The Anabaptist Voice
08/20/2008

 Dear friend in Christ,

       We pray our Heavenly Father is blessing you.  We know He is blessing us and guiding us always, but so much of the time, we are not aware of it.  Thanks be to the Lord our God.
       Our son Jim has been with us since Sunday night, and it is wonderful to have him.  Here is a photo of Michi, Jim and Naomi.  Michi and Jim went with Naomi to an appointment with her primary care doctor.  It was another blessing for us.  On the way back they stopped by to visit our former neighbor, Lorraine Fraser, who has moved to the Amber Light Retirement Community.  She is 89 years old and is a very bright and happy lady.  We had a wonderful time together.
      Ricky and Sylvia Scruggs and their three children came to visit on Tuesday evening and we had supper and church together.  Nicky, who is 11 years old, played the guitar for our opening song during our worship time and her father Ricky played for the closing song.  Every one of them is gifted and it was too short a time to fellowship.  Here is a photo of Ricky, Sylvia and their girls.
      On Saturday our dear friend Hyeok Flynt called and she and Michi talked for a long time and both of them were blessed and felt so close.  They prayed for each other.  She asked Michi if we found a place to live yet.  “No, we are still waiting for the Lord to show us,” was Michi’s answer.  Hyeok is still interested to live in community with us and we are glad.  She told Michi that she would cook for us and take care of us.  She works as a nurse’s aid, working hard and helping the patients with God’s love.  She prays for the patients and with the patients.  Sometimes she sings for the patient too.  Hyeok has received a beautiful voice from God and she uses it to praise the Lord.
       Naomi’s baby birds are getting big and starting to think about coming out of their nest box, as you can see in this photo.  Last Sunday morning Naomi told Michi that she woke up with the song, “Blessed be Your Name” in her mind.  She is still not in good health.  Her leg hurts where she cracked it almost two years ago and her stomach hurts after a meal.  She is also having problems being dizzy.  She was thinking about not going to church on Sunday but she went anyway.
       At the church, they started to sing the same song Naomi woke up with.  Even though her leg was hurting, she stood up and sang.  She whispered to her Mom that this was the song she woke up with:

          Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful,
          Where Your streams of abundance flow,
          Blessed be Your name.
          Blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place,
          Though I walk through the wilderness,
          Blessed be Your name.
          Blessed be Your name when the sun’s shining down on me,
          When the world’s all as it should be,
          Blessed be Your name.
      Thank you, Lord, for reminding us of Your love and what blessings we receive when we acknowledge You.

Serious Christians

       Serious Christians are those who place their trust in God, their heavenly Father.  As Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, His followers are not to worry about their life, their finances, their needs, but simply to trust in their heavenly Father.  It’s a matter of transferring out of the kingdom of the world (which is ruled by Satan) and into the kingdom of God (which is ruled by Jesus).  Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and He will take care of you.  (Mt 6:33)  But you must remember that to be in the kingdom of God you have to live according to the laws of the kingdom, the laws laid down by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus told His ministers that they are to teach their people to obey all of the commands that He gave.  (Mt 28:20)  He calls His people to be perfect, which means to live according to the will of God.  (Mt 5:48)  Only the people who are willing to do that will be saved.  (Mt 7:21)  What are the commands of Jesus?  An important question, isn’t it?

George Blaurock and Believer’s Baptism

       George Blaurock (1492-1529) was a former Roman Catholic priest who became the first person to be water baptized as an adult in the 16^th century.  (The Catholics and evangelicals of his day baptized infants.)  Blaurock came to Zürich to meet with the evangelicals led by Ulrich Zwingli concerning the Gospel but being disappointed in him turned to Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz, Anabaptists, to find the truth which he was seeking.
       On January 25, 1525, they were together when fear of the Lord struck them and they fell on their knees before the high God in Heaven and called upon Him as one who knows the heart and prayed Him to show them mercy.  For flesh and blood and human wisdom did not lead them to this act, because they knew what they would have to endure and pay for it.  (Both Felix Manz and George Blaurock would suffer horrible martyrdom because the Catholic governments and the evangelical governments forbid adult baptism under pain of death!)
       After the prayer George Blaurock arose and asked Conrad Grebel to baptize him with the true Christian baptism upon his faith and understanding and when he had knelt with such request and desire, Conrad baptized him, the first adult baptism.  When this had happened, the others likewise turned to George with the request that he baptize them, which he also did upon their request, and thus in the fear of God they committed themselves together to the name of the Lord, each confirmed the other to the service of the Gospel and began to teach and to keep the faith.
       This new life and power appeared on the first Sunday of February 1525 when Blaurock and a group of his followers went to the evangelical church in Zollikon and stopped the minister on his way to the pulpit with the question what he was going to do there.  When the preacher answered, "Preach the Word of God," Blaurock said, "Not you, but I am sent to preach.”  And proceeded to do so.  Soon afterward Manz, Blaurock, and all those who had been baptized, a total of 25 persons, were arrested and imprisoned in Zürich.
       Felix Manz was executed by drowning on 25 January 1527 as the first martyr of the Anabaptists in Zürich.  George Blaurock was captured in Austria, cruelly tortured on 24 August 1529 and was burned at the stake on 6 September 1529 in Tyrol.

What Baptism Is

       Ulrich Stadler (died 1540) was one of the early leaders of the Anabaptist movement.  Here is his teaching on what baptism is.
       “True baptism is the putting off of the old man, abandoning sin and the desires of the flesh and human planning, to live according to God's will, in obedience, becoming grafted into Him so that we join Him in death and resurrection, so that we become like Him.  Yes, in this we are baptized into one body in Christ, and one is member of another in spirit and in truth and in true and divine love.
       “In this we bear witness to Christ in truth, and in this we become purified through the washing with water in the Word, and are redeemed through the water of regeneration and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit which He pours out over us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we, made faithful and loving through this same grace, are heirs of the eternal Kingdom in hope.
       “Where the three signs are shown in truth, the two that are present and the third which is still to be fulfilled, as John shows, baptism brings us first the gifts and grace of the God, and of the Holy Spirit, and then true peace with God our heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ.  In this baptism, and with this baptism, we are made one with the true Christian Church, which is the community of saints and true believers.”

Disobedience Means Unbelief

       “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  (John 3:36)
       “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”  (Heb 3:18-19)
       Jesus said, “Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me.  He who loves Me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…  If anyone loves Me, he will obey My teaching.  My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.  He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching.”  (John 14:21-24, 14:15, 15:10)
       We ask God to fill us, dear friend, with the knowledge of His will, with spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that our manner of life may be worthy of the Lord and entirely pleasing to Him.  We pray that we may bear fruit in active goodness of every kind, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, so that we may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to our Father in heaven.  (Col. 1:9-12)

Your Anabaptist brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi and Naomi Murphy
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.