From Faith to Faith 

January 2006
Senior Pastor: Dr. Carl W. Bogue
Assistant Pastors: Rev. Bruce Buchanan & Rev. James Kobb

33rd Annual March for Life in Washington D.C. Monday, January 22, 2006The Annual March for Life in Washington D.C. this year is scheduled for Monday, January 22, 2006. Anyone wishing more information may contact The Right to Life of Akron at (330)762-2785 or www.summitrtl.com or see Andy Bogue. There is also a flyer on the bulletin board in the vestibule. Andy has been a regular attender at this event for many years and would be glad to answer any questions you may have regarding this event.

 Door Greeter :Can you help? Have the blessing of meeting all brothers and sisters who come to worship at Faith Church. We need door greeters for next year. The 2006 Door Greeter sign up sheet is on the bulletin board in the vestibule. Please prayerfully consider helping out in this area.

Winter food drive: Beginning January 29^th the deacons will begin their “winter food drive”. A box will be placed in the vestibule for you to place your canned goods and non-perishable food items. The food collected will go to needs within our own congregation and any surplus may be given to local food banks. Anyone wishing to make a cash donation rather than food may do so...please see Deacon Carl Childers. The last day for the food collection box will be February 26th.

Flowers: if you wish to provide fresh flowers or live plants for the sanctuary please notify the church office at least one week prior to the Sunday you wish to brthe flowers in. You may talk to the secretary personally or call her or email her.

Please make sure you check with the church secretary for any conflicts. Also, please tell the church secretary if your flowers are for a special occasion or in memory of someone so we may place an appropriate note in the church bulletin.
 
When you bring your flowers or plants in please feel free to remove the church’s artificial arrangements already in the sanctuary and replace them with your own. The church’s arrangements may be placed in the furnace room or on top of the shelf above the coat rack in the vestibule.

Cancellations and changes for January

No WIC Quilt Class for January, February or March (resumes in April).

No Women’s Tues Evening Study on Church History (resumes Feb. 8th).

WIC Officers for 2006:

President:                                    Kelly Rastetter (2006)

President Elect:                           Kristi Kadlecek (2006)

(The President Elect will automatically take President’s office in 2007)

Vice President:                            Jennifer Stone (2006-2007)

Secretary:                                    Deborah Bogue (2006-2007)

Christian Education:                   Debra Kobb (2006-2007)

Treasurer:                                    Melinda Althuis (2006)

Missions Chairman:                    Fern Richards (2006)

Non-Elected WIC positions:

Shower Coordinator:                  Carol Tasseff

Prayer Chain Coordinator:          Dawn Duff

If you have a prayer request to place on the prayer chain beginning January 1^st please call or email Dawn Duff as she will be taking over the duties of Prayer Chain Coordinator.

We would like to officially welcome Donna Buchanan who was accepted into membership here at Faith Church by letter of transfer on December 3^rd.

Elijah Joel Duff, son of Dr. Joel and Mrs. Dawn Duff, was baptized November 27^th.

Beginning January 1^st, the adult Sunday School class will begin a new course of study led by Elder Dan Sevcik based on the book of Proverbs called “Rearing Covenant Children.”

Dear Faith Church Daryl and I want to thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers during these past few difficult months. You all mean so very much to us. My Dad is finally at peace and so are we. Thank you again. Daryl & Staci Woolf

Missionary Updates

Bill and Susan Carr – South Africa: Once again the Lord is working in powerful ways. Our intentions were to move the seminary to Bronkhorspruit in the distant future. About a month ago the pastor of the Eden church in Bronkhorspruit was offered a house if they wanted it, to be dismantled and moved to the church site. The Eden congregation has laid the floor and are reassembling the house, which will be our new seminary office. We might be able to move in as early as January 2006. There are plans to build additional office space and dormitories. The Carrs have a prayer request: Eleven of their degree students need scholarships to continue. The cost will be about $350 per student for the year. Thank you for standing with us and for making it possible for us to labor for you by your prayers and finances in a fruitful vineyard.

Bert & Nancy Williams – South Africa: (While we don’t financially support the Williams’ family many of you have met them when they were here.) We have arrived safely in South Africa and have been learning much of the language and Zulu culture. We are getting settled in and looking for a permanent residence. Please pray for our daughter Emily as she joins us from Dec. 14 thru Jan. 9^th. Please pray for our son Gregory that he will keep up with his school work. Also, please pray for us to find a place to live, courage to speak Zulu, wisdom to reach out assistance, grace in learning a new culture and spiritual growth. Our mailing address is (for now until we find a permanent residence): c/o Mukhanyo Theological College, P.O. Box 594, KwaMhlanga 1022, South Africa. You may email Bert at bwilliams@mtwafrica.org.

Preaching Schedule

Jan. 1:AM: “Profit and Loss in the New Year”; Mark 8:35-37

                          PM: Pastor James Kobb

Jan. 8:               AM: #123 “Revive Us Again”; Psalm 85

                          PM: Pastor Bruce Buchanan

Jan. 15:             AM: Pastor Bruce Buchanan PM: Pastor James Kobb

Jan. 22:             AM: “Something Stinks”; Mark 7:14-23

                          PM: #124 “A God unlike the ‘gods’”; Psalm 86

Jan. 29:             AM: “Pornography’s Plague”; Mark 7:21-23 

                          PM: #125 “City of God”; Psalm 87

Prayer Chain Updates

Dec. 8:              Staci Woolf’s father has been sent home with hospice care. He has been given a short time to live. Pastor Buchanan went to be with the family.

Dec. 13:            Ruth Beckley’s son passed away last Tues. in California. Please pray for comfort for Ruth and for his family.

Dec. 13:            Steve Totaro’s father is in the hospital with congestive heart failure. He will be having more testing. Pray for guidance for the doctors and for quick healing.

Dec. 13:          Bertha Horvath’s stepdaughter (Linda McKerick) is having a stint placed in her aortic valve tomorrow. Please pray that this is successful and that she will not require further, more complicated surgery.

Dec. 13:          Staci Woolf’s father passed away last night. Praise that Staci’s father was at home surrounded by his loved ones and seemed to respond to the gospel message when it was presented to him. Pray for Staci and Darryl and the family.

Dec. 13:          Karla Richard’s sister (Lora Morlan) is having surgery tomorrow to remove her thyroid glands. Doctors are not sure if this is cancer or not. Pray for guidance for the doctors and quick healing.

Dec. 13:          Elijah Duff is scheduled to have surgery today at Children’s Hospital. He has a thick muscle that surrounds the valve that lets food from his stomach into his small intestine. Please pray for a successful surgery so Elijah can eat and grow strong.

Dec. 15:          Praise! Elijah Duff is doing well and he will come home today.

Dec. 15:          Karla Richard’s sister, Lora, did well with her surgery. However she is in pain and has a fever. Please pray for quick healing.

Dec. 16:          Barb Imke would like to thank everyone for their prayers and concerns. She also asks for prayers for a woman named Amy who is having brain surgery and for her cousin Jim who has been diagnosed with cancer.

From the Pastor’s Study

Periodically, I like to remind our readers of the nonsense that frequently parades as Biblical scholarship. It shows up on the liberal side as well as the fundamentalist side. I recently received the following from an E-mail discussion about optimistic versus pessimistic versions of the future as seen Biblically. It is written by an old friend whom I have not seen in a long time, but who rises to the challenge of those who criticize his Biblical optimism. This was his response to a disgruntled reader.

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Bible Prophecy and the “Good Old Days”
by Gary DeMar

WorldNetDaily published my article “Why Pat Robertson is Wrong” yesterday. It dealt with Robertson’s claim that today’s earthquakes are signs of the soon coming of Christ. As usual, I received my share of hate mail. Words like “stupid,” “lukewarm,” and “heretical” were thrown about with careless ease. The nastiest letters I get usually come from people who believe we are living in the last days. When I set forth my position, answering them point by point, they tell me that they don’t want to debate; they just know I’m wrong. Here’s one example, written in all uppercase letters:

YOU KNOW IT DOESN’T TAKE A ROCKET SCIENTIST TO KNOW THIS WORLD IS IN TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE SHAPE. THE PEOPLE HAVE BECOME WICKED IN MY 62 YEARS, GOING FROM MY CHILDHOOD WHEN YOU COULD LEAVE YOUR DOORS OPEN DAY AND NIGHT AND NOT WORRY ABOUT ANYONE COMING IN THAT DIDN’T BELONG IN THAT HOUSE. WHEN CHILDREN COULD WALK TO THE CORNER GROCERY STORE AND BUY A COKE FOR 5 CENTS. TEENAGE GIRLS COULD WALK HOME FROM SCHOOL OR A GIRL FRIEND’S HOUSE AFTER DARK AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING FORCED BY SOME PERVERT INTO A CAR OR BEHIND A BUILDING TO BE RAPED AND KILLED. WHEN WE AS KIDS COULD PLAY DOLLS, JUMP THE ROPE, HOPSCOTCH, THE BOYS PLAYING WITH CARS OR MARBLES AND WE DREAMED TO BIG THINGS WHEN WE GREW UP, YES, THOSE WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS AND YOU KNOW
SOMETHING WE COULD STILL REACH THE AMERICAN DREAM AND HELP OUR NEIGHBORS AS WE REACHED IT. MR. DEMAR I DON'T KNOW HOW OLD YOU ARE. I DO KNOW YOU HAVE SHOWED HOW STUPID YOU ARE AND THAT YOU ARE TEACHING FALSE DOCTRINE FROM THE BIBLE OR MAYBE YOU TEACHING FALSE DOCTRINE FROM A FALSE BIBLE. EITHER WAY JESUS IS COMING VERY SOON. I’M NOT GOING TO QUOTE ANY SCRIPTURES. THERE ARE TOO MANY TO PROVE YOU WRONG. SATAN HAS YOU BOUND AND YOUR EYES BLINDED. I PRAY GOD WILL SEND THE HOLY SPIRIT TO YOU TO REVEAL YOU HAVE BEEN DECEIVED. I PRAY YOUR EYES WILL BE OPENED WIDE AND YOU WILL KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT WERE IN THE VERY LAST DAYS BEFORE OUR JESUS RETURNS.

I’m 55 years old. Everything I know about history prior to 1950 has come by way of books and discussions with people who were there. I’ve read how bad things were when hordes of soldiers raped and pillaged, when tyrants ruled by whim, when cheers went up from the crowds when another head dropped in the basket after Madame Guillotine did her work,when mass starvation was the consequence of the Russian Revolution, when people died of simple infections because antibiotics had not been discovered, when polio struck the healthy until Jonas Salk developed his vaccine, when the Black Death killed tens of millions of people.I could go on, but you get the picture.

You mention dolls and automobiles. My mother grew up without ever having a doll. She’s 83. There were no supermarkets in her day. You mention houses with doors and locks. Do you realize how modern it is even to own a home with indoor plumbing? The light bulb was invented in 1879. The first manned flight did not occur until 1903. There are people alive today who were alive when the Wilbur and Orville Wright took to the air. We landed a man on the moon in 1969. Today, a person can fly across the country in less than 5 hours and across the ocean in half a day. You wrote me an email that I received in seconds after you sent it. Cell phones are as common as toothbrushes. I can still remember party lines.

Did you see how the earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 40,000? The same magnitude of earthquake hit California a few years ago with only a few fatalities. What made the difference? The homes and other buildings in Afghanistan used archaic “good old days” construction techniques. The Galveston hurricane of 1900 killed 8000 people. Katrina killed a few hundred. What made the difference? We have technology that can track storms. You and I can turn on the Weather Channel and see the path of the eye of the storm. In 1900, there was no way to know how powerful a storm might be. Technology could have saved the lives of those caught in last year’s tsunami with a simple warning system. The government officials in these “good old days” regions of the world aren’t interested in such things because their worldview his little regard for human life.

Humorist P. J. O’Rourke says, “When you think of the good old days, think ‘dentistry.’” Gary North writes, “The greatest invention of the modern world is anesthetics. Prior to 1844, in preparation for an operation, you drank booze until you passed but——hopefully. Then the physician——‘sawbones,’ he was called——got started hacking away.” You can have the “good old days” of just a hundred years ago:

* The average life expectancy in America was 47.
* Only 14% of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.
* Only 8% of the homes had a telephone.
* A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11,
if you could get through.
* There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and only 144 miles of paved roads.
* The average wage in the U.S. was $0.22/hour.
* The average American worker made between $200––$400/year.
* A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000/year, a dentist $2,500/year, a veterinarian between $1,500––$4,000/year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000/year.
* More than 95% of all births in the U.S. took place at home.
* The five leading causes of death in the US were:
1. pneumonia and influenza
2. tuberculosis
3. diarrhea
4. heart disease
5. stroke
* Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.

If you wanted to travel around town, you traveled by horse. Do you have any idea what the streets were like when hundreds of horses defecated in the streets? During hot days, the manure would dry and the air would be filled with bacteria-laden dust that people would breathe. When it rained, pedestrians would have to traverse through manure sludge. The flu epidemic of 1918––1919 killed somewhere between 20 and 40 million people worldwide. We have ways of combating it today.

Some say the rise of Islam is a sign of the end. People thought the same thing in the 15th century. Read the opening paragraph to the Prologue of Samuel Eliot Morison’s biography on Christopher Columbus,
Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942):

At the end of the year 1492 most men in Western Europe felt exceedingly gloomy about the future. Christian civilization appeared to be shrinking in area and dividing into hostile units as its sphere contracted. For over a century there had been no important advance in natural science, and registration in the universities dwindled as the instruction they offered became increasingly jejune and lifeless. Institutions were decaying, well-meaning people were growing cynical or desperate, and many intelligent men, for want of something better to do, were endeavoring to escape the present through the study of the pagan past. Islam was now expanding at the expense of Christendom. . . . The Ottoman Turks, after snuffing out all that remained of the Byzantine Empire, had overrun most of Greece, Albania and Serbia; presently they would be hammering at the gates of Vienna.

Plug the year 2005 where 1492 appears in Morison’s quotation, and it sounds like today. Things looked bleak. The world changed in a day when Martin Luther posted a scrap of paper on a chapel door in 1517.

One man wrote to me about the rise of homosexuality, as if this is something new. Nonsense. Paul was dealing with it and a lot more in the first century (Rom. 1:24––27; 1 Cor. 6:9––11). You are rehearsing what prophetic prognosticators have been writing for nearly two millennia.

They all have one thing in common: They have all been wrong! I suggest that you pick up Francis X. Gumerlock’s The Day and the Hour: Christianity’s Perennial Fascination with Predicting the End of the World. It will show how you are reading history through the eyes of your limited 62 years.

You say Jesus is coming “very soon.” How many times have we heard that? Oswald J. Smith wrote Is the Antichrist At Hand? The following copy appeared on the cover of his book: “The fact that this book has run
swiftly into a number of large editions bears convincing testimony to its intrinsic worth. There are here portrayed startling indications of the approaching end of the present age from the spheres of demonology, politics and religion. No one can read this book without being impressed with the importance of the momentous days in which we are living.”

Sounds a lot like what you are claiming for today. Smith wrote the above in 1927! Nearly 80 years ago! The subtitle to the book is——“What of Mussolini?” That’s right. He used the same verses that people use today to “prove” that the end was near, Jesus was coming soon, and Mussolini was the antichrist. Smith admitted how foolish he had been after Mussolini met his just end.

The world is a mess because Christians have abandoned it. Christians turned back the tide of cannibalism, infanticide, abortion, homosexuality, and so many other evils over the centuries. But since the rapture doctrine, the Church has taken a back seat to evil making it a prophetic inevitability.

The issue is the Bible, not what you or I see in the world today. I’ve made a case from an appeal to the Bible. Show me where I am wrong from the Bible. What five-cent Cokes, marbles, and hopscotch have to do with the return of Jesus is a mystery to me.