The Anabaptist Voice
04/30/2008

      Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  How are you?  We pray you are well under the wonderful love of our Lord.  It is getting rather warm here in northwest Tucson, and we have started to use the air-conditioner.  All of us are blessed with good health.  Praise God.
       Michi and Don toured the nearby park again, the Tohono Chul Park (shown here) which is overflowing with native desert plants with their spring-time flowers.  The tour lady said that there was a rattlesnake on the path earlier that day but we did not see any.  However, at home yesterday Don found another snake in our back yard, the second one this spring.  This one was non-poisonous, nearly 4 feet long, while the other was a poisonous rattlesnake.  He killed both, the first with someone to help but with the one yesterday he had no one to help so, using a broom, he managed to throw it over the six foot stone wall around the yard and then went out and killed it with the broom.
       The other day, Michi found a tiny baby bird on the sidewalk near our front door.  It was still alive, so she called Don.  It seemed that the baby fell from its nest.  Don brought a ladder and put the baby back in the nest.  We pray the parents would notice and take care of the baby.  Naomi said, “God knows.  Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of our Father.”
       Naomi finally finished her correspondence course on writing children’s stories.  She worked hard but she enjoyed it.  Now we are asking her to versify some Bible verses for us to sing.  She has done several songs, and we see that God has given this special gift to her.  Here is a photo of her and her cat and birds.  Also below is a photo of our friend Mario Cota who lives at the Wa’Ta-lus Kuatei Children’s Home in Mexico.  Please pray for him.
       We have been praying for God to speak to us and also praying that He opens our ears so that we can hear Him.  Last Monday Michi and Naomi again attended the ladies worship time at Linda Dowdle’s house.  It was a powerful time with the ladies praising God with all their might.  Even though Michi did not know some of the melodies, she could also worship Him, as His Spirit saturated the place.  During this time the Lord God spoke to Michi, saying, “Rest in My Glory.  I love you.”  Wow!  She was blessed!  It is wonderful to hear God’s voice, to know that He is close to you and that He loves you.
       David has returned from his trip to China and Japan.  He sent us a package of very long seaweed, about two feet long.  We have never seen anything like that.  He also sent us some Japanese postcards and candies.  Thank you, David.  Jim is back home in Vancouver, BC, after his trips to Kansas, Texas and California, helping colleges with their spring baseball training.

Developing Relationships

       Paul wrote:  “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.  We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.  No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”  (1 Cor 2:4-8)  We experienced some of this secret wisdom of God on Sunday morning at the CDO church meetings from the talk by AOG missionaries to Indonesia, Terry & LuLu Paschall.  They serve in a Moslem area where they have to preach Christianity by their actions and not by words, they’re not allowed to proselytize.  So they reach out to the Moslems by developing relationships, getting people to like and respect them by demonstrating the life of Jesus within them, the life of love.  John said, “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actionsand in truth…  God is love, those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.”  (1 John 3:18, 4:16)

How to Study the Bible

       The current Wednesday evening CDO church service sermons are on the subject of Bible study.  Here are some of our suggestions.  First decide why you want to study the Bible, what is your motivation?  Do you need it?  Do you want to be more like Jesus?  Your reasons for studying the Bible will largely determine what you get out of it.  Those who have a hunger and thirst for God (Psalm 63:1, Luke 6:21) will find love and joy in studying the Word of God.  Michi says, “When I am hungry, He feeds me.  When I am sad, He gives me peace and joy.  I need to know God Almighty.  I want to know Him more.  That is why I study the Bible.  God gives me joy.  I am a child of God.  Why can I say that?  Because Jesus said so, and it is written in the Bible.  As I learn more about the Almighty God and His love, my eyes are opened.  The more I learn about Him, the more my heart is filled with His wonderful love through the Holy Spirit.”
       Next decide what the Bible is to you.  If you have made it into an idol you probably shouldn’t continue reading here as it may cause you to become angry.  (One way to tell if you have made something into an idol, a false god, is your response when someone does not treat it with the respect that you think that it should have.)  Your motivation for studying the Bible and your view of the Bible will effect how you study.
       You will need to decide what part of the Bible is the most important.  Paul writes that all Scripture is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16) but not all Scripture is from God (1 Cor 7:10, 12, 14:32).  There is obviously a variation in the books of the Bible that reflects the person who wrote them.  The four Gospels reveal that very clearly, each writer seeing things a bit differently.  Those who claim to believe in a ‘flat’ Bible tend to say that it is all equally inspired, that it is all written by Jesus.  However, they don’t really believe that otherwise they wouldn’t have rejected some of the books that were in the Bible at the time of Jesus, such as the Book of Tobit.
       Our advice is to consider the four Gospels to be the most important books in the Bible and to understand all of the rest of the Bible in the light of the teachings of Christ in the Gospels.
       Another decision a Bible reader has to make is how to understand the contradictions found in the Bible.  Some are easy to resolve, such as Matthew using the term ‘kingdom of heaven’ whereas the other Gospel writers use the term ‘kingdom of God’, they are one and the same.  Some contradictions are noticeable but minor, such as the number of demoniacs of Gadarenes (1 or 2?), the number of blind men at Jericho calling to Jesus (1 or 2?).  However, some contradictions are major, such as you are to honor your father and mother in Mt 19:18 and you are to hate your father and mother in Luke 14:26 (which is obviously wrong, probably an early copyist error, it should be as told by Matthew in Mt 10:37).  You need to remember that the original writings, which are no longer in existence, were manually copied many times, with the corresponding copyists errors, which results in the varying Greek and Hebrew texts used today to translate the various Bibles into English.  Also you need to consider that some of the Greek words in the Bible were transliterated into English and not translated, such as Christ, mammon, baptize, etc.  There is obviously a reason for transliteration instead of translation, usually a theological reason.  Since Don and Michi speak several languages they are familiar with some of the difficulties and the personal opinions that affect translations, such as the Greek word ‘sozo’ used for ‘saved’ also can be translated as ‘healed’, the Greek word ‘hupakouo’ used for ‘belief’ can also be translated as ‘obey’.  Reading a Bible passage in different translations is a good idea.
       Basic to Bible study is the words of Jesus who said that the Holy Spirit will teach you everything.  (John 14:26)  He uses not only the written Bible but also His preachers and teachers throughout the centuries to do that.

Patriotism and Mammonism

       Are there similarities between patriotism and mammonism?  Are they both forms of idolatry?  Let’s examine both and see.  (If the following gets you angry, then you probably have made them into idols.)  The dictionary definition of patriotism is devotion to one’s country and the willingness to sacrifice one’s life and the lives of others for it.  Patriots publicly proclaim that their highest allegiance is to the state, above home and family.  Patriotism has ethical connotations:  it implies that the 'fatherland' (however defined) is a moral standard or moral value in itself.  Patriots tend to see treason as the opposite of patriotism.  A patriotic person supports the wars fought by its government and is willing to kill for it.  He does not believe in extending love and good will to every living person on this earth since he can be patriotic only towards his own country and people who believe like he does.
       A patriotic person can not have divided loyalties, they can not, for example, owe allegiance to both the United States and to Mexico.  George Bernard Shaw said, “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries.”  A patriotic person is a nationalist, upholding his country, right or wrong.  They reverence the flag, holding it up in the place of honor, like an object of worship.
        Now let’s compare a patriot with the Biblical description of a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.  A disciple’s allegiance is only to the Lord God.  They humbly reverence the cross, desiring to be like Jesus with love for all of mankind.  A disciple recognizes that the world and all of its governments are under the control of Satan.  (See Mt 4:8, Luke 4:5-6, John 12:31, 1 John 5:19.  Also 2 Cor 4:4, Luke 13:16,  Gal 1:4, Eph 6:12, Heb 2:14)  Disciples are to obey the government as Paul tells the disciples in Rome to obey the evil, pagan government of Rome (see Rom 13) even though that government, for entertainment, throws disciples to the lions in the sports arena.  However, there can be no question that obedience to God comes first, as Peter teaches in Acts 4:19 and 5:29.
       Disciples consider themselves to be aliens and strangers on earth and are looking for a better country, a heavenly one.  (Heb 11:13-16, 1 Peter 1:17, 2:11)  They are members of the Kingdom of God (John 3:3, 3:5), living under God’s rule, not the world’s; they love not the world or the things of the world (1 John 2:15-17), they love God above all things and they love their fellow man as they love themselves.  Disciples have been crucified to the world, dead to the world and its lures.  (Gal 6:14)  There does seem to be quite a bit of difference between a patriot and a disciple.
       The dictionary definition of mammonism is devotion to wealth.  Most people do not see themselves as greedy, which the Bible calls idolatry (Col 3:5), but do think that it is ok to seek after wealth.  However, Jesus is quite clear that His disciples can not do that.  He told them not to store up wealth on earth (Mt 6:19-34), that they are to sell their possessions (Luke 12:33) and if they don’t they are not His disciples (Luke 14:33).  We see in Acts 2:44-47 and Acts 4:32-5:11 that the disciples obeyed Him.
       The disciples of Jesus are to bear witness to Jesus (Acts 1:8) by their joyful rejection of both patriotism and mammonism, and not falling for the devil’s plea that a little patriotism and/or a little mammonism is ok.  It is interesting to note that if you say that patriotism is wrong for disciples, some people will become angry with you, but if you say that mammonism is wrong, no one will complain because they think that it is just natural to seek after wealth.
       Now, dear friend, may the Lord God strengthen your heart so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.  (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

Your brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi and Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639