the price of sin been involved in a fatal accident. ... as a contagious disease. it could be a...

Volume 14 Issue 4 July-Aug 2013“A litt

le child shall lead them...”

Isaiah 11:6

®

Rrrring! Rrrrring! The harsh ringing of the tele-phone awakens the sleeping family.

“Sir,” begins the voice on the other end, “This is the chief of police. We regret to inform you that your son has been involved in a fatal accident. When your son left his friend's party he was drunk and driving too fast. He couldn't take the curve. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but your son is dead.”

nd the Devil laughs.

A family is walking home from an afternoon at the neighbor-hood park. Their peaceful walk is abruptly ended as bullets start flying. When the gangster’s car speeds away, the mother lifts herself from the sidewalk. She calls out to her family only to find that her daughter is dead and her husband seriously wounded. They were victims of a drive-by

shooting. Rival gangsters were making a statement.And the Devil laughs.The Judge’s gavel falls and the divorce is final. After

fifteen years of having a mother and a father the family is now split apart. The children will have to take turns living with their parents. They no longer loved each oth-

er their parents had said. Mom wanted a career and Dad had a new girlfriend. The children would spend the school year with Mom. Summers and holidays they would go to Dad’s. The chil-

dren's hearts are broken and their lives torn apart.And the Devil laughs.Two siblings ages seven and five sit huddled in

a darkened corner of their one-bedroom apartment. They’ve had nothing to eat since morning. The cabi-

The Price of Sin

Have you ever noticed that when sitting in a circle of friends, that if someone be-gins to yawn, that it doesn’t take long, and someone else begins to yawn as well? Or has some-one ever stared at you in town, and you returned their stare with a smile, and they quickly responded with a smile?

Or maybe we have felt somewhat odd when we had a severe cold, accom-panied with coughing and sneezing and runny eyes when even our closest friends keep a respectful distance from

us. The reason is they are afraid they will catch what we are infected with. Somewhere in life they have picked up the understanding that colds can be contagious and will spread through contact. Therefore they keep a respect-ful distance.

People started to take extreme measures and allowed no contact with anyone in the time of the Yellow Fever

Epidemic. Anyone that was in-fected with such a fever, wasn’t even wanted on the streets, or other public places, for fear they would infect others.

Maybe you saw people in town some time ago, wearing a mask over their mouths and nose, when the bird flu was going around. Fear of catching such a flu motivated them to wear such a mask.

What does contagious mean? Let’s let Webster tell us the definition:

•Containing mischief that may be

The Shining LighT***

nets are empty. Mom can't go get any groceries because she sold her food stamps for drugs. Now Mom and her latest boyfriend are in the other room fighting. In fear, the siblings wait to see how badly Mom will be hurt. Will they have to call the ambulance again? Will the police take Mom to jail like last time? If they do who will the children live with this time?

And the Devil laughs.

These are not pretend h a p p e n i n g s , children. These things are happen-ing to hundreds of people across the world everyday! This is only a tiny picture of what really goes on in the world. I haven't even mentioned the school shootings, the homosexual “mar-riages,” the millions of babies being aborted, or the children your age sell-ing drugs. I haven't mentioned the children whose parents beat them, or the ones whose parents party every

night and sleep all day while the little ones have to fend for themselves. All these problems come from sin! The devil doesn’t show you this side of the picture when he tempts you. He o n l y wants you to

see the color-ful billboards, the laughing faces or the fleeting mo-ments of “fun.” Look deeper,

children! When the devil tempts

you with anything of the world, look at the price tag. Sin has an aw-ful cost you don’t want

to pay. The glimpse the devil gives you is the first link in a chain of sin that will bind you. Sin will take

you farther than you ever thought you would go. Sin

will cost you heartache, tears, and misery in this life and when this life is over it will cost eternity in hell. (Romans 6:23).

Children, you don’t have to get shot to know that it hurts. If you have ever seen anything that was shot you can tell by the hole the bullet left be-hind that it would be extremely pain-

ful and most likely it would be deadly. You don't have to try sin to know that it will hurt you. Look around you at all the hurting souls that are trapped in sin’s snares. Ask your parents or any of the dear saints who have been delivered from sin’s dreadful hold. They will tell you what it's really like out in the world of sin. They will tell you what the devil doesn't want you to see.

My prayer for you is that you would not be ignorant of the devil’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:11) and that sin would be exceeding sinful to you. (Romans 7:13). —Sis. Sara Friesen

THE SHINING LIGHTSubsidiary of The Gospel Trumpet

The Shining LightP.O. Box 1139

Greenville, OH 45331E-mail: [email protected]

Please direct correspondence to:

Editor: Sis. Christine Thilmony

The Shining Light is operated under the authority of the general ministerial

body of the Church of God.

Are You Contagious?

propagated; as contagious example.•That may be communicated from one to another, or

may excite like affections in others.•Containing or generating contagion; catching; that

may be communicated by contact, or by a subtil excreted matter; as a contagious disease. It could be a disease that is contagious, such as a cold or a flu, but far more serious things such as our behavior, desires, example, mind frame, attitudes, shallowness, lukewarmness, yes even our affec-tions can be contagious. Isn’t this much more serious, than you first thought? All caution needs to be exerted now, and extreme carefulness is advised after this point. You are no longer dealing with a body that fades away like a flower, but your eternity-bound soul is in-volved now!

Even the Bible supports this caution: “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” Proverbs 1:10. “Evil communications cor-rupt good manners.” 1 Corinthians 15:33.

Just as we distance ourselves from someone that is spreading a cold or a disease, so should we distance ourselves from some-one that is spreading a spiritually negative influence. Not everyone is necessarily always being the best example, has the best attitude about things, has the best desires. Spiritual contagion has worked for the devil before, and he’s hoping to work the same old trick on you, to make you lose out of your pres-ent spiritual well being. He’s hop-ing to do it in sly ways, so you’ll be well on your way with the spiritual flu before you’ll notice. He’s enticing you with the shallow crowd, with the lukewarm, with those that have the wrong attitude towards prayer, the teachers, to the rules of the home, hoping to permanently infect your soul. Although bad examples, wrong attitudes, lukewarmness, and shallow-ness may not sound that harmful, they are spiritual killers that have been successful with many people.

But is the negative side the only thing that “spreads”? If it is possible to turn hearts from good to evil, surely, it must be possible to turn evil to good.

“…your zeal hath provoked very many.” 2 Corinthians 9:2. These dear saints, were able to use their zeal for the Lord to provoke many! Provoking isn’t always bad.

Have you ever seen someone stand up to testify, preach, or exhort in the Holy Ghost and been provoked to good

works, prayer, study, and burden bearing? If so, you were infected by someone that was set on fire from heaven. What a wonderful reputation to have–to be contagious! What a prayer request that would make!

The Lord desires to use you as an instrument to spread spirituality, godliness, radical living, and holiness. What po-tential lies in you! All that your home, relatives, school, or neighborhood needs, is one child that is full of the contagion from the breezes of the heavenly world. We don’t have to wait to turn a certain age, or reach a certain level in life. Contagion doesn’t ask for qualities, talents, nor age. All it is asking for is availability!

When you see someone take their liberty in the Holy Ghost, maybe during private devo-tion, or in a service, it ought to be like a sword through your heart! It ought to infect you. If you are in a circle of friends who are just propagating foolishness, how about arising in the power of the Holy Ghost and spread-ing a different contagion, other than the one which was being spread? How about taking them by the hand, and starting to pray? And if they feel shy at first, and maybe aren’t exactly blessed with the “right” feeling for prayer, be encouraged, let contagion have its perfect way, they soon will get the “right” feeling.

During the pioneer days, a young sister was known to have so much of the presence of God, that people sit-ting in the front in the meeting house “felt” as she walked in without hav-ing to look back. She brought in the presence of the Lord.

Think of Peter. People sought to touch his shadow. His shadow was strong enough to have authority over a physical affliction. Think of Peter Cart-wright, who sought shelter from a severe storm, and found the shelter to be a dance hall. Instead of dancing, he turned the dances into a revival.

To win this world for Christ, to prepare them for the soon-coming of Christ, to point souls to the one Church, will take a contagious Christian. Don’t be fooled into believing that you are spreading nothing. Don’t think that you’ll just be a good, obedient child, and stay away from the bad. There is no neutral contagion! You are spreading something! Neu-tral contagion is evil contagion!

The answer to the title of this article is yes! Yes, you are contagious! The only question to settle now is what are you spreading? —Sis. Ellie Froese


To win this world for Christ,

to prepare them for the

soon-coming of Christ,

to point souls to the one Church,

will take a contagious Christian

6-8 Year-oldClass

Children’s MeetingsWest Milton, Ohio

2013



9-12 Year-old Class

Children’s MeetingsWest Milton, Ohio

2013

3-5 Year-old Class


Salvationfor the Youth

Is religion for young people and children? People often say that there are more interesting things to do than to get entangled in religion. They say that young people and children are not made for a religious life-style. They think they are supposed to have fun, amuse-ments, focus on having a career, and spend their time on some sport. They think children have too much energy to waste their time in something worthless or boring like religion Even young people laugh at us because of our way of living. People believe that we don’t know the value of life.

Young people and children are looking for satis-faction; they are looking for something that will make them happy and give them rest. Most young people spend their lives doing what their flesh tells them to do. If they desire to go somewhere, they’ll go; if they want to eat something, they’ll eat it. That’s why they are all rushing into the world and following the latest fashions and technology: “the lust of the flesh,” “the lust of the eyes,” and “the pride of the life.” But after they have finished all their searching, they find out that they have more trouble and sadness and sorrow and disappoint-ment than before. Many young people and children go to bed with tears in their eyes and with a desire to live no longer; they hope that each night might be the last one. They try to fill up their desire for happiness with things of this world, but fail because they do not look for the only thing that can really satisfy their souls. But thank God, there is very good news. There’s religion that really works! The Church of God has what our in-ner souls are longing for.

God is the only one that can really fill that empti-ness. God has a true religion. Salvation is the only thing that can satisfy every desire. But it must be true salva-tion. It cannot be just a form of piety or a profession. It must be a true experience of salvation, where one leaves behind all his sinful ways and lets the Savior guide his life. Living without true religion is living without any purpose.

It is fun to have true salvation deep in your heart. It is fun to be a real Christian. It feels so good to go to bed with a clear conscience. It feels so good to not feel the

load of sin pulling you to eternal perdition, to know that your sins are no longer remembered by God, and that your name is written in heaven.

People say that we have a very boring life. But it is not so. We have so much fun doing the Lord’s will. It is our life to work for God. We can hardly wait until we are finished school so we can go work in God’s mis-sion field. We go to services not because our parents make us, but because we love to go, and we want to hear God’s Word. We sing because we love the songs and love to express with our voices what we have ex-perienced inside. We dress the way we dress because we look for God’s favor. We go to our private schools because we do not want to get entangled in the wicked things of the world. We love the way we are, the way we comb our hair, the way we eat, the way we behave. We love the standards of the Church of God. We do things with a passion. It doesn’t even cross our minds to leave this place, to leave God, to leave our salvation.

I don’t know why people say that salvation is bor-ing, but if they would just try it, they would realize that it is really just the opposite. There are people in the world that tell us that we are missing a lot, but we are really missing nothing. All we are missing is heart-break, sleepless nights, and sorrows. We love our Sav-ior, and we love the Church of God.

Being a Christian is the right decision. God made us to bring Him glory. It was in His mind before the cre-ation of the world to use us to bring honor and glory to His name. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omni-present. God made the vast oceans, the splendid moun-tains, and the innumerable stars. He is a great God. He is worthy of our service. God the Father sent His Son to die as a ransom for us that we might be saved from the horrible wicked hands of the devil. But even if God would not have sent His Son, He would still be worthy of our service just because of who He is. A whole Shin-ing Light would not be nearly enough to tell the world how happy we are in serving God. God has made us the happiest, most beautiful young people. We love to be radical for God. —Sis. Melissa Perez (Age 18)

Baja California, Mexico

I have seen some pretty scary cats in pictures, but this cat was not in a picture. It was real! It showed up on our back porch one evening. It was a large, black, stray cat with long, dirty hair that was tangled and matted down. Its yellowish eyes slanted as it meowed loudly and persistently. It was not a piti-ful, nice meow, but a scratchy, annoying meow. The cat was skinny, scrawny, and down-right ugly. Just when I thought that, it yawned and I was surprised at how wide its mouth opened. I turned away in disgust. Anna, who stood beside me, had also noticed the cat. She immediately felt very sorry for it and brought out a bowl of milk for it to drink. Even though it was cold outside, Anna stayed outside, stroking and talking to it. She thought the cat was quite lovely. Of course it was back the next night and the next and became a regular visitor at our house. To make it look more decent, its fur got a good comb-ing and had its knots and gnarls cut out. Often I now saw Anna sit-ting outside holding, stroking, and even talking to her beloved cat. Soon she had a nice name for the cat and also made a very cozy bed for it. Since milk and leftovers didn’t seem to fill it enough, Anna now begged for me to buy it some cat food. I still did not care for the cat, but I cared a lot for Anna who was my little girl, and she was able to persuade me to buy it some. One time the cat got sick and couldn’t eat. She held it and cried and prayed over the cat just like I use to do over her when she got sick as a baby. I was somewhat sur-prised at how glad I was to see the cat get well.

With time I had changed my mind about the cat. It was not that it looked that much better now that it was fed and cleaned. It was because Anna liked and cared for it so much that I started caring for it. Besides, this cat reminded me of myself. It re-minded me of the way I use to look before I was saved and lived in sin, a good for nothing girl with

a dirty, sin-stained heart. Noth-ing was lovely or right about me–my crying wasn’t even right. When I got really hun-gry in my soul, longing for a clean, pure heart, I came to God sorrowing and repent-ing with tears. Was there any hope for such as I? Would a great, lofty God even hear my crying and see a little no-body? Yes!!! Do you know why? It’s because of the pre-cious blood of Jesus! His blood was the only thing that could pay for the penalty of sin. Because Jesus loved us so much that He was will-ing to pay the penalty for us,

He died and shed His blood for us. Because of this, God ac-

cepted me and took me in as He does everyone that comes to God in Jesus’ name.

How can we ever be thankful enough for Jesus dying for us! If He had not, God would have turned away from me just like I did from that poor stray cat. It would not have mattered how I would have cried and begged. Jesus changed all of that though. Because of His perfect sacrifice for us, God looked at us with mercy through His much-loved son. Are you thankful for Jesus’ blood?

Nothing but the Blood of Jesus

Sis. Martha Wiebe

the price of sin been involved in a fatal accident. ... as a contagious disease. it could be a...

Documents