The Anabaptist Voice

 Warm greetings to you, dear friend,

       It is not warm, but hot and dry over here in Tucson with the temperatures in the 105 to 110 range every day.  We are told that it is monsoon season now and we should have rain.  The pure blue sky sure is beautiful, but we are praying for rain.  Here is a photo of Naomi and her brother Jim having fun at the Special Touch camp.
       Our dear friend Shelly Brauer called from Maryland.  She lived with us for 8 years at our Fan Lake community in northeastern Washington state.  It was so wonderful to hear from her.  Although she told us that she is having more seizures and also she is using a walker, she sounded good.  Thank you, Lord, for Shelly’s gentle spirit.
       Don had two episodes of Atrial Fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm) this past week, one on Wednesday night and one on Saturday afternoon but he is doing well now.  Praise God.
       Naomi is still having stomach pain, yet she is slowly doing better.  She was at the emergency room of the hospital twice this past week, both times sent there by her doctor and both times spent about seven hours there.  Many people asked about her and told us they were praying for her.  Thank you, Lord. 
      The daily devotional for June 22 in “God Calling” reads; Go forward fearlessly.  Do not think about the Red Sea that lies ahead.  Be very sure that when you come to it the waters will part and you will pass over to your promised land of freedom.  We are learning to depend on our Father and rest in His love.
       Twelve year old Rebekah Flynt, who used to live with her family at our Fan Lake community, is home from the hospital and she is doing well.  It is wonderful to hear that.  Thank you, Lord.
       Sunday morning our new sister in the Lord, Kris Robertson came to the CDO church with Tony Brown who flew up from Florida for the weekend to visit with Kris.  After church they came to our house for lunch and fellowship.  Tony has attended Bible college and shared with us that he would like to be a missionary to help people in need and he is asking the Lord for direction.  He was to fly back to Florida that afternoon, so after we prayed we said, “Good bye.”
       Naomi was not quite well enough to go to the Sunday evening service at the CDO church, so Don and Michi went and received a wonderful surprise there.  Kris and Tony came to the evening service!  They told us that his plane was delayed, so he has an extra day to stay here!  Kris had such a happy face!
       At the service, the pastor preached that God has a plan for every one of us.  While we were listening to the talk, we thought about Tony.  After the service, Tony told us that every word the pastor said was God’s message directly for him.  Did God delay the plane just for Tony to hear the message from God?  And for Kris and Tony to have more time together?  They have known each other since childhood.  It is wonderful to know that God works wonders for us.

Happy Marriage

       Don and Michi want to talk now about a happy marriage.  How can a couple have a happy marriage?  God made us, Don and Michi, one and we are happy in the Lord.  We think that the secret to a happy marriage is for the couple to pray together and to play together.  Don is so good about telling Michi things like, “Your eyebrows are beautiful” or “Your nose is beautiful.”  This makes both of us laugh.  We also say to each other several times a day:  “I love you.”
       When we wake up in the morning we pray together.  Before we go to sleep at night we pray together.  After our noon meals we read a chapter from Psalms/Proverbs, sing a song and close with a prayer.  We have daily church in our home at 5 pm just before our evening meal where we learn about God’s Word and discuss it or what God is telling us about.  We start with prayer, a song and close with a song and prayer.  Don also prays before and after each meal. 
       Since Don was born again in 1975, we have had a family Bible study- worship time every day.  Before the children went to school, Don would lay hands on each one of them and prayed for them.
       While our oldest son Mike was in high school, he needed a car and so Michi prayed secretly to the Lord that He would tell Don to get a car for Mike.  A couple days later, Don told Michi, “I think we should get a car for Mike.”  What joy!  Mike remembers that very well.
       We are married for almost 50 years, that’s our wedding photo.  Don calls Michi his better half and Michi calls Don her better half, and they do not argue with that.  God made us one and gave us special gifts for each one of us, and the gifts God gave us help each other.  It is amazing how God prepared for us to be one with different gifts to make our needs met.  Praise God.
       A couple years ago Don was praying quietly, thanking God for his dear wife, Michi.  The Lord spoke to Don, telling him, “I gave her to you because I love you.”  Thank you, Lord!

What the Bible says about Marriage

       Jesus said:  “A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  So they are no longer two, but one.”  (Mk 10:7-8)
       “A perfect wife is the joy of her husband, he will live out the years of his life in peace.  A good wife is the best of portions, reserved for those who fear the Lord;  rich or poor, their hearts will be glad, their faces cheerful, whatever the season.”  (Ecclesiasticus 26:2-4)
       “A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.  He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.  A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping.  Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.  Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.  Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.”  (Proverbs 12:4, 18:22, 19:13-14, 21:9, 19)

       The Bible says:  “A woman should have a sign of authority on her head because of the angels.”  [She should wear a head covering to show the angels that she is under authority.]  (1 Cor 11:10)

       “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  (Ephesians 5:23, 28, 31, 33)

What is an "Anabaptist"?  

        The term “Anabaptist” describes a person or group of people whose goal is to love God above all things; they want to love God with all their mind, strength and soul.  They seek to love their neighbor as themselves.
       The key word is 'love'.  John teaches us that God is love and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.  So an Anabaptist is one who seeks to live in love and makes a covenant with God in the water baptism ceremony to live a life of love, love to God and love to God's people.
       The Catholics and Protestants of the 16th century called these people "Anabaptists" which meant people who are baptized again.  The Anabaptists are the ones who revived the belief in believer's baptism, rejecting the infant baptism of the Catholics and the Protestants.
       The Anabaptists called themselves "Brothers in Christ".  They seek the kingdom of God and try to reject the kingdom of the world and all of its false gods.
       Both Jesus and John teach us that those who love God will obey His commands.  Therefore an Anabaptist is one who will not swear an oath, resist an evil man, store up wealth on earth, or do any of the other activities that Jesus prohibited.
       Anabaptists are ‘red letter Christians’ because they hold that the words of Jesus are to be the light that all of the rest of the Bible is to be read by.  They seek to be pleasing to Jesus in that they tend to take His Words literally.  For example, when Jesus says God’s children are all brothers and we’re not to give titles to anyone (Mt 23:8-12), they try to obey that.
       The Anabaptists started in 1525 in Switzerland and because of their trying to live the lifestyle described above, both the Catholics and the Protestants persecuted them, killing thousands.  The devil is also trying to seduce the Anabaptists with the false teaching of ‘saved by grace’ that Augustine and Luther invented.  This teaching lures people into thinking that they can live like the world lives and still be saved because of the grace of God.  Yet Paul teaches us that God has saved us and called us to live a holy life by His grace.  (2 Tim 1:9)   Grace is the power to live a holy life, not an excuse to live a worldly life, as so many believe and as Luther taught with his “sin boldly” message.

Love One Another

       Jesus said, “Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  (John 13:34-35)
       Since, dear friend, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.  (Col. 3:1-4)
       Let us try to follow the Lord in love.

your Anabaptist brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org

Jesus said, "Do not resist an evil man."  (Mt 5:39)  He means do not resist evil with evil but respond with love, the Calvary type of love that Jesus demonstrated with His death on the cross.