as a great moral teacher
rather than as a mediator. New Age thinkers look upon him as a
"guide to self actualization".

There are many other opinions besides these, including those who
believe that Jesus Christ is in fact God. Despite all the
"wonderful" titles these groups have given Him, one thing is for
sure. They can't all be right. Rather than philosophize to no
avail, let's examine the main source of information on Jesus,
the Bible.

The first place to look is in the Tanakh (the Old Testament)
which Jesus claimed as the source of evidence for His being the
promised Messiah. (Luke 24:27, John 5:39) In the Tanakh it is
written that the coming Messiah (Jesus) would be called "Mighty
God". (Isaiah 9:6) This is the same term and grammar used in
Isaiah 10:21, where it is written that the remnant of Jacob
shall return to "the Mighty God". We certainly don't have "two
Gods" according to Isaiah who wrote both these passages. (Isaiah
45:22) The Jehovah whom Isaiah and his people worshipped and
the Son-Child who would be born and called "Mighty God" are the
same. Look also at Proverbs 30:4 which asks the question
concerning God; "... what is His name, and what is His SON'S
NAME?"

Another key verse in Isaiah is 7:14: "Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel". The
word "Immanuel" literally means "God with us", not any ordinary
man. This is confirmed in the New Testament in Matthew 1:21-23.

In Micah 5:2 it says; "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you
are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall
come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings
forth have been from old, from everlasting."

Micah here states clearly not only Christ's future birthplace,
but that this "ruler in Israel" has shared the counsels of God
from eternity past. If only God has existed from eternity past,
and the Messiah (Jesus) existed with Him, then Jesus has to be
God.

In the great crucifixion passage of Zechariah 12:10, Jehovah
Himself says; "When they look UPON ME whom they have pierced." 
The New Testament writers made sure to remind us of this
important passage and that it applies to none other than Jesus. 
(John 19:37, Revelation 1:7)

The New Testament bears record of Christ's being God.
The Gospel of John clearly sets the record straight.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of
men." (John 1:1-4)

In verse 1, as well as in John 1:14, 1st John 1:1, and
Revelation 19:13, the designation "Word" (Logos), refers
specifically to Jesus. John is clearly referring to Jesus in
verse 1, as is seen in verse 14.

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". (Isaiah 7:14
again) The term "In the beginning", to all in John's day
familiar with the scriptures, is a clear allusion to what we now
call the book of Genesis. This was commonly referred to in
those days as "In the beginning". Any reader of John's Gospel
would automatically think of the creation record and its
assumption of God's eternality. John writes, "The Word was with
God". This establishes Jesus as a distinct entity who had since
"the beginning" had fellowship with God the Father. John then
states; "The Word was God". This is a definite statement of
Jesus' deity. Jesus is not "a god" as some suggest. The term
God (theos) appears here without the definite article "the" It
appears this way 282 times in the New Testament, so there is no
grammatical confusion here. Also, if John had used "the God"
with reference to Christ, he would have made Him alone to be
God, omitting the Father.

John goes on to say, "All things were made through Him". This
fact of Jesus being the creator is verified in these other New
Testament verses:

"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature: For by Him were all things, that are in heaven, and
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: ALL THINGS
WERE CREATED BY HIM, and for him: And he is before all things"
 (Colossians 1:15-17)

"Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, BY WHOM ALSO HE MADE THE WORLDS; 
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:2,3)

"And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of
the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands." 
(Hebrews 1:10)

So the New Testament tells us Jesus created everything. But it
is GOD who created everything according to the Old Testament!

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."
(Genesis 1:1)

How can this be? Notice that the God of Genesis refers to
Himself in the plural in Hebrew: 

"Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness." (Genesis 1:26)
"And the Lord God said, behold the man is become as one of US." 
(Genesis 3:22)

"Go to, let US go down, and their confound their language ..." 
(Genesis 11:7)

John is not the only one who believed Christ to be God. Paul
was explicit in his belief:

"Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." 
(Romans 9:5)

There is no need to explain this verse for the grammar is
simple. Paul says Christ is God. Paul had much more to say on
the subject of Jesus being God:

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who,
being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God:" (Philippians 2:5,6)  The word "FORM" in the first
sentence is "morphe" in the Greek and means the nature or
essence, not in the abstract, but as actually subsisting in the
individual, and retained as long as the individual itself
exisits. The word "FASHION" is "schema" in the Greek and refers
only to that which shows outward and appeals to the senses. 
Paul is clearly stating that Jesus had always existed as God in
His essential nature. He voluntarily put this aside to become
the God-man, (Immanuel) the humble servant, obedient to death. 

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to
the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:10,11)

This passage clearly indicates a worship of Jesus by all. God
does NOT allow anyone other than Him to be worshipped according
to the first commandment. (Also stated in Matthew 4:10)

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God
was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of
angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world,
received up into glory." (1st Timothy 3:16)

The reference to "God manifest in the Flesh", (Immanuel), is to
Jesus. He alone did what the remainder of the verse said He did.

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13)

The literal translation of this sentence indicates that Paul is
referring to only one person here: God the Son.

The Gospels give other proof that Christ was God. He had powers
that only God could possess:

"But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, BECAUSE HE KNEW ALL
MEN, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew
what was in man." (John 2:24,25) ... "Now are we sure that THOU
KNOWEST ALL THINGS, and needest not that any man should ask
thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God." 
(John 16:30)

Jesus Himself let it be known that He believed Himself to be
God. He clearly acknowledged Thomas in the affirmative when he
expressed his belief that Christ was God:

"And Thomas answered and said unto him, MY LORD AND MY GOD. 
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou
hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have
believed." (John 20:28,29)

Christ not only accepted this worship of Thomas, He also
accepted the worship of many other people as is stated in
Matthew 8:2, 9:18, 14:33, 15:25, 20:20, 28:9,17, Mark 5:6, and
John 9:38. Yet only God is to be worshipped as such. (Exodus
20:1-4, Deuteronomy 5:6-9) No man is to accept worship, (Acts
14:15), nor any angels, (Revelation 22:8,9)

Jesus not only accepted worship but put His words on a par with
those of God: "You have heard that it was said to men of
old,... But I say unto you ..." (Matthew 5:21,22) He claimed
all authority under heaven. (Matthew 28:18,19) He added to the
Ten Commandments, (John 13:34) He claimed that not one jot or
tittle would pass from the Law, (Matthew 5:18), and put His
words on that level when He said, "Heaven and earth will pass
away, but my words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35) 
Speaking of those who reject Him, He said that HIS WORD would be
their judge on the last day. (John 12:48) In view of these
statements it is obvious that Christ gave His word the same
authority as God's. 

The reason some of the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him was
clearly due to His blaspheming claims to be God. Christ claimed
the authority to forgive sins, (Mark 2:10) which in Judaism was
only God's right and ability. It would NOT have offended the
Jews if Christ claimed to be "A HUMAN son of God". This was
within the realm of Jewish thinking. Rather, the Bible shows
that these religious leaders wanted Him dead for His claims of
BEING GOD. When Jesus spoke to these men He referred to God
specifically as, "My Father", not "Our Father". He claimed the
ability to grant eternal life and said He and HIS FATHER WERE
ONE. The religious leaders knew exactly what He meant. Jesus
claimed to be God.

"Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not
only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his
Father, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD." (John 5:18)

"Jesus answered them, 'I told you, and ye believed not: the
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. 
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said
unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I AND MY FATHER
ARE ONE.' Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 
Jesus answered them, 'Many good works have I shewed you from my
Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?' The Jews
answered him, saying, 'For a good work we stone thee not; BUT
FOR BLASPHEMY; AND BECAUSE THAT THOU BEING A MAN MAKEST THYSELF
GOD." (John 10:25-33)

NOTE: This study will be continued in issue #2, God (Christ)
willing!
Witnessing Column
I was Sick and You Visited Me by J.C. Trudel
Every month the WITNESSING column will highlight some aspect of
bringing forth the Gospel of Jesus to a particular group of
people. In this issue, we feature some practical tips on how to
minister and witness to those who are sick, especially in
hospitals and nursing homes. This article was submitted by Mr.
J.C. Trudel of Naples Florida, who, along with his wife Mae,
served in the sick visitation ministry of their Assemblies of
God church for many years. Mr. Trudel also served as a deacon
at Christian Bible Church in Nashua, NH, during the 1980's.

I WAS SICK AND YOU VISITED ME

The title of this article is the positive side of the words of
Jesus concerning our duties toward the sick. The negative side
is shown in Matthew 25:41,43,45. I am sure that anyone reading
the condemnation of those who have not visited the sick, among
other things, will get somewhat worried about their lack of
concern for others. Some will say, I have nothing to worry
about, I visited my relatives in the hospital when they were
sick. They should read Luke 6:32 where Jesus says, "If you love
them who love you, what thank have you? for sinners also love
those that love them."

Surely, Jesus did not mean that everyone should go to the
hospital every day, as this would imply chaos, many angry
nurses, and a lack of needed oxygen for the patients. What
Jesus meant was; when you know of a need that you are in a
position to help with, do not look the other way, pretending it
is not there, like the priest and the Levite of the parable of
the good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37.

Many people do not visit the sick, feeling inadequate, not
knowing what to say, what to do or not to do. What follows are
suggestions gathered from years of visiting the sick in the Name
of our Lord Jesus-Christ. They are not listed in their order of
importance, but they should help you in doing one of the
greatest of Christian duties.

1. We visit the sick as representative of the Lord Jesus Christ,
 who would visit the sick if He were here among us.

2. While visiting the sick appears to some as a social activity,
 to those who follow Christ, it is a work of love, compassion,
and mercy. It is a very spiritual thing, and the purpose of the
visit is to pray for them, to lift them up, and, very often, to
bring them closer to God.

3. As is the case with any spiritual endeavor, one should
prepare for the visit by praying, asking for the strenght,
wisdom, and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

4. Every patient is different from the other, in character, in
their level of faith, in their natural ability to deal with
life's unexpected problems, so we need help from above in many
ways.

5. As we go visit in the name of Jesus, we bring His peace, His
promises, His faithfulness, and numerous other things, but we
must never make statements that will bring the sick outside of
God's perfect will.

6. Some patients may be very bitter at first, and may even
ridicule you for coming in the name of One who allows people to
suffer. It may get you very upset or even angry. If you are,
do not reply unkindly, or show what you feel under any
condition. Just wish them well and go on to another patient. 
Do not feel that you have failed, but do report to the
responsible pastor or sick visitation coordinator for advice 
and support. Above all, be sure to pray.

7. Some patients do not wish to talk on the first visit, perhaps
being still in shock from the news of the illness, or the
forthcoming surgery. Do not force them to converse with you.
Just say: "I realize that you must be very tired. I'll just
say a short prayer for you and I'll come again in the very near
future." Do say a short prayer for the patient.

8. The church pastor or the sick visitation ministry coordinator
will, as a rule, make the first visit. Then usually, when
feasable, a woman will visit a female patient, a man will visit
a male patient. An exception would be if the patient expresses
the desire to be visited by a specific person in the ministry. 

9. For the first visit, you should have the permission of the
family (if the patient has one) if they have not contacted you,
as sometimes happens. When you go in that room, the patient
must know that you are going so that they may refuse if they are
too sick. Or, they may want time to cover themselves or get
ready in some other ways. If no one is in the room, ask the
floor nurse if a visit is possible. She may just go into the
room and check, or just tell the patient of your arrival. Always
be nice to the nurses. We all have a desire for privacy, and
those hospital clothes leave much to be desired to cover ailing
bodies, especially if the patient is still under anesthesia or
other medication. If the nurse is not around, knock on the door
first and announce yourself in a gentle tone of voice.

10. Some patients feel that God is unfair to them and will even
express anger at God. It is scripturally ignorant to tell the
patient, as some do, to offer their sufferings to God, hinting
that it will earn them heaven. I usually tell such patients, "I
am sure you are disappointed that this has happened to you, I am
really sorry it did, it is not given to us to understand all
things. Even Jesus told us that the rain would fall on the just
and the unjust., It hurts me to see you suffer like this, I
wish I could share in your sufferings, I'll pray for the Lord to
strenghten you, to heal you, to give you abundantly of His
sufficient grace, that you may be able to be a good example of
faith for His glory. God bless you and touch you in a very
special way."

11. I firmly believe in God's power to heal, but premature
"healed" expressions on our part can be very devastating,
especially with cancer patients who often go through remission
stages. Such statements can only bring discredit on the sick
visitation ministry or on a visitor.

12. We must never tell patients that they are sick because God
wants to get their attention or wants to punish them. If such is
the case, no one knows it better than the patient, and we must
still remind them that God loves them and that He wants us to
seek His help in good times and bad times as well.

13. Some Christians who lose a major organ or part of their body
do feel bitter and incomplete. This is especially true of women
who have had a mastectomy and have a very inconsiderate husband,
as has happened in some cases. We must encourage them, reminding
them that God does not look at our physical appearance, He
looks in our hearts for our love for Him. He knows more than us
that our bodies are only temporary. If you run across such an
inconsiderate husband, do not reproach the man as he may throw
you out and you will not be able to do your duties.

14. Tragically, a child may be born with serious defects, even
missing limbs, which causes a serious crisis. My words to the
parents in such a case were those of our Savior who said: "Let
little children come unto me for heaven is theirs and those like
them." I also add: "Jesus did not say only the children who
are pretty, complete, without defects. He said All little
children, yours included." The Lord had given me those words and
they did His work of compassion and encouraged the troubled
parents.

15. I was often asked to visit patients that were not saved,
some from the church that teaches salvation by works. It was
always quite a challenge as they believed they were saved by
their religion. The Lord helped me lead many to salvation,
some at their eleventh hour. You have to establish a rapport
first and not get spiritual on the first visit because they
have a lifelong training to reject anything told them by anyone
not of their church. If the person is close to death, we go for
it and ask them if they are born-again, if they know Jesus as
their personal Lord and Savior, if they are sure they are going
to heaven. Do not ask them to give up their religion as this
approach will fail. Just tell them that Jesus died for them
and that they must trust him for everything, that they must put
the sins of their life under His blood. Tell them that Jesus is
waiting for them to give their heart and life to Him, and that
in exchange He will give them eternal life. Explain to the
person that they can achieve that with a simple, humble prayer
of faith called the sinner's prayer. It is best that such
patients be visited by one who knows how to present the plan of
salvation. If no one is available, do the best you can.

16. The Lord has never ceased to be in the healing business and
most people you will visit will leave the hospital and shortly
after be completely healed or restored. But sometimes the Lord
will call one of His saints home for reasons known but to Him
at this time. This is when, more than ever, we need the help
of the Holy Spirit. People of faith too often expect an answer
to their prayers according to their own will, and the thought
of being absent from the body and of being with the Lord is not
foremost in many a Christian's mind. I once visited a sick
sister for a year and a half, praying at first for the Lord to
heal her. On and on I prayed, and yet, at some point, the Holy
Spirit told my heart that the time had come to prepare that
sister to go home to the Lord. It is very difficult, and very
sensitive. It is a delicate transition time when we must speak
of God's perfect will and the plan He has for all of us. For a
time, as I always did, I began my visit by asking the Lord and
Giver of life to send His healing virtues upon my sick sister. 
Gradually, I began to speak of a place where there will be no
sorrow, pain, sickness, disease, or even death. I expressed my
own heartfelt and joyful anticipation for that day when our
Savior Jesus will return on the cloud of Glory, or when He will
comes to gather me to Himself if that should come first. Ever so
gently, I brought to her mind the thought of awaiting heavenly
mansions and of everlasting joy. Sometimes I sang a hymn or a
short spiritual song she knew and she sometimes joined in and
when I felt she was getting closer to heaven's door. I reminded
her more and more of her Savior waiting to give her the Divine
embrace and to show her the place He had prepared for her. I was
blessed to be at her side when the monitors stopped showing
signs of life, and yet, for awhile longer, I kept reassuring her
that the Savior had come for her and that she was home at last
ever to rejoice. What a privilege it was for me to escort her
to the treshold of eternity. I felt as if, as I held her hand,
Jesus was holding the other.

17. So much could be said about the spiritual side of sick
visitation, but I must also speak of the social and physical
sides of things. Once again, always knock on the door and
announce yourself by calling the patient's name if no nurse was
around to announce you. Do not speak too loudly in case the
patient should be sleeping. NEVER awaken a sleeping patient. 
18. Do not make your visit too long the first time. Ten minutes
may even be too long. We have to be very sensitive to how the
patient feels. He or she may be polite and not ask you to
leave, but it is easy to understand that if someone just had
surgery, he or she may not want company for too long. If the
patient asks you to stay longer, it's up to you to oblige.

19. When visiting patients, we must remember that we all carry
germs that they and the next patient do not need. So, wash your
hand before and after each patient visit.

20. Do not shake hands with any patient until you are very sure
that the patient does not have a needle in his wrist or hand,
or that the wound from a removed intravenous needle is not
sensitive anymore. If you hurt anyone, you may not be welcomed
on the next visit.

21. Never sit on any patient's bed. When someone just had
surgery, any movement of the bed can be very painful, and if
the bed should fail mechanically, that patient will surely want
to forget you or may get angry and hurt enough to sue you.

22. We must always be careful with our appearance. We must be
well dressed, have fresh breath, and no body odor please! The
patient is already sick, we want the patient to get better, not
feel worse.

23. If possible, we must visit the patient at home once they
leave the hospital. This is done for spiritual and
psychological reasons, and in some cases to provide temporary
assistance. Some churches have what is called a "Manna
Ministry" whose function is to provide a few meals while the
patient regains strength and self-confidence. Sometimes you
may offer to pick up groceries or a prescription. Again, the
rule we followed, if possible, was for a woman to visit a
female patient and a man to visit a male patient. This was done
to avoid any bad comments about someone visiting a patient from
the other sex.

24. Our work does not always end in the hospital or in someone's
home. When someone we visited goes to be with the Lord, there
is no better way to show the love of Christ than by showing up
at the funeral parlor to comfort the survivors, some of whom you
may have met during the hospital visits. They will really
appreciate your sharing in their loss and sorrow, and it may
give you the opportunity to give your testimony and lead some
to Christ.

Visiting the sick is not an art or a science, it is a gift of
God that we use for His glory. It is a talent that is
multiplied each time we visit someone in the Lord's name. It is
something Jesus will remind us of when we see Him face to face
and He tells us, "When I was sick, you visited me."
Messianic Studies
An Introduction to Messianic Judaism by Pastor Geoffrey Kragen
Welcome to the world of Messianic Judaism. It is the intent of
the editors of MORNING STAR to use this column to explore the
world of the Messianic Believer. Like the church at large,
Messianic Judaism is a diverse world. It is made up of numerous
views as to what it means to be a Messianic Jew, who we are,
what we call ourselves and what we believe. This column will be
used to explore this variety, giving the reader a broader
perspective of Messianic Judaism than found elsewhere, exposing
those of us who are Messianic Believers to the wide spectrum of
practice found within the movement. Hopefully we will succeed
in helping our Jewish brothers and sisters to understand why we
follow Yeshua as our savior.

This first article will touch on the diversity within the
Messianic Movement and endeavor to introduce the subject of
Messianic Judaism, what it is and what it believes. The
comments here reflect the views of just one Messianic Believer
and the editors plan on publishing future articles which will
present other positions within the movement.

Let's start by stating the basic tenet of faith which identifies
all Jewish Believers. This is the teaching of Scripture; that
Yeshua (Jesus), being God, is the provider of our salvation:

"Now, brothers, I must remind you of the Good News which I
proclaimed to you, and which you received, and on which you have
taken your stand, and by which you are being saved ... For
among the first things I passed on to you was what I also
received, namely this: the Messiah died for our sins, in
accordance with what the Tanakh (Old Testament) says; and he was
buried; and he was raised on the third day, in accordance with
what the Tanakh says; ..." (1st Corinthians 15:1-4)

Beyond the Gospel message there are some differences between
individuals and groups within the Messianic movement. There is
even disagreement in what we should call ourselves. Arnold
Fruchtenbaum, one of the great writers of the movement, uses the
term Hebrew Christian, a name which is offensive to some Jewish
believers. This name is also used by David Bronstein, founder
of the First Hebrew Christian Church of Chicago, and Arthur W.
Kac, past editor of "The American Hebrew Christian". Moshe
Rosen, of course, uses the term Jew for Jesus. Others prefer
Messianic Jew, or Messianic Believer, feeling (correctly) that
non-believing Jews are offended by the use of the term
"Christian".

The problem of "diversity of view" carries into the area of
Jewish missions as well. One group believes that they are
called to lead the Jew to a saving relationship with their
Savior and then help them integrate into the local church. 
Another group in addition to reaching the Jew for Yeshua wants
to help establish Messianic Fellowships, local churches that are
Jewish in culture, worship and liturgy. Some don't like the
term "church" and use the term "Messianic Synagogue" to describe
their local fellowship. At the other end of the spectrum are
some fellowships which are indistinguishable from the Orthodox
Synagogue except in the accepting of Yeshua as Messiah. There
may even be a strong emphasis on keeping the Law. This type of
group sometimes moves from being truly Messianic to being cultic.

The local Messianic Fellowship may also be diverse in its
members, being made up of individuals from many theological
positions, ranging from Charismatic to Fundamentalist and
anywhere in between. The Fellowship may encompass this wide
range of views within one local body. (It should be noted here
that within many individual Messianic Fellowships there are
often more gentiles than Jews.) The Messianic movement shows as
much diversity, and sometimes disagreement, as Christendom at
large. This is also a blessing however, as the non-believing
Jewish community is as diverse as the Messianic movement. God
can use the many styles of His children to provide a variety of
approaches to reach many different people. 

As we discuss Messianic Judaism it should be noted, regarding
the basic doctrines of the Christian faith, that there is no
difference between the Jewish Believer and the Gentile
Christian. Where there are differences over such issues as
forms of baptism, women's roles in the church, etc., the
disagreements are not between Gentiles and Jews. Both may be
found on either side of such issues.

"Ibn shushan, Israel" (Hebrew Dictionary) says the following: 
"Yehudi Meshikhi (Messianic Jew): one who believes in Jesus as
Messiah of Israel and remains loyal to the State of Israel." 
Even here, by the way, some Messianic believers would have a
problem with the statement of "loyal to the State of Israel".

Essentially, the Messianic believer is a follower of Yeshua. 
He/she is a Jew who has accepted Yeshua's death on the
Execution-stake (cross), burial and resurrection as God's
atonement for sin. The Messianic Jew understands that accepting
Yeshua as savior doesn't mean that he is no longer Jewish, but
to the contrary he is more fulfilled as a Jew than is possible
without this personal relationship to God. This is why some
refer to themselves as Completed Jews. Yeshua is the
fulfillment of all that the Tanakh teaches, and one can't truly
be Jewish if one doesn't follow Him.

"Be assured, then, that it is those who live by trusting and
being faithful who are really children of Avraham." Galatians
3:7

The Messianic Movement is actually the birth place of the
church. Not only was Yeshua Jewish, the descendent of David and
the promised eternal king, but the disciples, the Apostle Paul,
the New Testament writers and the members of the early local
congregations were Jewish. The problem in the early church was
whether or not to let the gentiles in.

The Jerusalem Church originally thought that to follow after
Yeshua one first had to convert to Judaism. In other words the
question wasn't whether or not one could still be Jewish if one
followed Yeshua, it was, "Could the individual still be a
gentile or must they become a proselyte to Jewish practice"?

It is this tension between being a member of the church, which
is made up of Jew and Gentile, and remaining distinctively
Jewish, that is the dynamic that has led to the form of
contemporary Messianic Judaism and in many cases the formation
of Messianic Fellowships. John Bell puts it this way in his
book "How To Be Like The Messiah": 

"What is a Messianic Jewish lifestyle? It is living your life
as a follower and disciple of Messiah Jesus and continuing to
identify with and practice Jewishness. There are many who feel
that this is impossible: theologians, rabbis, ministers, church
groups, Jewish organizations. Even your next-door neighbor
might say, 'You're either Jewish or Christian!'"

The Messianic Jew then is one who in his lifestyle, in his
worship, in his following of Yeshua, continues to live a life
which is Jewish in its culture, style and reality. This means
many things too numerous to detail in this introductory column,
but can mean in the local body the use of Messianic Music,
dance, and emphasis on Tanakh as well as the New Testament. It
almost always means a commitment to the reaching of the
non-believing Jew and a concern for and support of the state of
Israel.

In the practice of the individual this lifestyle can include the
celebration of the Jewish holidays, but from the perspective of
how they were fulfilled by Yeshua. This is especially important
in the celebration of Passover and the emphasis on Yeshua as the
sacrificial lamb, the one whose shed blood is our covering over
the sin in our life, allowing God's judgment to pass over. It
often means bring up children in their Jewish culture, and may
mean having Bar Mizvahs, and Bas Mizvahs from a perspective that
focuses on Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Messiah) as savior.

Finally the Messianic Believer is more aware of and concerned
with what Fruchtenbaum calls Messianism, than the average
Gentile Christian. Messianism as defined by Fruchtenbaum
includes three components: The Messianic Program which
essentially encompasses all the teachings of Scripture related
to the restoration of Israel, the establishment of the Messianic
Kingdom, that is Yeshua's rule over the world, and Israel's
central presence in that kingdom.

The second factor is the Messianic Person and relates to a focus
on Yeshua as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Tanakh. 
There is a special emphasis on the picture of the suffering
Messiah as the provider of the sacrificial offering for the sins
of His people.

Finally, the last factor is the Messianic People. The Hebrew
Believer is concerned with the recognition that Israel is the
Messianic people and will be restored in their relationship to
their God. In the kingdom age the nation of Israel will be the
witness for Messiah to the Gentile Peoples.

In other words, the Messianic Movement is concerned with the
normal concerns of all believers, a faithful walk and a faithful
witness. It also has a more frequently intense concern with
those prophecies of the Tanakh that are yet to be fulfilled,
related to the Messianic Age and the fate of Israel.

Hopefully, what has been written here has provided a taste of
that which is to come, and has given at least a little
understanding of the issues surrounding the world of Messianic
Judaism.
Anee M'Amin
Anee M'Amin by Rob Kirsch
ANEE M'AMIN is Hebrew for "I believe". Every month this column
will feature the testimony of a Jewish believer in Yeshua
(Jesus). This issue's feature story comes from Rob Kirsch, a
Diagnostic Radiologist practicing in the Philadelphia
Pennsylvania area.

=================================================================

I had a stronger Jewish upbringing than most American Jews. My 
parents were, and still are, active in many facets of synagogue
activity, including the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood, and the
Couples' Club, and my father has held the position of director
at the Hebrew school, and also served as president of the
synagogue. Even now, though their synagogue may be slowly dying
due to attrition and the Jewish flight to the suburbs, they
continue to be some of the most faithful members. The synagogue
was Conservative, and our family practice reflected that of most
American Conservative Jews. We had no pork products or
shellfish in the home, did not mix milk and meat, and we
attended services on Friday nights and on all of the holidays.

Personally, I attended Hebrew school for seven years, including
a year or so after I became a Bar Mitzvah. I was still as
observant as my family when I was entering high school, but in
high school, I began to have a somewhat jaundiced view of the
Judaism in which I had been raised. The religious experience I
was raised with seemed to have been more social and political
than truly spiritual, so I investigated other routes to a
spiritual life, none particularly seriously. The thing I got
most seriously involved in was the psychic/paranormal
experience. I would note here that in current, mainstream
American Judaism lots of these things, for example, being
psychic, Zen, New Age philosophy, spiritism, are all somewhat
accepted, though not approved of. Adherence to these belief
systems does not necessarily remove one from Judaism, a point to
note later in this testimony.

When I got to college, I found that EVERYONE at school was under
a tremendous amount of stress. For most of us, the first
semester or so of college was the very first time that school
was at all challenging, not to mention difficult. I witnessed
one of the clearest examples of this one evening at a freshman
physics tutorial as a fellow freshman argued for nearly an hour
over a problem he had worked out incorrectly. His argument was
basically that he couldn't possibly have done it wrong and that
he wasn't interested in what the tutor said was the correct
approach. This person had NEVER before gotten a problem wrong in
school and found it inconceivable, and even devastating, that he
could.

Most of us dealt with the stresses of school in the same ways
that other people our age did, by partying hard on weekends and
using "recreational drugs" or other basically self-destructive
behavior. However, I noticed that there was a small subset of
my peers who were dealing with the stress without being out of
control. They weren't any less stressed, they just obviously
had some sort of inner reserve that sustained them above the
stress. I learned that all of these people were "born-again
Christians". Discounting this as an aberration, I went on with
my life, but these people around me still aroused my curiosity.

In the middle of my sophomore year of college, I met a girl who
happened to be one of these "born-again" types. She provided
the stimulus for me to seriously investigate the story of Yeshua
(Jesus) of Nazareth contained in the Brit Hadashah (New
Covenant). Although she refused to discuss the Good News in any
but the most general terms, the believers living in my dormitory
were quite helpful. After about a month of seriously looking at
the New Covenant scriptures and examining the Hebrew Bible (Old
Covenant), I came to a number of conclusions:

1) The entirety of the Scriptures is self-consistent, despite
that they were written by numerous people over a long period of
time. 2) The Scriptures do indeed talk about a relationship
with God that is broken by disobedience (which is called 'sin')
to Him. 3) God established a route for the expiation of sin for
individuals; through blood sacrifice. No, you don't have to
like it, but it happens to be the way the Creator set things up,
and He writes the rules for Creation as He wishes. 4) The
Hebrew Bible does indeed refer to an INDIVIDUAL who would serve
as the ultimate blood sacrifice, rendering the animal
sacrificial system obsolete and unnecessary (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
 They also give LOTS of information about that Individual(e.g.
Isaiah 7:14, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Micah 5:2. and many others).
5) Yeshua of Nazareth fits the description given, both in
identity and actions. 6) Yeshua of Nazareth was and is the
promised Messiah of Israel.

About a week or so after making this intellectual
acknowledgement, I mentioned it to an acquaintance who is also
Jewish. Her reaction was complete and outright rejection, not
only of the idea, but also of me for even entertaining it. I
was very upset, but at that moment, I felt the Spirit of God next
to me and within me, giving me comfort. At that point, I truly
became a believer in and follower of Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus
the Messiah).

I would not have been able to do this had I not believed, from
the beginning of my faith, that Yeshua is the Jewish Messiah. I
was not and never have been interested in a foreign god. I
retained a commitment and a desire to investigate the interface
between faith in Yeshua and Jewish practice. I continued to
celebrate the Jewish holidays throughout the rest of college,
medical school, and residency, although my wife and I attended a
variety of protestant churches. This has been the major pattern
for Jews who become believers in Yeshua over the past 1500 or so
years. Usually, the Jew who becomes a member of a church that
is overwhelmingly Gentile in composition assimilates into the
community, losing his Jewish identity. If this doesn't happen
to the believer himself, then it almost invariably happens to
his children who are raised in the non-Jewish environment. 
People today who follow this option are usually termed "Hebrew
Christians".

About two years ago, the church we had been attending folded. 
God used this to place us at Congregation Beth Yeshua, a
Messianic Synagogue in Philadelphia. As Messianic Jews, we
follow our faith in Yeshua while maintaining a Jewish lifestyle
and outlook. A friend of ours sums up Messianic Judaism as the
faith that should have arisen from the early church without 1500
years of Hellenistic thought and the theological confusion
brought on by trying to reconcile a coherent religious system
from two fundamentally different world views. This is not a
rejection of gentile Christianity, but an affirmation of the
Jewishness of the faith in Yeshua of Nazareth who is the perfect
sacrifice for all of us, Jew and Gentile alike.

One last point, another realization that I have come to over the
last year or so is that the yearly cycle of Jewish holidays
makes sense ONLY in the context of the Gospel. Just as the
Passover foreshadows and mirrors the atoning Sacrifice on the
Tree, so Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks), the Harvest, foreshadows
and mirrors the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The
third major festival, Succot (the Feast of Tabernacles), which
celebrates the completion of the harvest, points forward to the
great in-gathering that we all look forward to at the End of
Days.

To a Jewish person reading this text, I would encourage you to
put aside any preconceptions of what a Jew must or must not be. 
A Jew is someone who is a member of the people of Israel, a
people with a special relationship with HaShem (the Lord,
literally "the Name"). This special relationship is there for
all of us as individuals, Jew or Gentile, as His free gift. As
it says in the book of the prophet Isaiah, it isn't something we
can force, or achieve, or earn (Isaiah 64:6), but it is
something we have to reach out and accept. If I give you a gift,
you still have to reach out and take it. Reach out and take
God's greatest gift, His Son, the Messiah of Israel, and the
everlasting life He brought.
The WORD for Today
Israel - A Providential People by Geoffrey Kragen and Wayne Eisenberg
What do the following passages have in common?

Now the LORD said to Avram, "Get thee out of thy country, and
from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, to the land that
I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I
will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a
blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him
that despises thee: and in thee shall all the families of the
earth be blessed."  Gen. 12:1-3        

And the LORD said to Avram, "...Lift up now thy eyes, and look
from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." Gen. 13:14-15

"And I will bring back the captivity of My people of Yisra'el,
and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and
they shall plant vineyards, and drink their wine; they shall
also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant
them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out
of their land which I have given them," says the LORD thy God. 
Amos 9:14-15

Pray for the peace of Yerushalayim (Jerusalem); those who love
you shall prosper.  Psalms 122:6

Brothers, my heart's deepest desire and my prayer to God for
Israel is for their salvation. Romans 10:1


 These verses tell of the rise and future restoration of the
nation of Israel. With the Middle East making up so much of the
news these days, it seems appropriate that we should deal with
the whole issue of what the Bible teaches regarding Israel.
Since Messianic themes will be a basic part of Morning Star,
what better place to start than with Israel and the Christian
Community?

This is the first in a series of articles which are going to
focus on the relationship between the Church and Israel. The
question we will be asking in this segment is: "What is the
Biblical responsibility of the Church, of the Christian, to
Israel and the Jewish people?" By asking this question we are
accepting the teaching of the Bible which speaks of a unique
position for the Jewish people, and therefore, that there is a
proper response from the Christian community.

Since the Jewish people are called "The Chosen People", then on
what basis, or by whose authority are they considered so? It is
not on the basis of their own merits that they are unique. It is
not on the basis of the Church's say-so. It is God's Word and
His authority that has established them as His people and that
has set them apart.

And, behold, the LORD stood above it (the stairway between
heaven and earth) and said, "I am the LORD God of Avraham thy
father, and the God of Yitzchak: the land on which thou liest,
to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be
as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the
west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and
in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed."  Genesis 28:13-14

Yes, the Church does have Biblically based responsibilities to
the Jewish people, and it is our intent to focus on two specific
ones in this series.

The first responsibility of the Christian community is to
protect and aid the Jewish people. The most obvious place to
start is with the problem of Anti-Semitism. The last place we
would expect to find anti-Semitism would be within the Church,
the body of Messiah. However, throughout history, those calling
themselves Christian, including Nazis, have been major
persecutors of the Jewish people. Today, Christians must not
take any action which will either make them part of this evil or
contribute to an environment that allows this unique form of
racism to grow. 

There are areas in which the church may create an environment
where anti-Semitism can thrive. One is found in those churches
which teach the false doctrine of "Spiritual Israel", also known
as Replacement Theology. This position can sometimes be found
where Reform Theology is taught, though clearly it is not an
essential position within the Reformed Church. The view may
also be disseminated within the Dominion Theological movement
and therefore found in churches of both the Reform and
Charismatic traditions. This isn't to say that all or even many
churches from these traditions either teach this view or are
anti-semetic, it is just that the Reform position, and the
Biblically unsound Dominion Theology, are more likely to fall
into this camp.

The" Spiritual Israel" position maintains that when Israel
rejected Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah, God set her aside and gave
all her promises to the Church while allowing her to keep the
curses. In other words, the Church has replaced Israel as His
unique and treasured people. Not only is this view not taught by
God's Word, it is in direct contradiction to Scripture. (It is
an interpretation which essentially says that God does not mean
what He promises, that He can't be trusted.) The Word makes it
clear that God has not rejected Israel. On the contrary, God has
sworn that Israel is forever the apple of His eye.

Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and
the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by
night, who stirs up the sea that its waves roar; the LORD of
hosts is His name: "If those ordinances depart from before me,"
says the LORD, "then the seed of Yisra'el also shall cease from
being a nation before me for ever." Thus says the LORD; "If
heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth
searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of
Yisra'el for all that they have done," says the LORD God.  
Jeremiah 31:35-37

And Rabbi Sha'ul (Paul) says,

In that case, I say, isn't it that God has repudiated his
people? Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Yisra'el, from
the seed of Avraham, of the tribe of Binyamin. God has not
repudiated his people, whom he chose in advance.  Romans 11:1-2a


If anything, Israel has temporarily rejected God, but the day is
coming when she will be restored.

And I will cause the [captives] of Yehuda and the [captives] of
Yisra'el to return, and will build them, as at the first. And I
will cleanse them from all their iniquity .... and I will
pardon all their iniquities, in which they have sinned against
me, and in which they have transgressed against me. And it shall
be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the
nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to
them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and
for all the prosperity that I procure to it.  Jer. 33:7-9


For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God
formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won't
imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that
stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Israel, until the Gentile
world enters in its fullness; and that it is in this way that
all Israel will be saved. As the Tanach says, "Out of Tziyon
will come the Redeemer; he will turn away ungodliness from
Ya'akov and this will be my covenant with them,... when I take
away their sins."  Jer. 33:7-9


The Church must reject the false teaching of the repudiation of
Israel by God. Instead, we must be true to His Word, noting that
Israel and the Church are separate bodies, though the body of
Messiah, the Church, includes both Jew and Gentile. And God has
a plan for each, which includes the restoration and salvation of
Israel.

If anyone has been taught this way, they must go back to the
Scriptures and remember that God means what He says. We must be
willing to be taught not by men or men's prejudices, but by
God's Word and the Holy Spirit's understanding. We must repent
of this false teaching and reject it when found in others. If
God will not keep His eternal promises to Israel, then how can
you be assured that God will not change His mind regarding
eternal promises to you, such as your salvation? As you come
into a knowledge of the truth, be willing to stand up for it and
show it to others.

We cannot let this false teaching stand, not only for the sake
of Israel, but because it is an insult and a blasphemy to the
integrity of God. The bottom line is this: If replacement
theology is true, then either God is untrustworthy, or He
misleads mankind by deliberately making statements and promises
that He either cannot or will not keep. Brothers and sisters,
do not let false teaching go unchallenged.

(This article will be continued in the next issue.)
Special Studies
He Is Revealed By His First Name by Dr. Charles A. Wootten
Noah Webster once said that "reveal" meant to make something
known that was once unknown or concealed. After the debacle in
the Garden of Eden God began measures to reveal Himself
gradually to mankind. God understood that the mind would no
longer be able to grasp fully His revelation knowledge. God knew
that man needed careful instruction and direction.

All knowledge of God is revealed knowledge. God along reveals
Himself and knowledge about Himself. He lets man know as much as
He wants about Himself and His purpose.

According to the Jewish Publication Society of America's (JPSA)
translation of Psalm 19:1-6a: "The heavens declare the glory of
God, the sky proclaims His handiwork. Day to day makes
utterance, night to night speaks out. There is no utterance,
there are no words, whose sound goes unheard. Their voice
carries throughout the earth, their words to the end of the
world. He placed them in a tent for the sun . . . " 

The Bible begins revealing God and His reality as the
CreatorGod. "For since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are
without excuse (for not worshipping) the Creator, who is blessed
forever. Amen." 

The revelation of God shows His "eternal power and Godhead" in
creation. "You whose splendor is celebrated all over the
heavens!...Your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and
stars that You set in place..." God now reveals Himself through
His Name, Elohim.

In the opening of the Hebrew Scriptures we find, "In the
beginning ELOHIM ..." This name is actually in the plural. The
reason being is to show the plurality, or many facets, of God.
This is the one indivisible, divine essence that exists
eternally as Father and as Son and as Holy Spirit. The Bible,
then, begins His revelation starting with the creation of the
world "by the things that are made."

ELOHIM, as a name, can be used in the singular form. Here it
means the "One Supreme Deity," and is more often than not
rendered as "God." Most English versions of the Bible use the
word "God" than any other form. 

When used in the singular, as a noun, we come to understand the
notion of all that belongs to God. As a noun the revelation of
only one Supreme and True God, as a Person, is clearly
identified. 

Lester Sumrall has expressed the meaning of ELOHIM clearly when
he shows that it means "something (or someone) that is
worshipped." This is the whole purpose of our existence: to
worship Him Who created us. "The sum of the matter, when all is
said and done: Revere God and observe His commandments! For this
applies to all mankind."

We find also an amplification of His Name in the second chapter
of Genesis. He is identified as the Self-existent or Eternal
Creator. This new compound name, JEHOVAH-ELOHIM, shows the
ELOHIM in covenant relationship with His people.

The meaning of JEHOVAH is "underived existence," "HE IS," or "I
AM BECAUSE I AM," the God of Abraham, of grace, and truth, and
love; self-existence, eternity. ELOHIM is God "in nature",
JEHOVAH is God "in grace". This shows why He is to be
worshipped: He is the God of perfection and power, a finishing
God.

As we find Him known by His Name JEHOVAH when he appeared to do
what he had promised, so now we have Him known by that Name when
He had perfected that that He had begun. JEHOVAH-ELOHIM is that
great and incommunicable name of God. This name denotes His
plurality in having His being of Himself, and His giving being
to all things. JEHOVAH-ELOHIM is His revelation now that heaven
and earth are complete.

=================================================================

Dr. Charles A. Wootten 
Whole Counsel Ministries, Inc. 
Matoaca, Virginia
Prayer Guidelines
Guidelines for Corporate Prayer by Lance Lambert & Art Carlson
(Adapted from teachings given by Lance Lambert and Art Carlson. 
Courtesy of Christian Friends of Israel - Jerusalem)

1. Be brief. In Matthew 6:7 Jesus says that the Gentiles
suppose they will be heard for their many words. We haven't
changed much!

2. Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard. As Paul said
in another context, how can we say Amen if we don't know what is
said?

3. Pray from the heart, don't preach. Avoid sentimentality and
unnatural speech. Sometimes you can tell what group people come
from by listening to them pray because they adopt a particular
style. Be honest; talk to God in a natural way.

4. Keep on the theme. Pray through one subject before
introducing another. Obviously that doesn't mean we have to see
the mountain move into the sea before proceeding to the next
subject, but we do need to give God time to speak concerning the
subject in hand before moving on. When praying aloud, quietly
support the one who is speaking. Don't let your mind wander.

5. Don't take pot shots at the devil. Jude verse 8 tells us
that even the archangel Michael did not dare to bring a
slanderous accusation against the devil, but said, The Lord
rebuke you. We do have authority in Jesus to bind the evil
forces, but this should only be done corporately as a group
under the direction of the leader. One goal of corporate prayer
is to reach a place in unity where we can effectively bind the
enemy.

6. Avoid personal pronouns. When speaking for the group, say We
rather than I. Of course if there is doubt about agreement on
an issue, that should be settled before praying on behalf of all.

7. Good repetition builds the case. Some teaching would
indicate that once a thing is prayed for, it is unbelief to
mention it again. There is need for balance in this. To keep
pleading for something that God has made clear He wants to give
us can be unbelief. On the other hand, true intercession is
speaking into reality that which is yet unseen. That usually
takes time and repetition. We should not assume that what
worked on the last prayer project will work on the next. There
was a different strategy for different cities as Israel took the
land in the Old Testament.

8. Lay aside preconceived ideas. Die to your own imagination. 
Ask for fresh guidance from the Holy Spirit for this prayer
time. We need to cultivate absolute dependence on the Holy
Spirit.

9. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with
praise. (Psalm 100:4) Let the high praises of God be in our
mouths and a two edged sword in our hands. (Psalm 149:6)
Bible Quiz
Bible Quiz
Our Feature Area at the beginning of this issue focused on
witnessing. This quiz follows along the same theme. You will
have to check your own answers, but to make it easy, the
locations are given for you in the answer key. Of course, you
shouldn't peek at it until AFTER you take the quiz!

1. Who witnessed to a man in a chariot?

2. Who sang in jail and witnessed to a jailer?

3. Who was stoned to death as a result of his witnessing? 

4. Who witnessed to a king named Agrippa?

5. Who witnessed in a lion's den?

6. Who witnessed of God's love by sewing for needy people?

7. Who witnessed to his brother saying, "We have found ... the
Christ"?

8. Who witnessed in the wilderness, crying, "Repent"

9. Who described himself as "a witness of the sufferings of
Christ"? 

10. Who witnessed to his friend saying, "We have found him, of
whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write"?

11. Who were two men who were called "gods", and used the
occasion to witness of the living God?

12. Who witnessed to Apollos showing "him the ways of God more
perfectly"?










 ANSWER KEY:

1. (Acts 8:31) 
2. (Acts 16:29-31) 
3. (Acts 7:56-60) 
4. (Acts 26:1-7) 
5. (Daniel 6:22) 
6. (Acts 9:26) 
7. (John 1:40-41) 
8. (Matthew 3:1,2) 
9. (1st Peter 5:1) 
10. (John 1:45) 
11. (Acts 14:12-15) 
12. (Acts 18:24-26)
CFI Reports
Introduction to Christian Friends of Israel
"A FRIEND LOVETH AT ALL TIMES..." (Proverbs 17:17)

Christian friendship and support for the Jewish people and the
nation of Israel have a clear Biblical mandate for this hour of
history. Christians are being called upon to uphold Israel and
her right to exist. Now, more than ever, the Jewish people need
Christians who will not only PRAY for the peace of Jerusalem
(Psalm 122:6) but will openly STAND on their behalf.

We, as Christian Friends of Israel, have an opportunity to stand
with Israel at a time when their friends are few in the
international arena of nations. A time to make amends ... for
the past wrongs of Christianity, especially now, at this most
critical juncture in their history. God has forever promissed
that blessing will follow obedience to His commands and curses
will follow disobedience (Deuteronomy 6:7). Individuals and
groups can rise above their government's responses and actions
in showing compassion and courage by taling a stand, not to bow
to anti-semitism. We vow not to remain silent for Zion's sake. 
(Isaiah 62:1)

According to Joel 3:12,14, a decision will be required of all
nations as to whether they will submit themselves to alignment
with God's purposes for Israel. We believe that God will judge
the nations on the basis of their attitude towards Israel and
the Jewish people. They will determine their own destiny. Here
then, is our message of LOVE and SOLIDARITY with Israel at this
time of regathering and restoration. All rulers and nations who
oppress and persecute them will come to naught. Their glory
will wither, just as the grass withers. But God says "I will
bless those who bless My People" (Genesis 12:3).

We have come together as individuals from the nations of the
world who will stand and be counted as genuine Christian friends
of Israel. We are sounding the trumpet and challenging those
nations who would desire the blessing of God to show their
alliance with Israel.

The inauguration of Christian Friends of Israel was declared in
December 1985. There are now Directors, Representatives and
Distributors for CFI in a number of nations around the world. 
Their efforts are supported by a Coordinating Office in
Jerusalem which receives oversight and guidance from an Israel
Executive Council. You are invited to contact our Jerusalem
Office on your next visit to Israel!

FOUNDATION PRINCIPLES OF CFI

1. As Christians who have received from God a love for Israel
and the Jewish people, we want, in the name of Messiah Jesus, to
bless them. 

2. The early church was Jewish. Christianity sprang from Jewish 
roots and has never ceased to depend upon and be indebted to 
the Jewish people.

3. We believe that the restoration of the Jewish people to the 
Land of Israel is in accordance with the promises contained in 
the Word of God and that God's time to "favor Zion" has begun. 

4. We believe that Israel (people,land, nation) has a divinely 
ordained and glorious future, and that God has neither rejected
nor replaced his Jewish people. We acknolwedge that the barriers
that exist today between Jews and Christians are largely due
to Christian anti-semitism and Christian persecution of the
Jewish people.

5. We believe in the Jewishness of Jesus and the Jewishness of the
New Testament. 

6. Although we believe the Lord Jesus is both the Messiah of Israel
and Savior of the world, our stand alongside Israel is not
conditional upon her acceptance of our belief.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES

1. To express friendship and solidarity with Israel and the
Jewish people throughout the world.

2. To impart an understanding to Christians of their Jewish roots
and of modern Israel. 

3. To eradicate anti-semitism among Christians in its past and 
present forms.

4. To stimulate Christians worldwide to intercede for Israel. 

5. To provide practical support for areas of need within the land 
of Israel. 

6. To assist and pray for the liberation of Jewish people, from 
countries where they are oppressed, who wish to return to Israel.

7. To encourage and pray for the reconciliation of Jew and Arab.

8. To establish fellowship with Christians in Israel.

CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL has a number of programs. These
programs are designed to better educate and inform Christians
about Israel and all her peoples through various modes of
education and practical help. For more detailed information on
any of these programs, write to MORNING STAR.

a) ISRAEL NEWS DIGEST: Monthly publication containing pertinent
and accurate news from Israel. 

b) WATCHMAN'S INTERCESSORY PRAYER LETTER: Monthly letter providing
specific prayer information about Israel, the land and her people. 

c) JERUSALEM WATCHMEN PRAYER GROUPS: Christians in various countries
who desire to meet and pray and intercede on a regular basis for
Israel and her peoples. 

d) SOVIET JEWRY NEWSLETTER: "Let My People Go" is news about Jews 
in the Soviet Union and other lands of oppression. 

e) PROJECT OPEN GATES: At the distribution center in Jerusalem 
assistance is given to new immigrants in the form of clothing, 
medical supplies, toiletries, household goods and furnishings. 

f) PROJECT DOORS OF HOPE: CFI helps both Jewish and Christian Arab 
organizations with practical and tangible needs through this 
organization. 

g) FORSAKE THEM NOT: CFI staff working with Holocaust organizations
to assist needy survivors of the holocaust. 

h) PROJECT LETTERS OF LOVE: A letter writing program that builds 
an expression of love and solidarity flowing into Israel from her
Christian friends around the world. 

i) "MIDDLE EAST UPDATE" CASSETTE TAPE: Excellent and timely update
tape on Israel giving the Biblical perspective and views of the
current situation in the Middle East for the Body of Messiah in
the Nations. The tape is available quarterly. 

j) TEACHING TOOLS: "Tell The Children" pictorial story book for 
Sunday School children and Day Care Center teachers. It explains
the story of the Jewish people to children 6-12. 

k) TOUR GROUPS IN ISRAEL: Contact CFI in Jerusalem. Tel: 384-406. 

l) JERUSALEM CONFERENCES: CFI sponsors educational conferences on 
pertinent and indepth subjects, designed to be thought-provoking,
especially to our Jewish roots and relationship to israel. 

m) PLANT-A-TREE PROGRAM: Through Keren Kayemet Association (Jewish
National Fund) in Israel, CFI is planting a grove of trees to
help physically restore the land. (Leviticus 19:2)

=================================================================

(Reprinted with permission from CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL. 
For CFI's mailing address, turn to the Ministry and Product
Information section in the RESOURCE area of this issue.)

=================================================================

Subsequent issues of MORNING STAR will contain reports from
these various ministries. Shalom!

Christian Life Department
People Profile
No Dry Eye by Teresa Giordanengo
The Pastor of the Central Assembly of God Church in Houston,
Pennsylvania, Rev. Ralph R. Volpe, had a burden on his heart
for the Vietnam Veterans for a long time. He got the idea for an
appreciation service while he was planning a service for the
veterans of the Persian Gulf War. Pastor Volpe said, "I heard
them (Vietnam veterans) say, 'We're glad that you're doing all
of this for them, but no one ever did anything for us when we
came home.' I just got a strong desire to reach out to these
men and to let them know that we do appreciate them. We're going
to apologize. It is never too late to show our appreciation."

Immediately, the search began for all the Vietnam veterans in
the area. Many letters were sent to those who might have access
to names and addresses of these veterans. This information was
not easy to get, but eventually, over 500 letters were sent out
to the veterans in the Houston area. The letter stated that,
"Twenty-plus years is not too late.....to express our sincere
appreciation to YOU and your fellow brave and courageous men who
served the USA in the Vietnam War."

Pastor Volpe asked Evangelist Mac Gober, a speaker at the
Vietnam Veterans' Conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to
speak at the service to be held on July 7, 1991. Evangelist
Gober, a Vietnam veteran, was once a bad-to-the-bone biker. 
When he agreed to come to Houston, Pastor Volpe decided to
contact a local Vietnam veteran, Dan McAnany, President of the
local Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, also known as the
Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club. He searched for Dan McAnany
until he located him and then he invited him and the members of
the motorcycle club, including their families, to attend the
service. Dan had no interest in attending the service under any
circumstances. In the meantime, the church members were praying
day after day for this special service and for Dan and his
friends. They were praying that God would touch the hearts of
these men that they would come and experience for themselves the
Love of God! 

One Sunday morning as Pastor Volpe was speaking to his
congregation, a call came through from Dan McAnany. Pastor
Volpe called Dan immediately after the service. He was very
happy to hear Dan say that he and a few of his friends would
attend the special service. Dan told the Pastor that he had a
new grandson named after himself, Danny William McAnany II,
and as a special favor, he asked Pastor Volpe to dedicate his
grandson at this special service. Pastor Volpe was more than
glad to dedicate this small child to the Lord. At the beginning
of the service, opening greetings on an overhead screen were
displayed. There was a color guard, children bearing American
Flags, patriotic songs, displays, and ribbons. KDKA, an
affiliate of CBS, covered the entire service and televised
portions of it across the nation. About one-thousand, two-
hundred people attended the service. Many adult Sunday school
members were praying for this service in another section of the
building. 

Pastor Volpe welcomed everyone and thanked all the veterans for
attending. "It is not too late to show our appreciation and love
 and I am humbled to see this come to reality. We appreciate all
our veterans," he said.

Participants in the service were the Gold Star Mothers, children
from Central Assembly, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 191 of
Canonsburg and American Legion Post 902 of Houston, as well as
several local, state, and federal government officials. The
service included a roll call remembrance of local veterans who
died in the Vietnam War, recognition of the prisoners of war,
soldiers missing in action, and other acknowledgements. 

Evangelist Mac Gober came home from Vietnam in 1967. He took
off his uniform and trampled on it, joined a motorcycle gang,
and started getting into fights, drugs, and jail. He told the
audience a little about his life and then told how knowing Jesus
Christ as his Lord and Savior changed his whole life around. 

"I was really angered at the way our government was treating our
guys. Nobody even cared that our guys were over there
fighting," Gober said. "I was so mad at my government, at my
country, for turning their backs on our fighting men that I
decided I was going to turn my back on them."

Appreciation was in short supply when the Vietnam veterans were
coming home in the late 1960s, Gober remembered. "It was
nothing like today. I think the American public is trying to go
out of their way to say that we've messed up and we're sorry. 
When we came back. we were treated like slobs." said Gober, who
earned two service medals and three decorations in Vietnam. 
"They were lined up at the airport throwing stuff (at the
returning soldiers). It was just open hostility."

Gober said he grew up in a pretty rough family and was arrested
for the first time at thirteen for selling drugs. After that,
he was in and out of jail until he turned sixteen and dropped
out of school. He convinced his mother to sign a waiver that
allowed him to join the Navy. 

At seventeen, he went through basic training, volunteered to go
to Vietnam and received guerrilla combat training at Camp
Coronado, California. By the time he was eighteen years old, he
was in combat along the Da Nang River. 

"They would take you out and drop you off at 6 p.m., and if you
were still there the next morning, they would pick you up," said
Gober, who later learned karate and trained other soldiers in
hand-to-hand combat. "I saw a lot of my buddies die around me
and knew that I could be next. There were so many times I
thought I wouldn't make it."

Gober suffered combat fatigue and spent several weeks in the Da
Nang hospital before being sent back to his unit. He started
using drugs. After going home, he was a "renegade biker
hoodlum." He grew a long beard and wore long, straggly hair. 
He used the pages of the Bible for paper to roll marijuana
cigarettes. He used and sold drugs and he performed several
illegal abortions. "I didn't care about getting arrested. If you
weren't a biker, I didn't care much about you. Eventually, even
gang members became afraid of me because there wasn't anything I
wouldn't do," Gober said. "I had so many bad habits it was
unreal. My life was a mess."

Gober was almost thirty years old when he was living in San
Diego and running from the police, who wanted him on charges of
selling drugs and attempted murder. That was when someone
handed him a gospel tract. He tried to throw it away, but
several weeks later he found it again and read it. It was
captioned, "Just As I Am." "I read further," Gober said, "and
it said that I should come to Jesus just as I was. I did not
have to change a thing. God would take care of everything. All
I had to do was get honest with myself. That was another word
that jumped out at me. The word honest. I read further where it
said that Christ died for me while I was yet a sinner! Before I
ever cared about God, He cared about me." 

As he was entering the apartment of a drug addict a couple of
weeks later, Gober found another pamphlet on the floor. He
learned that an elderly black woman had brought it to the door,
but the addict had punched her in the face and she had dropped
it. Gober picked it up and read it.

"I thank God for that good-old, saintly, black lady. If it
hadn't been for her, I probably wouldn't be alive today," he
said, adding that the pamphlet weighed on his mind for about two
weeks. "Without understanding, I fell on my knees. I said,
'God, if I keep going the way that I am, I'm not going to live
much longer.'" Gober said his attitude, habits, and life changed
immediately after that night. Seeing him, some of the members
of his motorcycle gang also became Christians. 

Since then, he has appeared on several national television talk
shows, including "The 700 Club." He is now an evangelist and
the president and founder of Canaan Land Boys' Home, which began
as a home for young boys but now offers a one-year residential
rehabilitation program for twenty-four to forty-five-year-old
men, in Autaugaville, Alabama. Many of these men were drug
addicts and convicts.

The only way you can let go and be free is to forgive your
government, forgive the people that wronged you," Gober said to
the Vietnam veterans. "You have to forgive and let the past be
the past. Through God's help, I was able to do that."

Gober told the assembly, "All the veterans want is for you to be
honest with them. The nicest things you could say to the
veterans are, 'I love you. You are welcome,' and, 'You are as
important as I am to this society. We are your friends.'" Gober
continued, "Be yourself. Don't be anyone else. Just be
yourself. That's all we want you to be. Be real. It is not an
accident that you are here today. It was ordained of God (even
if someone had to drag you here). I am glad you are here. God
has a purpose and plan for your life. Your life is not an
accident. Your life is not over. The devil is a liar. God
sees people who are in need and hurting. That is why He sent
His son, Jesus, to die on the cross." 

Gober read from Psalm 40 about how God brought us up out of the
miry clay and set our feet upon a rock and established our
goings. Gober said, "Jesus Christ is coming back someday for
those who are waiting for Him, for the saved, the born-again
Christians. You are either right with God, or you are not right
with God. God is REAL and He loves YOU. We will all stand
before Him someday. You have either accepted Jesus as your
savior, or you haven't. If you are going to be a Christian,
then be one. He loves every one of you as He loves me. He
forgave me of all my sins. He forgave and forgot all about them.
 That is what's nice about God. He forgives and forgets."

Gober gave an altar call and over 100 individuals came forward
to repeat the sinner's prayer and accept Jesus as their Lord and
Savior. Gober directed them to do several things as soon as
possible: 1) Be baptized in water, following Jesus' example.
2) Let their past be past at last, not letting the devil remind
them of anything in their past. 3) Stop giving others permission
to make them feel inferior because they are the only person who
can give others that permission. 4) Find a church, one that
shows the love that this one shows. 5) Start reading the Bible
and praying every day.

Gober said, "No matter what you have done in your life, even in
the lowest times of your life, God loves you. If everyone walked
out on you, Jesus would be coming in the door. We have turned
our back on Him, but He has never turned his back on us.

"I was looking for the real reason why Pastor Volpe had this
special service. I found that Pastor Volpe genuinely loves the
veterans, and because of this, wanted to show his appreciation.
It would be wonderful if other pastors throughout the country
would catch the vision and do something like this for the
Vietnam veterans in their area," Gober said.

At the end of the service, the veterans were given a gift 
package that included a Vietnam keepsake Bible. A twenty-one
gun salute, taps, and a balloon release for those killed in
action took place outdoors. A dinner for the Vietnam veterans
and their families followed the service. 

Many times during the service there were standing ovations for
the Vietnam veterans. Everyone held hands at the end of the
service while a soloist sang "I'm proud to be an American." 
There was no dry eye in the church.
Special Story
Point Man by Bob Ferralli
The following article and testimony is from Bob Ferralli, an
authorized minister of POINT MAN INTERNATIONAL, a Christian
Outreach for Vets by Vets.

The name "Point Man" comes from a term familiar to all veterans.
A Point Man walks several yards ahead of his unit watching for
signs, activity, and boobie traps of the enemy. His purpose is
to find a safe passage through enemy territory, and protect his
friends from unseen attacks. This is basically what we are
trying to do with our ministry, Point Man International. It is
a Christian Outreach for veterans made up of veterans, of which
I am an authorized minister. We are trying to lead veterans
away from Satan and all the dangers and show them how to start a
new life with Jesus Christ. We welcome veterans of any war or
war era, who may have problems. We have a weekly meeting, and
every veteran is treated individually, according to his needs. 
The support of Christians everywhere is needed very much, as we
are battling Satan all the way.

=================================================================

Many people do not understand why Vietnam was different from
other wars. Allow me to present a few facts. We did not have
an incident such as Pearl Harbor to arouse the emotions of the
American people in supporting this Vietnam Action. Vietnam was
the first teenage war. The average age in Vietnam was 18.7
years, while in World War II it was 26 years. The United States
involvement in Vietnam lasted 16 years. It started in 1959 and
ended in 1975. World War II lasted only six years from 1939 to
1945. Vietnam was a political war. It was also the first
televised war. One could sit down after supper and see the
fighting and the horror of war right in their own living room. 
Actually Vietnam was not called a war, but rather a police
action. We were supposed to fight according to rules. We were
taught in boot camp that the Viet Cong were not men but animals
and to kill one wasnUt to bother us.

We had no front lines in Vietnam. The enemy was all around us
and there was no safe place. We had to kill women and children
because the Viet Cong used them against us. It was a guerrilla
war. The majority of the time we were hit by snipers, ambushed,
or caught in boobie traps. Most of the time we never saw the
enemy. We just shot in the direction of the gunfire or noise.
The Viet Cong were fighting for the minds and hearts of their
people, but we were fighting for territory and just to stay
alive.

When we were sent home, it was often as soon as twenty-four
hours after being in combat. We had no time for debriefing or
adjusting. We had no support from the American people back
home, and all the protesting just made the war last longer. We
came home one or two at a time and had no warm welcome. We were
usually met at the airport by protestors. Let me share with you
my own story.

I joined the Marines in January of 1965. After boot camp and
advanced infantry training, I was sent to explosive ordinance
school and became an expert with all types of explosives. After
a thirty-day leave, I was sent to Vietnam by way of Okinawa. My
group made an amphibious landing on the beach outside Chu Lai. 
I spent most of my tour between Chu Lai and the Da Nang area of
Vietnam. While there, I lost many friends and I had to do a
lot of things that were to cause me mental problems for the next
twenty years of my life. I cannot describe in this article the
things that all of us saw or did to anyone who was not actually
there.

After my tour of duty was over, I landed at the Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, airport, just before Thanksgiving of 1966. People
looked at me and treated me like I was some kind of a wild
animal. Mothers grabbed their children by their hands so they
wouldn't get too close to me, and other people just pointed at
me. I couldn't understand this because I was raised to love God
and my country and I had just returned from fighting a war far
from my country. This type of treatment only got worse, not
better. All the war protestors, draft dodgers, and men who went
to Canada were treated like heros, but we were treated like
dirt. I still had about two years left on my four-year
enlistment and spent them at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. I
was discharged in January 1969. That is when all my troubles
began.

I got married just before I was discharged. That marriage
lasted about four years. Neither one of us was ready and it was
nothing but trouble from the first day. I started drinking and
smoking grass more than ever and bought a big Harley Davidson
motorcycle to start riding with a bike gang. All we did was
hang around bars, fight, and drink. After a while, I got tired
of this life and just wanted to be alone. I never talked about
Vietnam and I did not want to answer questions about it either. 

I started dating my present wife in 1973. She was younger than
me and never asked questions about the war. I never told her
anything about Vietnam and felt that what she didn't know
wouldn't hurt her. As it turned out, what she did not know DID
hurt her. I began drinking about a case of beer a day and was
smoking grass all the time. I did this so that I wouldn't think
about Vietnam and so that I could sleep at night. 

We were married in 1977. I thought at this time that my life
would change, but it didn't. I had nightmares and would wake up
lying on the floor or crawling down the hall covered with sweat,
too weak to get up. I would wake up in the middle of the night,
grab one of my guns, and go out in the country and walk around
the woods on patrol. I would have flashbacks while on these
patrols. I would hear machine guns, mortars, and people
screaming in pain.

Almost anything could trigger a flashback, things people said,
certain noises, smells, or different events. Whenever this
happened, I would have to get some beer and get away from people
and go out into the woods as soon as possible. I had loaded
guns hidden all around the house and never left the house
without one or more pistols on me. I would get headaches so bad
it felt like my head was going to explode because I had so much
locked up in my mind and never talked about it. I would have
blackouts and do things, and not remember anything about it. I
could only sleep for about two hours at a time, and was afraid
to even allow myself this, because of the nightmares I would
have. I would go into fits of rage or deep depression for no
reason. I had an anger, hatred and distrust for all people. I
especially hated doctors and attorneys and had a even made a
"hit list" for them.

I always lived life on the edge, doing a lot of dangerous
things, just to see if I would live or die. I didn't have any
friends, and didn't want any because of my experience in
Vietnam. I had made friends over there, and many were killed. 
It hurt too much, and I didn't want to go through it again. I
could not stand people walking or driving close behind me. If
they did, they would pay for it. I couldn't stand to be around
people and often would not speak to my wife and family for days.
 I never answered the telephone, and if I was home alone, I
would take it off the hook. I never wore a watch, because I
didn't care about the time and never planned ahead for anything.
 I just lived one day at a time. Everytime I got angry, I would
punch holes in doors, walls, and windows, not caring where I did
it.

Everytime our children would cry, I had to leave the house
because I would think about the children in Vietnam crying and
things that were done to them. If someone visited at the front
door, I would take off out the back door. I spent a lot of time
sitting out in the woods with a forty-five caliber pistol and a
case of beer thinking about ending it all. I would start to
think about my family and how they would feel, and that would
always change my mind. All of this mental anguish seemed to
cause me a lot of stomach trouble. It was getting worse all the
time. One day I hurt my back and neck at work, which caused me
to be in pain all the more. 

I reached a point where I just couldn't take it anymore. My
marriage was in trouble and my children hardly knew me. They say
you have to be down so far before you can get up. Believe me, I
was down. Just when I thought nothing else could go wrong, I
had a minor operation on my shoulder to remove a small lump. In
doing so, the doctor cut too deep and cut a nerve in half. For
several months my shoulder was in a great deal of pain and the
muscle wasted away. I could only raise my right arm less than
half way. 

Then, in May, 1990, I was diagnosed as having parasites. The
doctor said I'd probably had them since I was in Vietnam, and
this was the reason for all my stomach trouble. Over the span
of twenty years, I had every kind of test done to try and find
the reason for all the pain in my stomach, but no one could
ever help before.

Two days after the doctor told me about the parasites, I came
home and no one was there, so I turned the television on. A show
called the 700 Club was on. I had never watched it before.
Before I could change the channel, Pat Robertson started talking
about Jesus and healing. He said, "There is someone out there
with some kind of an ailment or disease from a tropical country,
that has been giving them trouble for many years." Then he said
that he thought it was parasites of some kind. When he said
that, I got warm all over and didn't know what was going on. 
When my wife got home, I told her about it and she watched the 
700 club again later that day and called and claimed the healing
for me. About a week later, I had the doctor check me again and
he said there wasn't any sign of parasites. (I haven't had any
trouble with my stomach since that day.)

In the meantime, I learned that the 700 club was having a
Vietnam Veterans conference at Virginia Beach, Virginia, the
last weekend of June 1990. There had been two conferences
previously, but I never felt any desire to go. But for some
reason, I felt like going this time. After I got there, I felt
for a moment like changing my mind and leaving, but I decided to
stay. I found out that all the veterans there had the same
problems that I had. Talking to these men was like talking into
a mirror.

There was an altar call on Friday night, and I went forward and
gave my life to Jesus Christ. That is when my life turned
completely around! I left all my troubles at the altar and
walked away a new man in Christ. It was like a thousand pounds
of weight was taken off my shoulders. All the years of anger,
hatred, distrust, along with all my problems and bad habits,
were suddenly gone. I began talking to other veterans and making
friends. It seemed like everything I saw was brighter. I even
found out what it was like to be a husband and father. I felt
like my life had just started all over again, and all my
problems, worries, and bad habits, were gone forever. 

I was still having a lot of pain in my right shoulder and very
little movement. I had a couple of doctors look at it and they
said they would have to do a nerve graft. They wanted to take a
nerve out of my foot and put it in my shoulder. They said if
they didn't do that, my shoulder would just get worse until I
wouldn't be able to use it or my arm at all.

In August, I went to a revival in Pittsburgh, PA. After the
service, I noticed that my shoulder didn't hurt as bad. I went
back again Saturday, and the next day all the pain was gone! I
put off seeing the doctor, who wanted to operate on me, for
about three months. Finally, I went back to him and told him I
was feeling better and could raise my arm above my head with no
pain. He told me that it was impossible for a nerve to grow
back together after it had been cut like mine had. He sent me to
get my nerve retested. The doctor who did the test before and
after my healing couldn't believe it. He said that this was the
first time he ever saw a nerve that was cut in half grow back
together again. I now can use my shoulder and arm with no pain.

It seems like everything is going my way now instead of against
me. Even my neck and back have been getting better too. I
thank the Lord for all he has done for me. I will Praise the
Lord forever!

POINT MAN INTERNATIONAL 820 Wayne Street Washington PA 15301
412/228-5081
Education
An Interview With Clark Stephens by Teresa Giordanengo
Morning Star Senior Editor, Teresa Giordanengo, conducted this
interview with Clark Stephens, the principal of Liberty
Christian School in Huntington Beach, California. The interview
was done via electronic mail over a computer network, as well as
through telephone conversations. Mr. Stephens is married and
has three children, all in school. He has been principal at
Liberty for ten years. His BS degree is from Humboldt State
University in Arcata CA, and his MA degree in Christian School
Administration, is from Biola University, LaMirada, CA. Mr.
Stephens attends the Central Baptist Church in Huntington Beach,
CA.

Teresa: Students may attend Liberty Christian School from
kindergarten through the twelfth grade. How is the student
today different than the last generation and why?

Clark: My experience, along with that of the faculty and others
working with young people, indicates that the problems that
young people are dealing with are increasing at a rapid rate. 
At one time, the greatest problem a teacher had to deal with was
chewing gum in class or talking too much. However, today,
educators are dealing with drugs, violence, premarital sex and
worse. Sometimes these community problems spill over into the
Christian school and must be dealt with as part of the education
process. 

Teresa: What do you feel is the most perplexing problem
teachers face in the classroom today?

Clark: Perhaps it could be termed unrealistic expectations. 
Teachers today are expected to fill the roles of parents,
counselors, psychologists, policemen, and correctors of all
kinds of societal wrongs. While it is true that the teacher
should be a righteous role model, they are not the students'
parents. While it is true that the teacher finds themselves
with ideal opportunities to share God's wisdom with the
students, the teacher cannot be expected to have to deal with
the great emotional problems students deal with today. Parents
must take the major role and depend on the teacher to assist
them. We cannot expect our teachers to do it all. It is not
true that if we could just provide the right kind of
"education," there would not be any evil in our society. 
Whenever we identify a problem in our society, we expect
teachers and education to fix it. That's an unrealistic
expectation. When we, as a society, send students to school who
are ready to learn, then teachers will be more successful in
causing their students to learn.

Teresa: Why are many students today not ready to learn?

Clark: I suppose there are many possible answers to this
question as it depends upon the factors at work with the
particular student. However, many students have life too easy
and do not see a quality education as something worth the
effort. I know of several fairly affluent families who have
children that seem to think the money will always be there for
them. Perhaps they have not been taught to work, because the
good life has come easy for them. Consequently, when a teacher
tries to motivate them to learn, they sometimes do not have the
personal discipline to work hard. Show me a child who has
learned to work, and I'll usually show you a student who can
learn.

Teresa: How has television changed our students today?

Clark: Children used to heavy doses of television seem to have
short attention spans and require continued visual stimulation
to maintain their interest. After all, they are used to a
commercial break every seven minutes and a resolution to every
problem with a half hour. Turn off the television and, after
the withdrawal period, they will become interested in learning
again.

Teresa: What are some of the extra-curricular activities at your
school and how do you interweave the religious classes into the
schedule?

Clark: We have interscholastic sports for the junior and senior
high students. As a Christian school, we feel that our music
program is important in helping students learn how to express 
 themselves in worship and enjoy music. As a result we have
concerts, music festivals, and give the students opportunities
to sing at retirement homes during the holidays. We have Bible
classes each day for all students. Notice I did not say
"Religion" classes. We teach Bible, not religion. We want the
students to learn the stories and spiritual truths of the Bible
in such a way that they become alive and meaningful to the
students. Additionally, the students participate in a weekly
chapel service that provides an opportunity for corporate
worship in an auditorium setting.

Teresa: Is there a dress code at your school?

Clark: Yes, we have a dress code at our school. We live in a
Southern California beach city where the general attitude is
"casual," and this casual attitude does not always promote
learning. The purpose of our dress code is to help create a
business climate. After all, school is a child's work and they
need to think that way. A dress code tends to improve
discipline among the students. They treat each other better if
they dress up a little. It also tends to sort out the students
who do not want to learn, because when they fight the dress
code, they show their true attitudes.

Teresa: What happens if a student at your school uses drugs or
alcohol?

Clark: Our school has a "no tolerance" policy concerning drugs
or alcohol. If we find drugs or alcohol on campus, we call the
police first and then the parents. Everyone knows that and,
consequently, we have not had any problem with it. I would not
be so naive as to believe students may not get involved with it
at times. However, they know the price they will pay if found
out, and they keep it private if they do get involved. 

Teresa: Is it difficult today to get funding for many of the
school's programs?

Clark: Funding, or the lack of funding, may finally destroy the
Christian school movement someday. The costs are skyrocketing. 
Public school teaching salaries in our area average $40,000 per
year and it is hard for the Christian school to compete. On the
other hand, there are many fine, highly-qualified, Christian
teachers who consider the Christian school their ministry and
work for much less than public school teachers do. As an
administrator, I really wish I could pay the Christian school
teachers what they are worth. It definitely requires sacrifice
on the part of parents and teachers alike to maintain a quality
Christian school.

Teresa: Do you find that our schools across the country are
antagonistic toward Christianity?

Clark: I am not familiar with schools outside our area. 
However, I believe that the trend in recent years has been away
from neutrality and more toward antagonism. Many believe that
the doctrine of separation of church and state requires that
there be no positive reference toward Christianity in the public
schools. This should be a red flag to Christian parents to send
their children to Christian schools where the values that
Christians stand for are openly promoted. For instance, I think
it is a shame that God cannot be openly thanked at a graduation
ceremony. In our area it's not called Christmas Vacation
anymore; it's Winter Vacation. It's not Easter Vacation; it's
Spring Break. I think that's a shame.

Teresa: Have our values changed today from yesterday?

Clark: It seems so to me. As a society, we do not think in
terms of values very often. When was the last time you heard a
discussion about values? When we do not focus on our values,
maybe we lose them as they drift away. In the Christian school,
we are free to discuss values in terms that impact our lives. 
Let me give you an example. Several years ago one of our
freshman girls died suddenly and without a cause being found. 
She simply collapsed and died. She would very likely have been
our valedictorian had she lived long enough to graduate. She
was an excellent athlete and was loved by everyone. Her death
really rocked the school. We had the funeral at the church on
campus with many of the students attending, and the pastor was
able to give God's perspective on this terrible tragedy. We had
many opportunities after that in chapels, Bible classes, and
other personal times, to teach the brevity of life and the need
to make our lives count. As educators, we would never have had
those opportunities if we were teachers in public schools.

Teresa: What is the overall purpose of a Christian school and
how does it affect the future of its students?

Clark: At Liberty, we are convinced that our overall purpose is
to lead our students to know Jesus Christ and to live like him. 
We feel that any true definition of education must include this.
 As a result of this focus, we try to integrate spiritual things
into the fabric of our program. We feel it is vital to any
program that educates for eternity.

Teresa: Are the Christian school students better prepared for
college and do more of these graduates attend a school of higher
education?

Clark: We consider our school a college prep school. To us,
that means that we do our best to prepare each student for
college, whether they plan to attend or not. As a result, the
expectation of the students and parents are in those terms. On
the average, about 75-80 % of our students go on to attend
college after high school. I believe this is higher than the
average school.

Teresa: I know that Television and the computer has influenced
our society. I am sure you have new programs already integrated
into your school system. What do you foresee in the classroom
of tomorrow?

Clark: I do not see the computer or other technology replacing
the teacher in the classroom. In reality, we learn more from
who our teacher is than what they say. However, computers may
become more widely effective in the future, as a learning tool,
if certain obstacles are overcome. One, computers must become
more than just fancy drill tutors providing math and spelling
games. These uses do not justify the cost and teaching time. 
Two, the cost. Because computers need to be upgraded so often,
the costs for hardware and software are very high. Schools
cannot afford to continually pour money into computers unless
the results can justify. A student sitting in the corner
playing math games marginally justifies the time and expense. 

Teresa: Finally, is there any last point you would like to
leave with our readers?

Clark: Education is more than book learning or learning a
trade. Education is learning how to live. It involves all
areas of our lives and continues as long as we live. Any
education that does not involve God and what God thinks, is not
much of an education, and is only temporary. Education that
causes us to know God and to become like Him, is an education
that will last an eternity. Send your children to schools where
they can receive an education that is priceless.
Teen Short Story
Go Christ's Way
A short story by from a teenage Christian named Jerry, in
Orinda, California.

It was last March when I was one of thirty youth educators from
my high school that went to talk to a group of eighth graders. 
We went to answer any questions they had, to clear up any
misunderstanding or myths about high school, and to make the
transition to their next level of education easier for them.

My two partners and I went to a Jack-In-The-Box after we were
done with our eighth-grade class. After I got my hamburgers and
fries, I sat down and prayed to God, giving thanks for the food
and the past week with the eighth graders. When my partners saw
me pray, they realized that I was a Christian and we got into a
conversation about Christianity. As we talked, they asked me if
Christians avoided such pleasures as drinking, partying, and
other activities of that sort. When I replied that many do,
they were astonished and said, "What the heck do you do for fun?"

As a high school student, I face many temptations to go along
with my school friends. Although worldly pleasures seem like
fun, I know that those who seek such things don't know the whole
truth. They don't know that the fun doesn't last or that it is
followed by guilt and regret. I myself have a far better time
when I fellowship with my Christian friends. We always
encourage each other to better follow our Lord. The truth is,
much more satisfaction comes from being obedient to God.

So, for a good time that LASTS, go Christ's way. Ask Him to
help you stand firm in His name in the midst of many
temptations. "The World and its desires pass away, but the one
who does the will of God lives forever" (1 John 2:17). "But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).
The MINISTRY PROFILE column highlights the work of a particular
Christian ministry. Local, national, and international
ministries will be featured.
Ministry Profile
The JESUS Film Project
Events in eastern Europe and Asia in the past few years have
been amazing to watch. The most wonderful occurence among all
the upheavel has been a new willingness on the part of
governments to allow Christian missionaries and ministries to
openly preach the Gospel to people in these nations. One of the
more amazing efforts has been the distribution and viewing of a
motion picture called "The JESUS Film". The Jesus Film Project
is part of Campus Crusades for Christ International. This film,
which explains the story of Jesus and God's salvation plan in
the local language of the people, has been showing in Communist
countries where governments previously repressed such teaching. 
Not only is the film being allowed in the theatres, but in some
countries, the government officials themselves have sat and
viewed it.

The JESUS film made its theatrical premiere in several republics
of the Soviet Union in 1990. The film showed in Tbilisi,
(capital of Georgia), Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev. Several
cabinet ministers including officials from the Ministry of
Education, after viewing the Jesus Film, asked that it be shown
in the Soviet school system and requested a training seminar for
over 2,000 teachers, representing 1,000 schools and half a
million students. This massive project is currently under away.
 As of July 1991, more than 1200 Soviet school teachers and
administrators learned how to present the JESUS film, and teach
a course called "Christian Ethics and Morality: A Foundation For
Society". Amazing as it sounds, these seminars are being
conducted in regional headquarter meeting halls of the Communist
party in Moscow, Leningrad, Tallin and Vologda. The same halls,
where it was recently taught, that Christians were the enemy of
the state. Many of the teachers were stunned to hear that there
was a God, or that Jesus loved them and that He died for them. 
Some were stetched to adjusted their thinking. Others readily
embraced this new teaching, especially the Gospel. In
Leningrad, 60 percent of the teachers indicated a decision to
receive Jesus into their lives and 96 percent stated they wanted
to show the JESUS film to their students!

It was beyond belief to these Soviet teachers that Americans
were giving them the JESUS film, literature and Bibles. They
would ask questions like "Who paid for this?", "Why are you
doing this?", "What will you get from it?" They were told that
individuals in America sent it all, so that they and their
students might know God. These people were especially touched
when told that in some churches children had actually given of
their own money to send them the film.

Paul Eshleman, the director of the JESUS film project, along
with other team members became the first Christians in history
to preach the Gospel in the great Kremlin Palace Hall of
Congresses. This is the same place that President Gorbachev
regularly addresses the Communist Party Leaders. Over 20,000
Muscovites heard the salvation message over a five day series of
Easter concerts. Following each showing, there would be a
question and answer period, after which Mr. Eshleman would lead
the people in the prayer of salvation. Over 60 percent of the
participants responded positively when asked if they had prayed
to invite Christ into their hearts.

Here are some more highlights from this ministry's work in other
parts of the world over the past year.

ESTONIA USSR: Estonian and Russian versions of JESUS premiere
in the republic's capital of Tallin. Several government
ministers attended both screenings. The following evening the
film was shown in the city of Tartu, where it also sold out. 
The deputy minister of education who attended stated, "As I have
studied the Western society, I find that their success is keyed
to the following of a loving and forgiving God. This is the
same God we want for the people of Estonia." During the
following six weeks, 361 showings in Estonia drew 76,367 viewers.

BULGARIA: The film JESUS drew sell out crowds in the capital of
Sofia. Customers waited up to four hours for tickets. 
Screenings took place every two and a half hours, from 10 a.m.
until after 10 p.m. Of the 147 comment cards turned in at the
close of the premiere showing, 81 individuals indicated a
decision to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and
Savior. Half of those wanted to know more, as did another 29
viewers who did not make a decision. Bulgaria's new president,
vice-president and prime minister all attended the premiere
showing, as did the Soviet Ambassador to Bulgaria! The Prime
Minister stated publicly, "Our country needs more films like
this". He also expressed interest in using the film in the
country's schools, prisons and churches. The General Secretary
of the Union of Bulgarian Filmakers commented, "People in
Bulgaria now need something to believe in. And now is the time
that people will find their God."

ROMANIA: The first five days of the film JESUS in Bucharest
drew 16,800 viewers according to Mihai Dluta, director of
Romaniafilm, the in-country distributor. The Minister of
Culture after viewing the film, made this comment: "Today in
Romania we are a very confused people, with great diversity of
opinions and ideas and much uncertainty in our future. We need
to be united as a people in order to progress forward. I
believe it is only Jesus Christ who really can unite our people
and be the focal point of unity. This film will be a very
important factor in bringing this to happen."

LATVIA USSR: Over 110 individuals invited Jesus Christ into
their lives following the premiere of the JESUS film in the
capital city of Riga. Guests included the republic's Prime
Minister, three ministers of the government, the mayor of Riga
and members of Parliament. After the showing, the minister of
foreign affairs commented, "This film is absolutely
extraordinary. I commend you for your courage in showing it."

HUNGARY: The JESUS film, following it's remarkable success as a
video in the middle of 1990, premiered in Bucharest's theaters
in December. Eight-eight comment cards were turned in the night
of the premiere. Of these, 54 indicated decisions for Christ.

It is not only in Eastern Europe and the USSR that the
opportunity to spread the Gospel is being seen. Africa, Asia
and South America have also been affected:

EGYPT: More than 1 million Egyptians saw the JESUS film in
1990, according to Mounir Faragalia, director of Egypt's JESUS
film teams. These teams are reporting that 15 to 20 percent of
the viewers are making a decision for Christ.

AFRICA: Campus Crusade staff using the JESUS film in nine of
sub-Sahara Africa's French-speaking countries reported a 1990
attendance of 1,191,430 viewers at 1,160 showings. Of these, at
least 135,370 indicated a decision to trust Christ.

THAILAND: The JESUS film has been showing in Thailand for
almost nine years now. Over this time, film teams report that 
6,974,424 individuals have heard the message of Christ through
this film and personal evangelism. Almost 2 million of these
indicated a decision to trust Christ as Savior and Lord. 
Thailand's New Life Training Centers have produced 4,112 trained
men and women lead the 20,765 New Life Groups that have formed
to help care for the 249,182 people who attend them.

INDIA: India's 37 film teams report showing the JESUS film in
15 languages during 1990. Over 2.2 million viewers saw the
film. The film teams in India work closely with local churches
and missions, such as the Christian Fellowship Center in the
Punjab region, an area which is full of terrorist activity. 
Hundreds of people are killed every week in this area, according
to Danial Abraham, director of the CFC. There is an astonishing
openness to the film however. Permission to show the film in
the middle of major Hindu religious festivals has often been
granted. In one case, the film was shown in a remote village,
celebrating a Hindu festival. Shown in an empty field, the
JESUS film, drew a large crowd, emptying a nearby temple. At
the close, the team leader reported about 400 people prayed to
receive Christ as Lord and Savior.

ECUADOR: A year ago, Alberto Chalco from the village of Pompeya
translated the evangelsitic booklet, "The Four Spiritual Laws"
into his native Quinchua language. He asked the JESUS film team
to come to his village and show the film. Upon the beginning of
the movie, an angry mob attacked, resulting in a pastor of a
local village being badly beaten. Chalco continued to preach to
his townspeople this year the JESUS film team was again invited
in. This time they found a church of about 30 people in
Pompeya, including several of the men who had attacked them a
year before!

UPDATE - September 1991:

The JESUS film is making its debut in strife torn Yugoslavia. 
Five key language translations have been prepared for the
Croations, Serbians, Slovenians, Macedonians and Albanians
living in Yugoslavia. The premiere is planned for this month! 
Pray for this and also that the JESUS film finds its way into
nearby Albania. Praise God, an unrestricted business visa was
just granted by the Albanian government to the JESUS Film
Project. Only two dozen such visas have been granted in the
past 40 years!

Plans are also being made to show the JESUS film in the heavily
Muslim Soviet Republics of Azerbaidzhan, Turkmenia, Tadzhikistan
and Kirghizia. A translation of the film is also being prepared
for the nation of Mongolia which is heavily Buddhist. On
September 29, the Mongolian version of JESUS is scheduled to be
presented to political and Communist Party leadership. From
there the film will be taken to all of their theatres and 250
locations that are served by mobile film trucks. After this,
Lord willing, it will be distributed into the schools, hospitals
and prisons. 

====================================================================

For more information on the JESUS Film Project, consult the
Ministry and Product Information Listing in the RESOURCE area of
this issue.
Testimony
Testimony by Mark Robinson
TESTIMONY is our regular column featuring the new-life story of
a Gentile born again believer in Jesus. This month's testimony
is from Mark Robinson, a member of First Baptist Church in
Jefferson City, Missouri. Mark has taught Sunday school
classes, sung in the church choir, and worked with a Prison
Fellowship.

I was born into a church-going family, attending twice on
Sundays, once on Wednesdays, and sometimes even on Friday or
Saturday. From the earliest years, my mother was deeply
involved in giving me a witness and instruction about Christ,
His Love and Truth. My father was the family's foundation of
security and discipline. His was a strong role of leadership
tempered by a father's love, firm and sure. I enjoyed the
privilege of accepting Christ and became born anew as a young
child, at seven years of age.

The difficult years came swiftly, wreaking havoc upon everything
that wasn't firmly grounded in solid foundations. My mother
developed cancer, and for the following year and a half, I could
only watch as her body became deformed and swollen. Her breast
and arm ballooned. Her appendages took on the deep reddish hue
of cancerous growth. She became disfigured from the effects of
the cancer.

Already a young man at age eight, I needed to offer her what
little assistance I could to help her get through her extreme
pain. I also tried to help with the morale of my older brothers
and sisters. I watched and struggled with them as they saw
their own lives being torn apart and uprooted. I did what I
could to be a friend to my dad, the man losing his mate, the
father shouldering the additional responsibilities of
motherhood, and the pastor confronting the biggest challenge to
his own faith in God. I was a young boy "sleepwalking" and
intuitively responding to adverse stimuli, perhaps insulating
myself from the harsh realities of life and death. The self
defense mechanisms had been activated. Consequences of the
impact this was having on my life wouldn't fully strike me for
years to come.

Not fully comprehending the critical nature of her advanced
cancer, I would often wonder why "mommy" couldn't do fun things
any longer. As with my other siblings, I held on to the hope
that soon she would "turn the corner" and begin to get better. 
We eagerly looked for any shred of optimism, any brief glimmer
of hope that the cancer would fade into remission. I would
sometimes tag along as my parents would take long rides into the
country, their final few months to share in each others lives. 
I would listen as mother would pass along the necessary "honey,
do for the kids" to my dad. They knew that soon only one parent
would be alive to shepherd the flock. Not until years later did
I realize that this brave woman and her courageous husband knew
all along that her condition was terminal.

Mother remained home until the very last few days of her life,
finally passing on when I was 9 years old. Burying her was only
the beginning of the fight for everyone in the family. My walk
with the Lord and support from my family kept my mental balance
intact as I witnessed one of my older sisters suffer one nervous
breakdown after another. My faith in God did not falter as one
older brother bitterly left home, suffered the trauma of
Vietnam, and, consequently, took his own life with his .30/.30
rifle. Another brother lost what faith he may have had, spent
countless hours in "professional counseling," and, through the
advise of his counselors, took up the defensive psyche of denial
and rejection, ultimately resulting in professed atheism.

Other family members who kept standing firm on the Word of God
each suffered great emotional struggles and physical trials as
well. Many are still fighting the effects of early childhood
and adolescent tragedies. Each of us has also tapped into the
power of the Holy Spirit to rebound, overcome the calamity, grow
spiritually, and use the malady to help others. My father had
no choice. He had committed decades of his life to the
ministry. He knew that the author and finisher of his faith
would prevail. He had a terribly tough time. Others wouldn't
understand, but I've seen him turn into an even more powerful
witness to those in his circle of influence.

Do I blame God for these tragedies? Never! What I've faced is
only common to mankind. If I may be allowed to paraphrase the
Old Testament, there is a time for joy and a time for sorrow; a
time to be born and a time to die; a time for health and a time
for sickness. What I've experienced is neither better nor
notably worse than what other fellow humans are facing. Most
importantly, the troubles we may encounter in this world, while
difficult and terrible indeed, are nothing compared to the
greater glory to come when we enter the presence of God in
heaven. Remember, He is even now preparing a mansion for each
of us to enjoy as our eternal home!

The deepest spiritual encounters for me came at the point in
life when most people find themselves or lose themselves. At
the time I was going through a church-supported college. I
won't say that I "attended" college, rather, I was just "passing
through." I was really put off by the "phoniness" of what many
were trying to say. At the same time, I was impressed by those
who dropped the facades and were honest with me. Some of these
souls were truly fantastic people, washed in the blood of Christ
- truly Born Again.

Unfortunately, some of the other individuals who were most open
and honest with me, who were also more accepting of my ways,
were more into the counterculture than I could ever hope to be. 
Thus, what had begun in high school as a mere experimentation
with drugs and alcohol developed into a full blown lifestyle of
a clouded, fogged insobriety. Yes, I was a Christian. Yet, I
was deeply and intensely struggling with purpose and discipline.
 However, when I wasn't sober, I was drinking. When I wasn't
drinking, I was stoned. When I wasn't stoned or buzzed with
alcohol, I was looking for the next opportunity to imbibe. What
a life!

Yet, I was desperately and terribly alone only because I
wouldn't listen to the Holy Spirit within me and follow His
direction. Often I prayed for a family, true "friends,"
beautiful kids, and an understanding, loving wife. Nearly ten
years passed with this rebellious spirit keeping me away from a
personal peace, joy and fulfillment. I watched as friends
overdosed on drugs, came close to being arrested, and harassed
well-meaning Christian men and women who tried to call me out of
my rebellion.

During this time, I casually investigated diverse faiths and
beliefs. As a result of my study of classical Latin, I became
interested in the Greek and Roman mythological characters and
beliefs; assorted styles of New Age self awareness and
reliance, then known as TM. I explored agnosticism, atheism,
"what-ever- ism"; and during the struggle, I even managed to
successfully hold down a steady, high-profile job at a top rated
radio station. Others might have said that I had it made. A
good, strong work ethic, a decent job that had the sky as its
limit, loads of attention, friends when I wanted them, and an
aptitude for learning, accepting and fulfilling new
responsibilities.

I suppose that if one needed to point to a single "fateful"
experience it would be shortly after I had simply attended a
good, Bible-believing church on three consecutive Sundays. 
While this wasn't a world's record; at the time, this was for me
a major achievement! Remember that by now I had prayed for
close to ten years for a wife, family, a.k.a. - peace, joy,
happiness, and fulfillment. Several acquaintances of mine had
just left my house after an "enjoyable" party. I stayed up for
a little while longer as the flood of conviction and frustration
burst forth. The years of rebellion and loneliness had reached
critical mass. Literally prostrate on my face, I "turned over"
control of my life to Christ. It was at this point I could have
either completely trusted Christ and totally begun to follow
Him, or forever continue wandering the path of total desolation
and despair. Only through the grace of our almighty Lord, was I
thankfully able to chose the former alternative.

Some would say that at this point I went from being a "carnal"
Christian to being a "Spirit-led" Christian. Others may say
that it was during this experience when I truly came to an
intimate knowledge of Christ as my Lord and Savior. I won't
venture a value judgement at this point in time. Only through
the grace, mercy and power of our almighty God that very night
was I finished with my involvement with drugs and alcohol. A
contemporary psychiatrist might say that I immediately overcame
a serious co-dependency problem. No less than three weeks
later, I met the young lady whom I would marry five months
later, with whom I've begun raising a beautiful child, and with
whom I am growing closer to God. We'll shortly be celebrating
our 10th anniversary. By the way, I met my help mate after
revival services at church. She, too, was looking and praying
for a special person with whom she could form a family. I'm
sure that there are times when she still waits for me to
metamorphose into that special person.

Is life still a struggle? You bet. God didn't promise His
disciples the proverbial rose garden until we enter heaven and
His glory. During my years of rebellion, did the "preaching"
of those tireless Christian people have any influence at all? 
Absolutely! Without their constant reminding of my spiritual
condition, the only voice left in my life would have been the
satanic voice of the other "druggies" who were dragging me
along. Today, my voice joins the chorus of believers who don't
hesitate to spread the Good News. My remaining regret is that
so many years and so many opportunities have been
misappropriated and lost. The challenge is before me to reach
my full spiritual potential, I now must work doubly hard and
diligently. Phillipians 4:13, "I can do all things through Him
who strengthens me." How great is our benefactor!

A parenthetical observation from one who has been on the
receiving end, there are two kinds of witnessing that need to be
conducted at all times. First is the personal, tender, intimate
witnessing of those who have been through their own vision of
hell on earth. They need to be willing and ready to give
compassion to those who are yet to escape the clutches of the
dark one. Secondly, the strong, unwavering, indisputable
message of conviction, edification, instruction, faith,
salvation, and guidance is equally important. Without the
"preaching," the saving message of Jesus Christ will be drowned
out by the songs of the false christs. Why should the reborn
Christian soft pedal the Gospel while the non-believers are free
to disseminate their beliefs at will?

Christ has the power to restore us and lift us up from any
circumstance, situation, distress, calamity, disease - anything!
 No one aside from Christ can take the pieces of our lives and
put them together in a way that will prove dynamic at helping
others. He is the only One who can completely restore troubled
hearts! If I were to have put my own life back together, I no
doubt would have used the wrong adhesive and the pieces would
have quickly fallen apart once more.

I thank the Lord continually for all of the grace and mercy He
has bountifully showered upon me. I am only a wretched sinner,
yet He died personally for me - and thee.
Prayer and Praise
Prayer and Praise
PRAYER AND PRAISE is our international prayer link. 
Send your request or praise to; "MORNING STAR Prayer and
Praise", for the next issue.

 "Call on us, brothers and sisters, and together we
will call on God!"

===========================================================

 PRAY FOR THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE:

Jeff in New Hampshire, who is recovering from major
colon surgery.

Mrs. Brown in Alabama, whose husband died from cancer
last week.

Jon in Pennsylvania, who was found to have a tumor
behind his right eye.

Paul in Vermont, who is having back problems. Also
for two ministries he is involved with in that state.

The father-in-law of Douglas in Missouri ... pray for
his salvation

Amy in Alabama, who has a thyroid problem that needs
healing.

David, an eleven year old boy in Pennsylvania, with
severe burns from an accident.

Sandra in Saratoga California, who has leukemia and
is in need of a marrow doner.

Kristianna, an 18 year old sister in Christ, who has
been diagnosed with lung cancer, which the doctors say is
terminal.

The 10 week old baby of Jerry in Ohio, who has
navel/umbilical cord problems.

Betsy in New Jersey, who is recovering from a bone
marrow transplant. 

Baby Sarah, the daughter of Christian parents in
Michigan, who was born prematurely and has just recently been
taken off a respirator.

A friend, "RM" in Indiana, who is pregnant and
addicted to a prescription drug. She is struggling spiritually.

Norm in Florida, who is looking to find the church he
and his family should be in.

The mother of Susanne in California, who does not yet
know Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Lee in Rhode Island, who has much stress in his job right now. 

Robin in New York, who had tremendous weight loss and
low blood count since her baby Michael was born.
Joseph, an older Jewish man in Pennsylvania, who is strongly
considering what the Bible has to say about Yeshua (Jesus).

Mack, an evangelist in Alabama, whose parents were in
an accident last July. His dad was killed and his mom is in
critical condition.

Liza and her daughter Maria in Oregon. Liza has a tumor and 
her daughter is suffering with "Chronic Fatigue Syndrome".

Lloyd, a 60 year old man in Alabama, who lost a foot
in an accident involving farm machinery.

 The ministries of Ron Elkin, (AMMI witnessing ministry in 
Pennsylvania), and Geoffrey Kragen, (SEPHER counselling 
ministry in California.)

The Russian and Yugoslav people as they all face a difficult 
fall and winter.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6)
Music
Music
This month's Music Column highlights a classic from the last
century and the story behind it.

LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO George Matheson, 1842-1902

O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul on Thee; I
give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its
flow may richer, fuller be.

O Light that follow'st all my way, I yield my flick'ring torch
to Thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in Thy
sunshine's blaze its day may brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me thru pain, I cannot close my heart to
Thee; I trace the rainbow thru the rain, And feel the promise is
not vain that morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from
Thee; I lay in dust life's glory dead, And from the ground
there blossoms red life that shall endless be.

This hymn was written by an esteemed Scottish minister, George
Matheson, at the age of 40. He was totally blind and described
the writing as the "fruit of much mental suffering." The hymn
was composed on the evening of June 6, 1882, in the manse of
Innelan, where Matheson spent much of his time alone. One
evening, the minister was in deep mental anguish over something
personal, and he began to write. The hymn was completed in five
minutes. This was the quickest piece of work he had ever done
in his life. He felt as though it was dictated to him by some
inward voice rather than of working it out himself. He never
corrected or changed a word in this writing. Mattheson said
this hymn came "like a dayspring from on high." 

It has been said that the writing of this hymn resulted from his
remembering the great disappointment that he had experienced
before he was to have been married to his college finance. When
he had told her of his impending blindness, she refused to marry
him. It could be that the lingering memory of this rejection
from his love here on earth, caused George Matheson to write
about God's eternal love for him, a love that will never be
broken.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you
with lovingkindness." (Jeremiah 31:3)
Chef's Corner
Chef's Corner
Here is a recipe that I have picked up from my mother. I think
you will enjoy it and I would also like to encourage you to look
up the scriptures provided after each ingredient. You can also
have fun with this and instead of giving the actual ingredients
give your friends the recipe in a format that will make them
utilize their Bible to research the recipe i.e. 3 1/2 cups of 1
Kings 4:22, 6 of Luke 11:12. Enjoy.

SCRIPTURE CAKE 
Bake at 325F for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Makes one 10 inch tube cake.
3 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour [1 Kings:4:22]
3 teaspoons baking powder [Galatians 5:9]
1/4 teaspoon salt [Leviticus 2:13]
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon [1 Kings 10:2]
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg [1 Kings 10:2]
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves [1 Kings 10:2]
1 teaspoon ground allspice [1 Kings 10:2]
1 cup (2 Sticks) butter, softened [Judges 5:25]
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar [Jeremiah 6:20]
2 tablespoons honey [Exodus 16:31]
6 eggs [Luke 11:12]
1 Package (8 ounces) pitted dates, chopped [Deuteronomy 34:3]
2 cups raisins [1 Samuel 30:12]
1 cup walnuts, chopped [Solomon 6:11]
1 cup milk [Judges 5:25]

1. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
and allspice onto wax paper. 
2. Beat butter, sugar, honey and eggs in a large bowl with
electric mixer at high speed, until light and fluffy.
3. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the flour mixture over the fruits and
nuts. Add remaining flour mixture alternately with the milk to
the fluffy butter mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in fruits
and nuts. Spoon into a greased and floured 10 inch tube pan.
4. Bake in a slow oven (325F) for 1 hour and 30 minutes or
until top springs back when lightly touched with fingertip.
5. Cool in pan on wire rack 20 minutes; loosen around edge and
middle with knife; turn out on rack; cool completely. Wrap in
foil or plastic. Cake slices best the next day.
submitted by Jim Baber.

GERMAN COLE SLAW
Bring to a boil: 1 cup vinegar, 1 l/2 tsp salt, 
1 tsp dry mustard, 1 tsp celery salt.
When this boils, add 1/2 cup oil. Bring to a boil again then cool.
Alternate layers of the following; 2 lbs shredded cabbage, 
2 onions, 3/4 cups sugar.
Pour dressing over cabbage,cover and refrigerate 24 hours. (Serves 12)
Teresa Giordanengo Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

CARROT SALAD
2 bags carrots cooked until barely done and cut in Julienne sticks.
Marinate overnight in: 1 can tomato soup, 1 tsp dry mustard,
1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 cup oil, 3/4 cup vinegar, 1 cup sugar.
Drain off marinate ( can be used as salad dressing or for steak).
Add fine green pepper & onions. (Serves 12)
Teresa Giordanengo Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

ORANGE SHERBERT SALAD (8" square)
Dissolve: 6 oz. orange jello, 1 cup boiling water.
Add to above and mix well: 1 pint orange sherbert.
Add: 1 can drained Mandarin oranges.
Fold in: 1 cup Kool Whip.
Teresa Giordanengo Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

FROSTED CRANBERRY SQUARES
1 (l3 1/2 oz.) can crushed pineapple (1 2/3 cups)
1 (6oz) package lemon flavored gelatin.
1 (7 oz) bottle (1 cup) ginger ale
1 (1 lb.) can (2 cups) jellied cranberry sauce
1 (2 oz) pkg dessert topping mix (dream whip)
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Drain pineapple, reserving syrup. Add water to syrup to make 1 cup.
Heat till mixture is boiling. Dissolve gelatin in hot liquid, cool. 
Gently stir in ginger ale; Chill till partially set. 
Meanwhile, blend drained pineapple and cranberry sauce,
fold into gelatin mixture. Turn into 9x9x2 inch dish.
Chill till firm. 
Prepare dessert topping according to pkg. directions.
Fold in cream cheese; Spread over gelatin.
Toast pecans in 1 tablespoon butter or margarine in moderate
oven (350 degrees F.) about l0 minutes; Sprinkle over top of
salad. Chill. (Serves 9)
(The topping with the chopped pecans is scrumptious. A must for
the special holiday dinners)
Teresa Giordanengo Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE
2 (20 oz.) cans cut green beans, drained 
1 can Campbell - "Golden Mushroom with sliced Mushrooms" Soup 
1 stick oleo, melted 
12 oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese, grated 
1 package (l/4 lb. ) saltine crackers 
1 cup sour cream 
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Place beans in large buttered casserole. Mix sour cream,
mushroom soup, and seasonings. Pour this mixture over green
beans. Sprinkle grated cheese over casserole. Crush crackers,
not too fine, and mix with oleo. Spread crumbs on top of
cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until bubbly
hot. Serves 8 to 10.
This can be made a day or two ahead and placed in the
refrigerator. Bake just prior to eating. An excellent dish to
serve with baked ham. This has proved a favorite dish for
"add-a dish" dinners at church and family reunions.
Thelma F. Scott Memphis, Tennessee

GRANDMA'S MILK COOKIES
Cream: 1 cup shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar.
Add: 2 eggs and beat till creamy
Mix in a separate bowl: 5 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 
1 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tsp soda.

Combine: 1 cup milk, 1 tsp vanilla .
Alternate flour and milk into egg mixture, stirring well after
each addition. Turn out on floured board. Roll out rather thick
(it will rise while baking) Dip cutter in flour and cut out
cookies Bake on greased cookie sheet (will brown on bottom, be
careful) at 375 F 10 -12 minutes.

ICING - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 tsp. vanilla, a few
drops of canned milk , coloring (optional). 
Mix together till smooth. Ice the cookies after cooling.
Mary Jane Neish Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.

CHICKEN & BROCCOLI BAKE
This is a mouth-watering dish. It can be made omitting the
chicken also.
1/2 lb. broccoli, cooked 
3 cups cheddar cheese, grated 
1 1/2 cups chicken (cooked and cut up) 
2/3 cups onion, chopped 
1 1/3 cups milk 
3 eggs 
3/4 cup Bisquick 
3/4 tsp. salt 
1/4 tsp. pepper
Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 10x 1 1/2 inch pie
plate. Mix broccoli, 2 cups cheese, chicken and onion in pie
plate. Beat milk, eggs, Bisquick, salt and pepper till smooth. 
Pour into pie plate. Bake until knife inserted in center is
clean 25-35 minutes. Top with remaining cheese. Bake till
melted. Cool 5 minutes. 6 - 8 servings.
Teresa Giordanengo, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
Potpourri
Potpourri
Our POTPOURRI area is a collection of poems, thoughts, quips and
quotes. This month we dedicate our three poems to the Veterans
of Vietnam.

=================================================================

"NAM POEM" by Joanne Brunetti - Brookfield, Connecticut

"I'm proud, my Son", I heard him say 
As I went out the door that day. 
Cautiously smiling, willing to fight
Apprehensive, but it's alright. 
These people, you know, they have a need. 
Our goal-to be sure, that they will live free.

I fought for people I did not know. 
Often scared, which way do I go? 
Hoped each day to have found, 
that maybe we had gained a little ground. 
Watched in horror as children died,
Why, oh why, God oh why? 
Losing friends one after another
Each one like my own brother.

Oh how I wish I could leave
too numb now to even grieve.
At last the time has come to go
don't remember ever feeling this low.
Can't wait to get back to the good ole States
See family and friends, won't it be great.

My plane has landed, the time has come to arrive. 
Thank the Lord, I'm alive! 
"What?", I say, "how can it be?" 
My own friends and family 
Turned their backs, filled with hate. 
Is this what I fought for? Is this my fate?

The hurt is so deep, why can't they see
The decision to fight was not made by me. 
The hurt and the pain just get in the way,
of living my life day after day.
They are wrong, there is no end you see,
for the war goes on each day for me.  

=================================================================

"THANKS" by Joanne Brunetti - Brookfield, Connecticut

Never will I forget 
The price that you have paid 
Giving up your life, your happiness 
All because we said "Go young man, fight the war 
Fight til you can fight no more 
Make us proud, show your pride 
Now just hurt, so deep inside

How can I ever let you see 
How proud of you I will always be
Don't hide your head, hold it high 
Never let a man walk by 
And tell you that to fight was wrong 
It was right to be there all along

A parade, welcome home 
None of it was ever shown 
All of this so very wrong 
But, be proud, stand tall 
You really do deserve it all 
Remember that the price you pay 
For freedom lives with us each day

=================================================================

"A PRECIOUS NEW MAN" By Florence Drabeck - Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Yanked from the daily walk of life 
Aboard a flying plane 
Taken from your child and wife 
And bearers of your name

No one will "know" the fear that's felt 
Or the feelings deep inside 
The first day when you were brought 
To that jungle deep inside.

Each day it was so foreign 
A new way of life you learned 
The harsh new lessons you were taught 
And for "home" your heart did yearn

But you were fighting a battle 
You were bleeding and dying as men 
It was more than enough you were caught "in between" 
A war you could not fight to the end

And now that conflict is over 
Others will come and will go 
But there is something worth saying 
It's something I think you should know

Not all of us stood with Jane Fonda 
A lot of us cried in the night 
Our hearts were filled with sorrow 
And broke with the loss of your plight

The blood that you saw spilled around you 
The pain and the misery you shared 
If the men in high places would allow you to fight 
Thousands of lives would be spared

But how do you rise and go forward 
When you see all the things that were done 
And seeing that things left so incomplete 
And the "un"restitution of some

I ask you to do something so simple 
Yet so hard i'm sure you all know 
Exchange your bondage for blessing 
"Believe" and your battle "let go"

Exchange the blood of that battle 
Trust judgment to come from God's hand 
And take in its place the blood of the cross 
Leave this place a "precious new man"

=================================================================

The Lord's wisdom for all veterans who are still struggling:

"Therefore, if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: Old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 
(2nd Corinthians 5:17)

=================================================================

THE FORM-ing OF A MAN

God said:  "Let us FORM man in our image." 
The World says: "We will CONFORM man to our image." 
The devil says: "I will DEFORM man by sin." 
Education says: "Let us INFORM man by knowledge."
Society says: "We will REFORM man by culture." 
JESUS says:  "I will TRANSFORM man by love."

=================================================================

MY SELF - YOUR SELF

We Americans spend great amounts of time engaged in pursuit of
self-amusement, self-realization, self-expression,
self-fulfillment, self-gratification, self-consideration,
self-determination and self-satisfaction.

And then along comes Jesus Christ. He brings our quest to a
sudden halt, asking that we adopt His style of self-denial.

=================================================================

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"Blessed are those who give without remembering and receive
without forgetting."

=================================================================

PRAYERS

P raise His Holy name 
R each through all obstacles 
A re always answered 
Y earn to be heard by God 
E ase all burdens 
R eceive top priority 
S trengthen our Spirit

=================================================================

SHOP TIL YOU DROP

Shopping with credit cards can be VERY REWARDING! You can go on
vacation and rent that car you could never afford to buy with
JUST A WAVE of your credit card. (OF COURSE, DRIVING IT IS
ANOTHER STORY!) YOU can buy the most exquisite clothes and dine
at the finest restaurants. Just remember, if you don't pay
now..... you're going to pay later. But you can always pick
yourself up and get right back onto the shopping circuit.

That's what I did. And shopping WAS rewarding... Only the rewards
weren't always what I expected. Love the new sofa, but it does
sort of make the rest of the room look cruddy. I wondered, "Am
I shopping strenuously enough?" So I shopped harder. In fact, I
shopped till I dropped. There has to be more to life than
shopping and dropping. I discovered that even if you CAN pay all
your bills, even if you are the king or queen of credit, There
are certain things your cards can't buy." (OOOh, not even with a
Gold Card!!!) Things like PEACE and JOY.. Things that come from
knowing GOD! "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the
whole world, And forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) JESUS, the
Jewish Messiah, Gave HIs life so WE could have a right
relationship With God, and if we put our trust in Him, We will
CONQUER DEATH just like He did. The BEST things in life aren't
FREE-They're just not available on credit and They happen to be
beyond our price range. ONLY GOD can give enough to obtain them
for us: "FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY
BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH,
BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE." (JOHN 3:16)

Resources
Book Reviews
Book Reviews
This month's REVIEWS column features three new books that are
beneficial to all Christians. They are all highly recommended.

=================================================================

TOXIC FAITH by Stephen Arterburn & Jack Felton. 
Published by Oliver Nelson

The Christian is called by Christ to go and make disciples. As
part of this process, we often are given the opportunity to work
with those who are in deep pain. The more frequently we choose
to help those that the Lord sends to us, the more frequently we
will run into those suffering from toxic faith.

The cover describes "Toxic Faith" this way: "Well-meaning but
misguided people can turn religion into a harmful addiction, an
addiction that can be used to avoid commitments, avoid pain,
avoid reality, avoid fear, and avoid growth. This type of faith
is toxic.

When religion becomes a means to avoid or control life, it
becomes toxic. Many people are susceptible-people with low
self-esteem, people raised in shame-based families, people who
have been emotionally, physically, and sexually abused, people
with addictive personalities, and people with faulty belief
systems."

The call of Toxic Faith is a call to mature Christianity, a call
to relationship with God versus a life of religiousity. Too
often, individuals don't live in dependency on the Lord, but in
bondage to a system, a cult, or their own misquided perceptions
of reality.

As you live in the Body of Christ, you will find these people. 
You may find them in your family, in your church or in your
community. (You may even find that you are suffering from this
problem.) The book Toxic Faith, will help you understand the
victim and maybe give you the wisdom to be of help.

"Toxic Faith" is a book that digs below the surface of the
"pilliar of the church" and finds that instead of the
cornerstone Christ, may be a foundation of sand and corruption,
of pain and fear, and while the reader may not agree with
everything found here, this book is still one that every
Christian concerned with advancing the Kingdom of God should
read. 

=================================================================

THE WOUNDED HEART - Hope for Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse
by Dr. Dan B. Allender 
Published by Navpress.

One of the most difficult problems faced by the pastoral
counselor is working with the adult victim of childhood sexual
abuse. The number of these clients continues to grow.

The counselor and victim can find many books out there on the
subject, but Dr. Allender's is one of the best from a Christian
perspective. He analyzes the problem and how it manifests
itself in the lives of the victims. He clearly spells out the
different types of abuse, ranging from verbal on through rape
and incest. Then he delineates the specific personality types
resulting from these varieties of abuse.

Most importantly, Dr. Allender identifies from a Biblical
perspective the areas of sin that the victim must face in order
to deal with the fact that they were abused. He makes it clear,
the victim was truly a victim, not responsible for what happened
to them, but they must take the responsibility for how they will
live before God as a result of their response to having been
abused.

This book will be of great help to the counselor in
understanding the dynamics of abuse and victimization. It will
also be a real blessing to the victim in his/her efforts to
overcome the past.

Also, the book will be a blessing to all who struggle with their
pasts, even if not victims of sexual abuse. It will provide the
opportunity to learn how to chose to deal with pain in a way
consistent with God's will for their lives.

Dr. Allender is a colleague of Dr. Larry Crabb, and his approach
is consistent with the counseling system developed by Crabb.

=================================================================

SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDIES by Pat J. Sikora 
Published by Standard Publishing

The small group may be one of the most important ministries
going on in the local church today. This being the case, Ms.
Sikora's book is an essential part of the church and pastor's
library. If you read no other book on the subject, read this
one.

An excellently organized book, "Small Group Bible Studies", lays
out the ABC's of the philosophical and Biblical underpinnings of
small groups. It discusses choosing leaders and materials, how
to be an effective leader, and how to develop an approach to the
dynamics of the make-up and functions of individual groups. The
book has excellent appendices which give lists of available
resources, samples of "ice breakers", lesson plans, etc.

General small group theory, agreed to by this work, feels that
the most effective group is a homogeneous one. Other counsellors
have lead a number of groups mixed in both ages and sexes very
effectively. The author notes that she has been involved with
such mixed groups, but didn't see them as being as effective. 
This is an issue the reader will have to decide. Whether you
are involved in small groups as a leader, as a planner or a
member of church leadership in a body that is considering the
addition of a small group ministry, then "Small Group Bible
Studies" is required reading.
Christian Newsdesk
Christian Newsdesk
The MORNING STAR NEWSDESK contains stories and information from
around the world that may be of interest to the body of Christ. 
Reports come from both Christian and secular sources. If you
have a news item you would like to share with others, please
submit it!

================================================================

HISTORY REPEATING?

Neo-Nazi video games are flooding Germany, Austria and France,
poisoning the minds of thousands of impressionable children. 
These so called "games" have names like "Aryan Test", "Anti-Turk
Test" and "KZ Manager" ("KZ" is the German abbreviation for
concentration camp.) They teach hatred of Jews, Turks,
homosexuals and other groups. These videos have the latest
technology, including color graphics of swastikas, tortured
prisoners and pictures glorifying Adolph Hitler. A newspaper
poll conducted in Austria reported that 39 percent of Austria's
high school students are aware of these games and that 22
percent have played them.

One of the games has the player assume the role of commandant of
a death camp. The goal is to accumulate points, earned by
extracting gold from the teeth of victims and then selling their
remains for dog food. The game "Aryan Test" begins with a
flashing screen that says, "ARYAN TEST, ARYAN OR JEW? THAT IS
THE QUESTION." Players are asked to answer questions "in the
name of the Fuehrer of the great German Empire ... by order of
Dr. Joseph Goebbels." One question that the players must answer is:

"The Jews are: a) Our misfortune, b) Guilty of everything, c)
Us, ourselves"

Later, the player is given a choice on how remaining Jews will
be dealt with. The question is asked:

"Get rid of the rest by: a) ovens, b) making them into soft
soap, c) Dispatched by Air Mail to Israel."

United States political leaders have already written to French,
German and Austrian leaders urging them to take action against
the creators and distributors of these games. In addition,
Senator Alphonse D'Amato of New York has obtained assurances
from the U.S. Customs Department indicating that the agancy will
confiscate these games upon arrival, pending an official
investigation.

(From the Simon Wiesenthal Center)

================================================================

WAITING FOR MESSIAH ?

Even among Jews in Israel who do not believe in Jesus, there is
a feeling among many that the arrival of the Messiah grows near.
 Stories and advertisements concerning this issue are becomming
a regular occurence in papers such as the JERUSALEM POST. 
Certain groups have even taken out full page ads announcing the
soon arrival of Messiah. One of these ads, placed by Friends of
Chabad-Lubavitch contained the following interesting statements
on what the Messiah will do:

"He (the Messiah) reaches out to Jews everywhere in an effort to
bring them back to their heritage, the Torah. Morover, he is a
tireless champion of G-dly causes. Once he is successful in the
above, rebuilds the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, and returns the
Jewish people to their homeland, his identity as the Mashiach
(Messiah) will be certain. The Messianic Age will have begun
... Mashiach will stand on the roof of the Holy Temple and
proclaim, 'Humble ones: The time for your redemption has arrived!'"

(Could this future "Messiah" standing upon the Temple turn out
to be the false one of 2nd Thessalonians 2:4 and Matthew 24:15?
- Editor T.T.)

In a separate article, the JERUSALEM POST reported an abundance
of segulit snails washing up on the shores of Israel. According
to the Talmud, (Menahot 44a) these snails only appear once every
70 years. The blue coloring extracted from them is used to mark
certain religious items. Some Orthodox Jews believe the
reappearance to be a sign of the Messianic age. A number of
Jewish groups believe, for varying reasons, that 1992 will be
the year that reconstruction of the Temple begins.

================================================================

SIGN OF THE TIMES ON THE TUBE ...

If you haven't noticed, occult programs and commericals are
starting to become much more frequent. There are so many occult
900 numbers availably now, that a free 800 number can be called
for a listing. There are 900 numbers for "psychic advisors",
"tarot card readings" and much more. Programs which claim to
feature "psychic demonstrations" are no longer relegated to the
after midnight time slots. One such program, featuring several
"psychics" including the infamous Uri Geller, appeared on
television on a Sunday afternoon.

All sorts of cultic and anti-Christian doctrine is being laced
into children's cartoons these days. Saturday morning shows
such as "He-Man", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and even "Care
Bears" have shown their characters using "crystals" to tap into
the spiritual realm. A "Star Trek" cartoon had a devilish
looking character named Lucien who battled Captain Kirk and his
men. At the end of the story it was revealed that this
character's real name was Lucifer. The episode closed with a
lesson which taught:

1. The idea of an evil entity named Lucifer was only a religious myth.
2. That Lucifer represented a side of us that we all must accept.
3. That Lucifer wasn't so bad, and should be forgiven/accepted.

This October 4th, the "USA Network" is premiering a new series
called "Beyond Reality", which will feature recreations of
"real" supernatural occurences.

WATCH FOR THIS ONE: Public Broadcasting is also preparing a new
series for the "under-6 set", its first such series since
"Sesame Street". According to Mary Sceiford, head of childrens
programming for the CPB's Television Program Fund;

"We want the series to reflect all kinds of diversity. We're
not just talking about racial or ethnic diversity. We're
talking about gender, about age, about various degrees of
health, about varying family living styles."

================================================================

DIVERSITY ACCEPTANCE ?

Lotus Development Corporation of Cambridge, Massachusetts
recently became the first company in America to extend health
benefits to "spousal equivalents" of employees. This means the
homosexual live-in partners of employees may now receive these
company benefits, in the same way a wife or husband can. In 
addition, all Lotus corporate policies will replace the word
"spouse" with "spousal equivalent." This story was reported on 
CNN News as well as in newspapers across the country.

There is more to this story than what was reported in the media
however. Upon announcement of this new policy, an active
discussion arose over the company's internal computer network.
A small number of Christians who work for Lotus expressed their 
opinion that this new policy is wrong because it appears to
condone homosexual "marriages" and that it is immoral. These 
Christians, two of whom are involved with this ministry, were 
told that their opinions are homophobic (hostile toward 
homosexuals). The Zero Tolerance mandate from the Lotus 
"Diversity Appreciation Group" states that their employment 
can be terminated if they don't keep quiet and accept this policy.

("Make your choice ... accept the system or lose your job, your
salary and your ability to buy things!" Just how far away can
we be from Revelation 13:17? - Editor T.T.)

================================================================

WARNING FOR PASTORS

Gibbs & Craze attorneys from the Christian Law Association are
currently handling a case for a pastor who exempted out of
social security 17 years ago. The IRS is now questioning his
exemption and the pastor does not have a copy of the approved
form (Form 4361). A similar circumstance has occured
occasionally with churches which filed for exemption from
payment of social security taxes and have not retained an
approved form. (Form 8274) The IRS is increasingly questioning
such exemptions. Trying to prove either exemption without the
approved form on file is very difficult. If any pastors or
churches have elected exemption, they should find this form
immediately.

(From "The Briefcase", a publication of the Christian Law
Association)

================================================================

START SPREADING THE (GOOD) NEWS ...

"An Afternoon in the Park With Billy Graham", is the name given
to the upcoming rally on Sunday September 22, at 4 p.m on the
Great Lawn of New York City's Central Park. The rally, though
being held for only one day. will have an impact that will be
felt for a long time. More than 500 churches in the five
buroughs of New York City are organizing and supporting the
Rally. In addition, 300 Long Island churches and 800 New Jersey
churches are taking part in the Central Park meeting. Rally
organizers are counting on the thousands of trained counselors
from previous crusades in New York State to join the more than
5,000 counselors from the metropolitan New York churches to
provide guidance to inquirers at the Rally.

Nearly three million invitation pieces, produced in conjunction
with the American Tract Society, will be distributed at major
parades, festivals and public activities, preceding the Rally. 
Live radio simulcasts of the meeting will be aired in the
Korean, Chinese and Spanish languages. A souvenir booklet with
Scripture and "Steps to Peace With God", produced by the
American Bible Society, will be distributed to everyone who
attends the Rally.
Ministry and Product Information
Ministry and Product Information
The MINISTRY AND PRODUCT INFORMATION area is for the benefit of
all believers. MORNING STAR does not charge for these
advertisements.

=================================================================

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AMMI MINISTRY 
P.O. Box 27576 
Philadelphia PA. 19118
(215) 843-7964

CAMPUS CRUSADE FOR CHRIST INTERNATIONAL 
30012 Ivy Glenn Dr.
Suite 200 
Laguna Niguel CA 92677 
Tel. (714) 495-7383
Fax (714) 495-0760

CHOSEN PEOPLE MINISTRIES Inc. 
1300 Cross Beam Drive 
Charlotte, NC 28217-2834 
(704) 357-9000 
CANADA: Box 4400 
Sta. D 
Hamilton, Ont. L8V4L8 
(416) 545-9066

CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL 
P.O. Box 1813 
Jerusalem 91015 Israel
tel & fax 972-2-384406 
NOTE: The Editor in Chief of MORNING STAR is a U.S. distributor 
of material for CFI. 

Write to
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INTERNATIONAL BIBLE SOCIETY 
PO BOX 62970 
Colorado Springs CO 80962-2970 
(719) 488-9200

THE JESUS FILM PROJECT 
Arrowhead Springs 
2700 Little Mountain Dr. 
San Bernardino CA 92424-9989 

JESUS PEOPLE USA 
4707 N. Malden 
Chicago, IL 60640 
Editorial office: (312) 989-2080 
(An excellent resource for tips and techniques on witnessing 
and ministering to specific groups of people.)

JEWISH VOICE BROADCASTS INC. 
P.O. Box 6 
Phoenix, Arizona 85001
Publishers of "Jewish Voice Prophetic Magazine". 
(Annual cost $20, published monthly) 
Also, producers of JEWISH VOICE television program seen on 
cable networks CBN, LBN, and PTL as well as many regular stations.

JEWS FOR JESUS 
60 Haight St. 
San Francisco CA. 94102-5895
Publishers of "The Jews for Jesus Newsletter" (no charge)
Canadian Office: 
P.O Box 487
Station Z
Toronto, ON M5N2Z6

DICK AND KATHY JOHNSON (Wycliffe Bible Translators) 
Summer Institute of Linguistics 
P.O. Box 2270 
C.P.O. 1099 
Manila, Philippines

RESOURCES FOR CHRISTIAN COUNSELLING 
Word DMS 
PO Box 10853 
Des Moines IA 50336-0853

ZOLA LEVITT MINISTRIES INC. 
P.O. Box 12268 
Dallas Texas 75225
Publishers of "Levitt Letter" (no charge) 
Also producers of "Zola Levitt Presents" television show.

=================================================================

READING:

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY REVIEW (bi-monthly, $24 per year)
Subscription Services: 
P.O. Box 7026
Red Oak IA. 51591 
Toll free number: 1-800-678-5555

DECISION MAGAZINE ($7 annual, 11 issues per year) 
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association 
P.O. Box 779 
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440-0779

FOCUS ON THE FAMILY MAGAZINE 
Focus on the Family 
Pomona CA. 91799 (free upon request)

IN OTHER WORDS 
Newspaper of Wycliffe Bible Translators 
PO BOX 2727 
Huntington Beach CA 92647

The OMEGA LETTER (Peter LaLonde) ($30 annual, 11 issues per year) 
US: P.O. Box 1440 
Niagara Falls, NY 14302 
Canada: 4429 Queen St. 
Niagara Falls, Ont. L2E2L2

PARTNERS PRAYER GUIDE (Partner Ministries) 
1470 N. 4th St. 
PO BOX 15025 
San Jose CA. 95115-0025 (free guide to praying for different nations)

TODAY IN THE WORD (Moody Bible Institute) 
820 North La Salle Drive
Chicago Il. 60610 (free 3-month trial subscription)

WORLD CHALLENGE (David Wilkerson letter) 
(free newsletter, 17 issues per year) 
P.O. Box 260 
Lindale, Texas 75771 
(903)-963-8626

=================================================================

RESOURCES

CHRISTIAN BOOK DISTRIBUTORS 
P.O. Box 6000 
Peabody MA. 01961-6000
Customer Service: (508) 977-4550 
Membership and monthly cataog subscription; $3 per year

CHRISTIAN LAW ASSOCIATION (Publishers of "The Briefcase")
Subscription: P.O. Box 30 
Conneaut, Ohio 44030-0030 
Publisher's Office: (216) 593-3933 
Gibbs & Craze Law Firm (216) 599-8900

GREAT CHRISTIAN BOOKS 
229 S. Bridge St. 
PO BOX 8000 Elkton MD 21922-8000 ($5 membership fee) 

HERMENTEUTIKA Computer-Aided Bible Research Software 
PO BOX 98563 
Seattle WA 98198 
free catalog toll free number: 1-800-55BIBLE

INSTITUTE FOR RELIGIOUS RESEARCH 
1340 Monroe Ave NW
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505 
Phone: (616) 451-4562 
Fax: (616) 451-8907

KIRKBRIDE BIBLE COMPANY
Thompson Chain Reference Bible (5th Edition) 
NIV and KJVNEW Thompson Chain Reference Bible Companion
1-800-428-4385

ZONDERVAN PUBLISHING HOUSE 
Concordance NIV 
Atlas of the Bible
1-800-727-3480
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