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The Anabaptist Voice
04/01/2009

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

Dear friends,

     How are you? Is it still cold where you are? We are having beautiful sunny weather and flowers are blooming all around us. They are all gifts from our Heavenly Father who loves us and gives us wonderful blessings. Here is a photo of a rose from our rose bush in our front yard. And also here is a photo of a lazy lizard sunning himself on our back patio.
     When Michi was in grade school, maybe it was 5^th or 6^th grade, there was an art class, the students would go outside to sketch whatever they liked. Maybe that was what made her interested in painting. One day she was out in the front yard and saw some roses blooming. She went to the flowers and intently watched and thought to herself how she could paint this beauty. She knew she could not do it and kept looking at it. Then she realized that they were made by God and they are alive. That was the first time she really realized that it is true that there is a God. There were no friends that spoke about the existence of God as they were mostly all Buddhists. Her family was the only ones to talk about God the Father and Jesus. She felt good. So now she enjoys all the wonderful creations of God and especially right now she is enjoying the strawberries that God made for us to enjoy. We wish our grandson Titus is here. He loves strawberries.
     We are all fine. Thank you, Lord, for taking care of us and blessing us. We enjoyed talking with our son Pat’s little children on the phone when they called to sing for us.
     Last Wednesday evening we attended the weekly Wednesday evening Vineyard small group meeting at Elizabeth Willott’s home. Keith Primm gave his testimony which was very unusual. The Bible study was on Matthew 5:33-37 about the Lord’s command to His followers not to swear an oath. Do you think that followers of the Lord Jesus should obey this command?   Jesus said that swearing oaths is of the devil and James said that it leads to condemnation. (James 5:12)
     Sunday morning we attended a Baptist church meeting near our home because we had received an invitation in the mail which said that they sing hymns in their meetings. We love to sing hymns so we went and were blessed with the singing.
     Our son Mike is on a Mexican cruise with his wife Arlene and daughter Eryn who is to attend a college in New Mexico this fall. Son Jim just finished writing his book titled “Inner Excellence: Finding the courage to be your best when it matters most”. It should be published this fall.
     A couple weeks ago Don started a discussion on the 2,195 member Hutterite Social Network (www.hutteritenetwork.com) that he titled "Jacob Hutter and Peter Riedemann". It has been very active, with 352 messages posted on it so far. The discussion is supposed to be about those early Hutterite leaders but it has turned into a heated discussion between the Once Saved Always Saved people (mostly ex-Hutterites) and those who do not accept that false teaching. Below is one of Don’s postings on that forum and also a posting from a Hutterite on the plan of salvation.
            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
Jesus said, "Do not store up wealth on earth… You can not serve both God and mammon.” (Mt 6:19)

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The Way I See Life
by Don Murphy
posted on the Hutterite Social Network on 03/30/09

     The way that I see life is to remember that Jesus said that unless a person becomes like a little child he will never enter the kingdom of God. (Matthew 18:3) That means to me that I am to remember that God loves me and He takes care of me as a father takes care of his little son. So I know that I am a child of God and brother with Jesus and the other children of God. I know that I am to love them all and lay down my earthly life for them.
     The holy apostle John wrote: "We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the Son of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:18-20)
     I know that God loves me therefore I want to please Him by doing His will. I want to please Jesus by living as He taught.
     I know that I can not please my Heavenly Father without the power of His Holy Spirit working within me. Therefore I seek the fullness of His Spirit.
     The holy apostle Paul wrote: "I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:17)
     We need the Holy Spirit's power so that we may know our heavenly Father better. Being a child of God means that I can rest secure in His love, in His care. However if I decide to walk out on Him, if I decide to live a worldly life and seek the worldly pleasures, then of course I am no longer His child, I am denying His love.
     The holy 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)
     This is the theology that I see in the early Hutterite leaders: Jacob Hutter, Peter Riedemann, Claus Felbinger, Peter Walpot, and Andreas Ehrenpreis. This is the way to eternal security, eternal salvation.

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The Plan of Salvation is Conditional
by a young Hutterite
posted on the Hutterite Social Network on 03/30/09

     If the New Testament teaches anything at all, it teaches that salvation is conditional. There are conditions to be met, or grace is not effective. Among these conditions are the six which follow. It is by minimizing and ignoring these conditions that men seek a streamlined, wide, easy way to heaven.

1. Salvation is conditional on repentance. Christ's first message was, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repentance always comes before conversion, and if it is lacking, there can be no new birth. (See Acts 2:38; 26:20).

2. Salvation is conditional on conversion or the new birth. Nothing could be stated more clearly than Jesus' words, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Also in the third chapter of John we read, "Except a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Conversion means change, a radical change in a person's life. This is not merely a decision, a spur-of-the-moment accepting of God's great gift. It is a birth. A birth is painful, yet it brings joy, for it is a passing into a new 1ife.

3. Salvation is conditional upon obedience. Jesus said, for whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister and mother.” If we are not obedient, we are not of God's family. John in his epistle wrote, "Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” Someone may object and say: "This makes salvation dependent upon good works.” In a sense it does, yes. If we would argue, it is with the Scriptures.
Certainly a man's faith brings works or it is not true faith. A good tree beareth good fruit, or it is not a good tree. Some things cannot be separated, and among them we find faith and good works. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:5) Faith without works is dead! (Read the second chapter of James.)

4. Salvation is conditional upon self-denial and cross bearing. Jesus said, "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he is of you that forsake not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple...” (See Luke 14.) "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt. 16:24).
If you will be perfect, go, sell what you have and come and follow me. (Matt. 19:21)

5. Salvation is of course conditional upon faith. In John 6 we read, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” And in Hebrews it is written, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for him that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

6. Salvation is conditional upon remaining true in the faith until death. To believe at one time, then depart from the faith, is of no value in eternity. The promise is only to those who are faithful. "But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved" (Matt. 24:13). The plan of salvation is not complicated or difficult to understand for those who are led by the Spirit of God. God's plan is perfect and complete, a plan of redemption for fallen mankind. To gloss over and cancel out commandments of the Bible in order to make the Gospel acceptable to worldly and carnal people— this would surely be taking away from the Word of God.
     What a contrast all this is to the streamlined, simplified, easy-payment, pick and choose gospel that is preached in many churches today! Using choice verses of scriptures to avoid involvement in such activities is not being honest with us or others. The tradition of plucking versus out of context and then interpreting the rest of the Bible to suit has a proud record traceable all the way back to John Calvin (1509-64) in the Reformation.
     “Enter in at the straight gate; for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many are that go in threat; Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few are that find it” ( Matthew 7: 13,14.)

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