Andrew Murray
And God Created Woman
Difference between Anabaptists and Evangelicals
Mysteries of the Kingdom of God
Anabaptist
Voice
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The Writings of Ulrich Stadler
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The
Anabaptist Voice
02/11/2009
Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in
Jesus.
Dear
Friends,
How are you? We pray you are well and happy under the love and grace of
our Heavenly Father. We are blessed and well. This morning it was unusually
cold, we had ice o
n
the water outside. The normal temperature here for February is 45 to 65
degrees.
Friday morning Michi’s dear friend Marlene Lambeth called just when Michi
was thinking about her. When Michi
called her last time, Marlene said, “I was just thinking about you and you
called.” She is a wonderful sister in the Lord, and somehow
our Heavenly Father makes it more special.
We received a wonderful letter with photos from our dear Gabe Burke. He
was with us at Fan Lake for several years as a foster child. Now he is married
and they have a happy family with a girl,
Chloe.
She is already 7 years old. It is such a joy to receive such wonderful letters
and pictures. Here is a
recent photo of Chloe with her snowman and another one with her parents visiting
us at Fan Lake to celebrate her first birthday.
February 4th was the birthday of our dear friend Shelly Brauer.
She also used to live with us at Fan Lake in Washington. When she moved to
Massachusetts, we lost in touch for a couple months but her brother Stevan
helped us so we could wish her a happy birthday. Naomi had a wonderful time
talking with her. Our Lord is wonderful.
February 12th is our granddaughter Eryn Murphy’s 17th
birthday. Happy Birthday, Eryn. We pray you will be guided by our Heavenly
Father and have a happy and blessed time. Above is a photo of Eryn visiting us
at Fan Lake some years ago and petting our pet baby
deer.
Michi called her younger brother Kinji Koyama, a retired atomic energy
scientist who used to work for the United N
ations
in Austria and now works for the Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and
Non-Proliferation in Japan. He has been studying hard for the talks that he
gives. Michi was blessed and happy to talk with him.
Michi
finishe
d
reading again the book
平和 の黙示
“Revelation of Shalom” written by her cousin Dr. Kenichi Kida, currently
president of the
Yamanashi Eiwa College in Japan,
www.y-eiwa.ac.jp/english/info/. (He obtained a BA in Christian studies from
Aoyama Gakuin
University, completed a Master's degree from Union Theological Seminary in New
York, obtained Ph.D from Munich University and served
as a professor
at Aoyama Gakuin University and then Rikkyo University.) His book is
written about the love of God shown in the Old Testament. God loves us and
wants to have
fellowship with us, but
most of
human beings ignore Him and live far away from Him.
Even so, His love is so great that He gave His only begotten Son to help us.
How could we thank Him? How could we be closer to Him to have fellowship with
the Almighty?
Lord, please open our eyes and ears, so that we can know You more and
follow You. We want to have fellowship with You. Thank you, Jesus, for opening
the Way for us. We are loved. Thank you, Lord.
The
Persecution of the 16th century Anabaptists
The 16th century Anabaptists were persecuted by the leaders of
the official state church because of their desire to live according to the
teachings of their Lord Jesus instead of living according to the teachings of
the official church for their region, whether Catholic or Protestant.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are
persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds
of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your
reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.” (Mt 5:10-12)
On June 25, 1530, the rulers and church leaders of Protestant Germany met
to draw up the Augsburg Confession of Faith which is still accepted by
the Lutheran church today. Here is part of that Confession (from the book “The
Secret of the Strength” by Peter Hoover):
"It is taught among us that all government in the world and all established
rule and laws were instituted and ordained by God for the sake of good order,
and that Christians may without sin occupy civil offices or serve as princes and
judges, render decisions and pass sentence according to imperial and other
existing laws, punish evildoers with the sword, engage in just wars, serve as
soldiers, buy and sell, take required oaths, possess property.
"Condemned here are the Anabaptists, who teach that none of
the things indicated above is Christian. Also condemned are those who teach
that Christian perfection requires the forsaking of house and home, wife and
child, and the renunciation of such activities as are mentioned above.
Actually, true perfection consists alone of proper fear of God and real faith in
God, for the Gospel does not teach an outward and temporal but an inward and
eternal mode of existence and righteousness of the heart."
Huldrych Zwingli wrote: "My struggle with the old church (Catholicism) was
child's play compared to my struggle with the Anabaptists."
John Calvin in his Brief Instruction to Arm Those of Good Faith Against
the Errors of the Anabaptists wrote: "These miserable
fanatics have no other goal than to put everything into disorder. . . . They
reveal themselves to be the enemies of God and of the human race. . . . If it
is not right for a Christian man to go to law with anyone to settle quarrels
regarding possessions, inheritance, and other matters, then I ask these good
teachers what will become of the world!"
Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and other 16th century Protestant leaders approved
the torturing and killing of thousands of the non-resistant Anabaptists who only
wanted to follow Jesus.
Living Sacrifices
The
apostle Paul wrote: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy,
to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your
spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world [by watching TV], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing
and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2)
When Don read this passage two weeks ago at the weekly Bible study in
Elizabeth Willott’s home, he added the words ‘by watching TV’ as shown above.
The following Sunday some of the Wednesday night people were at a member’s home
to watch the Super Bowl football game on TV. Towards the end of the game,
someone in the TV distribution system for the Tucson area switched the system
from showing the football game to showing a pornography film for about 30
seconds. This incident was reported in the news all over the nation and even
the world. “People in Tucson watched pornography during the football game!”
What is the lesson to be learned from this? What is our heavenly Father
trying to teach us about watching television?
Do
Not Love the World
The apostle John wrote: “Do not love the world or anything in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything
in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting
of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world
and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”
(1 John 2:15-17)
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)
your brother and sisters in Christ,
Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
"Do
not store up wealth on earth… You can not serve both God and mammon.”
(Mt 6:19)
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