Welcome to the GMAF Newsletter! We pray it will encourage you in your Martial Arts and Outreach for Christ.
"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Jesus Christ
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armour of light."
The Apostle Paul
We are pleased to bring you the second installment of the testimony of Dr. Karl Marx, Grand Master of Keichu-Do Karate of Santa Maria, California. If you would like to write Dr. Marx, you may do so at the following address: Keichu-Do Outreach Ministry, 3530 Orcutt Rd., Santa Maria, California 93455. You may also e-mail Soke Marx. I'm sure he would enjoy hearing from other Christian martial artists. You may visit Dr. Marx's web site at http://www.oakknolls.com/keichumain.htm .
"Then when I gave up on wanting Things, and just wanted to serve God, as His servant my life changed. The things I had coveted meant nothing to me, God was first in my life. Then HE BLESSED me.
- My student Ryan Case won our Ministries first World Championship, in KATA and a 3rd in Grappling.
- God changed the hearts of some of the Worlds leading World Champions, and they inducted me, yes little old mister nobody into the USKA Black Belt Hall Of Fame. WOW! That has to be God because I am not even an Oriental stylist, there was no politics, and some on that board didn't even like me personally. All odds were against me getting nominated, let alone selected. That Had to be a Blessing from God.
- Then a martial arts magazine in India, "Karate Star" honored me by doing a feature story about Keichu-Do and a full cover picture of me and my son Victor. WOW! God gave me another blessing, I had been wanting for years, but I had to finally realize that I didn't really need it, and that what I did need was Jesus Christ as the center of my life, not publicity about myself. Then God gave it to me. Ha! All I had to do was want Christ more than personal fame. GOD is that WAY. Not the way Chi, or Do of the Oriental philosophy.
- It seems that the more faithful we are to our Abba (Father) the more faithful He is to us. The more I give the More He gives me back. Blessings after blessings. He has cured my physical problems so many times I lost count. Keeping me humble before His majestic self. He never lets me suffer long or more than I can stand, And I always learn a great deal about myself, others, and God Himself. Suffering does not mean God doesn't love us anymore. Being in pain or emotionally upset is not a sign of punishment, well at least not always. Sometimes we may need a little nudge, or perhaps a slight warning, or maybe even a kick in the seat of our pants to get our attention. God will do whatever He has to do, to bring us back into His will. Just when I thought there was no hope for me to reach any of my certain WANTS. HE gave ALL that I really NEEDED.
- I remember back in 1974, my family physician informed me that I had a form of arthritis, and according to the doctor if my relocation is correct, I was supposed to be in serious trouble. A life threatening problem? Well, I was told I had five years to live. Something to do with the muscles around my heart being affected to the point of becoming so lax that they would eventually not be strong enough to pump my heart in and out. Is that possible? Talk about a bummer. I didn't believe him, or it seems to me I would have been or should have been worried. I don't remember being very concerned. I do remember very vividly 1979. A lot of stress, graduate school, an un-faithful girl friend, teaching undergraduates, taking mid-term and final exams, wow! I really do not understand what happened, I recall losing consciousness and falling in the bath room and dropping over the bathtub, then slumping backwards and ending up between the tub and the toilet. Thank God someone was there who drove me to the hospital emergency room. What did I have? a heart attack? perhaps, but no permanent damage to my heart. About a month later, something else weird happened, I experienced what was considered a possible mild stroke.
Was it a Stroke? I didn't go to the hospital, and after the police left I told my graduate school class advisor, who was also my boss, that I would be at class as soon as the slight paralyses in my lip and left arm was gone. Was the old doctor right five years earlier? Did I really hear him say that my condition was one in which the muscles around my heart would become affected to the point of being to weak to push the heart back when it pumped outward? So what happens next? I'm living in sin with my girlfriend, she has an affair with another man. Do I kill anyone? no sir, I internalize the emotional stress, I swallow my pride, and wake up at 5:00am with an Anxiety Attack, plus a Panic Attack. Talk about a mess. I was so angry, but not killing someone else.
What I did to myself by not giving it up to God wasn't good for my own body. I internalized the anger, and exploded inward. I took the blow for nothing, because I wasn't intelligent enough to let go and let God deal with my problems. I was too busy living a sinful lifestyle.
Well, God in His Infinite wisdom had a plan for me."
Next Month: God's Plan for Soke Marx
MARTIAL ARTS IN MOVIES I've heard lots of discussion about the martial arts segments in the new Star Wars movie. I've heard even more about how Christians should deal with the issue of "The Force" and the supposed immaculate conception of Anakin Skywalker. How do you answer young people's questions about these and other issues? Please share your answers with Mark McGee and we'll publish some of them in the August GMAF Newsletter.
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES Here's a note from Sifu Guru Adam Spence about a training opportunity in October.
"Can you make it out to the Gathering in 1999. It's a big martial arts training weekend in Sacto hosted by Hanshi Bruce Juchnik. All the Grandmasters of many arts come. You meet all the legendary people. Better is that we are connected and plan on a strong Christian presence there for a testimony. We will also as we have in the past hold a Christian Martial Arts Networking meeting at the gathering. We are arranging that Hanshi give us a room to have the meeting. There we hope to meet our brothers across the states and network with other Christ centered MA Organizations to host a bunch of cool state and nationwide events. We'd love to have some of your people out. If you allow us to help, we get entry prices for a reduced price. Please pass this email to your group email and have them call me for additional info. The people who will be there are: Robert Bowles, Pete Rabino, Ming Lum, Kimo from Hawaii, Paul Yamaguchi, Felix Vasquez, Roberto Torres, Jaime Vasquez, Mike Young, Michael Depasquale Sr. and Jr., Bruce Juchnik, many, many others. We feel we will have more presence there than any other group. Please come and bring all your people. Let's have a great time and help each other, pray for each other and fellowship with each other, and we'll train a little as well. I'll get you the exact dates but it's in October 1999."
FELLOWSHIP NEWS The following are notes to us about Christian Martial Arts ministries. We appreciate your prayers for every GMAF member and their Gospel outreach.
"As Soke of Keichu-Do, I would like to share what I believe the Holy Spirit has put in my heart. We are taught in the Holy Bible to go out into all the world, and teach the good news, (that is the Gospel) to all living creatures. I have found a way by the Grace of God and the faithful friendship of a special God sent man who made us our web site, and manages it for us without cost to our ministry, to reach thousands even millions of people. If they will only have the brain power to read our web site they can at least say that they made a choice to receive or not to receive, God's Greatest gift to mankind, Jesus Christ.
We have been getting "hits" from all over the world at our website http://www.oakknolls.com/keichumain.htm. What we now need are computer savvy volunteers who will take the time to submit this site's URL to the popular search engines. That way, when someone enters "Christian Karate" or other keywords on our site, our site will pop up to minister and bless them. If you know of anyone in your sphere of influence who can do this for us, we would sure appreciate it."
"On Sunday, June 6, our class was asked to attend the regional conference of the Methodist churches held in Birmingham, Al. This year there were tables set up for different groups so that an exchange of ideas could occur between churches regarding ministries and outreach. We was proud to be asked to come. Most of the larger churches were there and most of them had more than one both. My church, Blountsville United Methodist, is a small rural church, and like Cinderella at the ball, I had my concern as to how we would fair.We had six kids and two adults come to help me. We set up on time and waited to see the reactions to the pictures, video, and flyers. This part of the conference was to last one and a half hours. I am pleased to report that in that time period there were 400 flyers handed out, along with an unknown number of cards. There was much interest."
Master Joseph Lumpkin Christian Hapkido Federation
"My friend Kelly who is now listening to gospel tapes etc. is helping me remodel the dojo. He is considering the Lord and salvation at this point. We are building the benches. Hanshi is providing me with up to 10 mirrors and something else: I was lloking for a residence in Sacramento and got lost. i then "happed" upon a set of 9x4 foot Japanese devider doors leaning against a garage. i stopped and asked about them and the woman said she'd sell them for........$50.00! She said she just needed milk for her children. I then was moved by the Lord, I knew he had brought us together. I told her i would give her $100.00 and that I wanted to train her children in the arts and in the Lord. She and her children agreed. The doors need to be modified to fit but are absolutely beautiful. They're from a governmental building at the state capitol Also, approximately 5-10 students have signed up since we started remodeling. One guy, a store clerk nexstore to the facility, saw my Koinonia shirt and stopped me. I thought he was going to ask me if I stole something. He asked about the shirt and asked if i knew where the organization was located. After the conversation, he informed nme that he and his family would join. Also someone donated 5 gallons of paint and some doornobs etc. All we need now is carpet and someone from our church is working on that. Please pray for that as it can get expensive. Also, another great martial arts kid came out of the closet from Hanshi's. His father is a huch Smith fan and he's a Christian as well. Another woman who is a private student of mine at Hanshi's has also been receptive to the Gospel. She too is listening to Gospel tapes and I think she will find the Lord very soon. So far we have 2 committed Blackbelts, 1 each male and female blackbelts who are praying about serving here, 1 brown belt (who's better than most black belts I've seen) who is considereing and praying about assisting, and 2 brown belts who may be saved inside of the next couple of weeks and would like to serve at the center (first things first of course - salvation first, service after prayer and a calling.)
God is blowing me away. It seems that the more I simply let go and press forward, He is showing me how He can completely pave the road. This is the way God moves when you finally decide to just be a follower. It brings to mind a scripture. Jesus our lord said " No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God", Luke 9:62. I used to envy stories of the Lord just creating miracles for those that went out to serve him. Now it's beginning to happen before my very eyes and I feel so honored to serve Him. "Why me?", I have to ask. Only by his grace. Please read this to your students if you think it might help them to understand just how God works in ones life when you finally realize that all we can do here is be a servant and wait on his specific calling in it's due time."
We want to welcome a new member to the Grace Martial Arts Fellowship!
Pastor Michael McClure teaches Pai Lum Kung fu/Chinese-Hawaiian Kempo in Delray Beach, Florida. He was a student of James Cravens, another Christian Martial Artist who taught at Tennessee Temple University. Pastor McClure has also studied Tai Chi and Wing Chun. He is Pastor of Westpark Baptist Church.
We appreciate your Fellowship in the Gospel. We are praying for you and your opportunities to serve Christ. Please let us know about ways GMAF can help you in your service. If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this monthly newsletter, please ask them to e-mail Mark McGee. We'll be glad to put them on our monthly mailing list.
If you would like to join Grace Martial Arts Fellowship ©, contact Mark McGee.
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