My dear readers,

(Excerpts from Building Firm Foundations, Dr SH Tow)

1. A Family altar in every home

A conspicuous feature of heathen Chinese culture is the prominent family altar. In their superstitious darkness these idol worshippers are mindful not to neglect or displease their deities. While we feel sorry for their ignorance we cannot help but admire their zeal.

Surveying the homes of Christians, conspicuous in most is the absence of a family altar. By this I do not mean a physical structure or a mounted crucifix, but the absence of regular daily Family Worship. The zeal of idol worshippers puts us to shame. Let every Christian home set up its family altar. Let there be Family Worship (FW) every day! Let me give you ten good reasons:

1. FW calls the family together daily to seek the Lord, "for them that honour me, I willhonour . . ." says the Lord. (1 Sam 2:30) What blessedness and what honour!

2. FW builds firm foundations upon Jesus Christ the Rock of our salvation and our eternal security, so that we shall neverfall.

3. FW strengthens bonds and sweetens family ties as nothing else can do.

4. FW is the best means of removing frictions and dissolving misunderstandings within the family.

5. FW equips children spiritually for the day when they leave the parental shelter to face the world on their own.

6. FW sheds abroad the love of God to guests visiting with the family.

7. FW complements the Pastor’s ministry and reinforces what hasbeen learntin Church.

8. FW in one home will encourage other Christians to also make a start in their home and come into a position of blessing. Let us provoke unto love and good works.

9. FW equips us for the tasks of each day and the problems of life which come our way.

10. FW gives spiritual strength to cope with life's disappointments and discouragements, and ensures victory over circumstances.

At Pentecost the new converts had FW daily,"from house to house … with gladness and singleness of heart" (Acts 2:46). King David said,"As for me, I will call upon God … Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice" (Ps 55:16, 17).

God waits to bless your home at Family Worship.

Start today! Don’t delay!

2. If the foundations be destroyed

The family is under attack. In many "progressive" communities, the battle is all but lost. Traditional values of marriageand home are assailed from every quarter by Satan's devices disguised as "women's lib", unisex philosophy, homosexual lifestyle, the doing-what-comes-naturally mentality of our present permissive age. The pressure against Christian homes mounts by the day.

Family fragmentation has assumed more than epidemic proportions. In America men change wives like cars – once every four years. Married couples hold together only as long as circumstances compel. Marriage is increasingly seen as an outdated and somewhat inconvenient licence for man and woman to live together respectably. Marriage or no marriage, many live together anyway.

In all this social revolution, the media have been more than ready to glamorise the trend while the establishment tacitly connives. Some decades ago it was co-ed cohabitation.This decade - homosexuality. Who is there to voice a protest? Governments and social agencies sense the decay but temporise with stop-gap measures. The established Church (having lost its way) offers only pious platitudes. High Churchmen encourage homosexuals by declaring that AIDs is not a God-sent punishment.

The very foundations of civilisation are being destroyed. Of society at large what can we say or do? The world had long ago killed God's prophets and crucified His Son. To the world we offer no new solution but the Gospel. Our present concern is not with the world, but with the believing Church of Jesus Christ. Believers are under pressure to conform and go with the crowd. The pressures are subtle and unremitting. They are well-nigh irresistible. The believer's home is under siege. What is theanswer?

The situation is serious but not hopeless. The night is darkest before the dawn. The current moral corruption is symptomatic of the end times, before our Lord's return. We know thatHe is in control, and He bids us "Occupy till I come." The forces of evil in the world may be overwhelming, but we arise to meet the challenge undaunted, because "Ye are of God … and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 Jn4:4).

God bless all readers.

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service,

Dr SH Tow, Sr Pastor