The Anabaptist Voice 10

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The Anabaptist Voice
10/22/2008

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.

Dear friends,

       Grace and peace to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. The last time we wrote to you, it was cold but now it is back to normal with 80 to 90 degree temperatures. We hear the air conditioner going once in a while.
       Naomi is still having pains in her stomach, legs and arms, but she is trying to use her walker more. She is an overcomer, and we keep praying for her healing. We feel the Love of God our Father taking care of us.
       Our grandchildren in Canada, little Titus, Elizabeth Michiko and Paul, are loved by their parents and their Heavenly Father is watching over them with His wonderful Love. They call us on the phone and sing for us, they send us letters with the pictures they worked on. We are so glad for them. Here are some of what they made for us (with a little help from their mom).
        We had invited Tony and Krista Brown to stay with us while waiting for their apartment to become available. That sure was God’s idea and they are a blessing to us. Both of them are very busy, still they came again for our Saturday evening singing, and we praised God together in song, and we felt wonderful.
       We went to the Vineyard City Church last Sunday. It is a long way for us, but we will see where God our Father leads us. We want fellowship with the brothers and sisters in Lord. There were about a dozen brothers and sisters from the Congo in Africa in church. Note the hair style of the young Congolese girls setting in from of us. Someone must have spent hours braiding their hair.
       Michi and Naomi went to Linda Dowdle’s house for the three hour Monday morning ladies worship, and they were blessed. Michi felt the love of the Lord. There were two men present who are going on mission work in Mexico. Michi thought they were going to share, but it turned out that everything was arranged by the Almighty to bless them for their mission trip.

God Takes Good Care of Us

       Last week Tony Brown drove down to Douglas, Arizona, to start his new job there. He’d never been to Douglas before so his employer gave him a map to get there. Well, it turns out that the map was no good and when Tony got to Douglas early that morning while it was still dark, he was lost. Then he saw a truck stopped on the street with a man changing a flat tire. So Tony stopped to ask him directions. To his surprise the man was Tony’s new boss and of course all Tony had to do then was follow his new boss to the work site. God is taking care of Tony!

Two Angels Sent by God

       Last Saturday Don installed a second hard disk into his Dell 8200 computer. However the computer would not recognize the new drive and Don was trying to figure out the problem when the door bell rang and two young Jehovah Witnesses women were there. Don asked them (in jest) if they came to solve his computer problem. They of course came to tell us about their Jehovah Witness religion. Don invited them in and we spent some time talking with them. They seemed very serious and very open to seeking the Kingdom of God. We discussed the teachings of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:10, 12:7-11, 14:2, 4, and 14. Shortly after they left, the door bell rang again and there were two young men standing there. They said that their wives had told them about Don’s computer problem and they came to help. So these two young Jehovah Witnesses men got to work on Don’s computer and quickly solved the problem. Neither one works in computers but knew enough to solve the problem. Don thanked them and told them that they were angels sent by God to help Don. We think that the Lord arranged this whole thing so that we would get acquainted with these young people. Thank you, Lord.
       We have experienced an unusual number of similar happenings in the past few weeks; things happen that have obviously been arranged for us by our heavenly Father. It is wonderful to be in His loving care.

Shake the Dust off your Feet

       For the past three years we have been faithfully attending the Canyon Del Oro Assembly of God church meetings, usually 6 or 7 times a week (9 am Sunday school, 10:15 Sunday morning service, 12:30 pm Friends luncheon, 6 pm Sunday evening service, 6:30 am Monday morning prayer breakfast, 7 pm Wednesday evening service, 10 am Saturday prayer meeting). Last week, because of the serious disagreements that Don has with the CDO church leaders concerning the teaching of obedience to the commands of Jesus, we decided to stop attending there and find another church. (We were never members of the CDO church, just guests.)
       In our daily 5 pm church service at home we are reading through the Gospel of Matthew where we read that Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the Day of Judgment than for that town. I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” (Mt 10:14-16) We think that the Lord was speaking to us in these Bible verses.
      So we have shaken the dust of the CDO church off of our feet and on Sunday we attended for the first time a Vineyard church, the Vineyard City Church in Tucson. It is rather small, about 120 people there, but the worship service was very inspiring, not entertainment as some churches have. The people are friendly, they take a coffee break between the worship service and the preaching service. The pastor was absent and the youth pastor preached. He is a math teacher in a college and gave a message that he said was a summary of the whole Bible. It is to have a relationship with God and with His children. Don thought that the Lord God has arranged this teaching for him.
       As further evidence of the Lord God’s care and love for Don, the Lord spoke to us on Sunday from the Book of Psalms. We read through the Psalms a chapter a day after our noon meal. On Sunday we read Psalm 109, a psalm of David, which says “O God, whom I praise, do not remain silent, for wicked and deceitful men have opened their mouths against me; they have spoken against me with lying tongues. With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause. In return for my friendship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer. They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.” (Ps 109:1-5) We think that the Lord is speaking to us in these Bible verses. The Lord had arranged ahead of time that we would be reading these verses and those above about shaking the dust off of your feet at this time.

The Persecution of the 16^th Century Anabaptists

       The early Anabaptists were persecuted by the Protestants because of their insistence on following the teachings of the Lord Jesus. In those days the Protestant leaders could have those troublesome Anabaptists put into prison, tortured and burned at the stake. As Jesus said, they thought that they were doing God a favor by their persecutions of the ‘heretics’.
       Peter Riedemann, in his confession of faith written about 1540 while in prison for his faith, stated: “Thus we hope, in spite of what the so-called Christians do, that their fury and persecution will not scare us away from the work that the Lord our God has begun in us through Christ. Instead we hope that God will complete it to His praise and give us richly of His manifold divine grace. For we try earnestly and with all our power to devote ourselves to do what agrees with His will.”
       King David was persecuted by his so called friends, Jesus was persecuted by the religious leaders of His day and the Anabaptists were persecuted by the religious leaders of their day. Like Jesus on the cross, we need to pray for our enemies, return love for evil and blessings for curses. We must forgive if we expect our heavenly Father to forgive us. So we pray for the CDO church leaders and members, that the Lord God will draw them close to Him.
       We pray that out of His glorious riches the Lord God may strengthen you, dear friend, with power through his Spirit in your inner being, with Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith. (Eph. 3:16-17)

Your brother and sisters in Christ,

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

"This is how we love God - by obeying His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? He who honors Jesus as the Son of God." (1 John 5:3-5)

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