Welcome to the November GMAF Newsletter! We pray it will encourage you in your Martial Arts and Outreach for Christ.
"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep your's also."
Jesus Christ
"You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance, persecutions, sufferings--what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil men and imposters will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."
The Apostle Paul
The following are questions and answers about developing a Martial Arts Outreach Program. We appreciate Master Ron Shively of "Karate for Christ" sharing his wisdom with us.
Yes. The study, as well as the "Philosophy" of Martial Arts is based upon an ancient precept that we readily recognize in our laws: The Right to Preserve Life, Limb, and/or Property, and the Pursuit of Happiness. There is no other type of "Philosophy" within the Martial Arts.
No. Many people would like to have you believe that the Martial Arts are a product of Zen Buddhist, Taoist, Asian and/or Eastern Philosophies. However, under closer scrutiny this attitude is due in part to:
Ignorance |Prejudice | European-Ethnic (Euro) Bias
Any argument that supports the idea that there is a religious or philosophical basis to the martial arts contrary to the doctrines of Christianity is absurd. Certain religious groups, denominations, as well as individuals, that object to the study of martial arts is due inpart to an abusive, controlling nature.
What do you mean by Euro-Ethnic Bias?
Many of us here in the U.S. are W.A.S.P's, or White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant's. Meaning, that we are a homogeneous group of people. We tend to isolate as well as segregate ourselves according to our place of ethnic origin, as well as according to our religious affiliation.
Bias, by definition, is anything that causes you or I to favor someone or something over someone or something else. Fortunately, none of us are born prejudice. We learn these things from our parents. Who in turn learned them from their parents. Bias or prejudice is usually the result of ignorance. And ignorance is inherently linked to fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of that which we cannot readily understand or control.
So then, all Fear is unhealthy or unnatural?
No, I didn't say that. There is a "healthy" kind of fear. The kind of fear that alerts us to danger. That warns us of possible threats. There is also a healthy kind of Biblical fear that refers to a divine reverence of God. This fear is what the Bible calls the beginning of wisdom. This isn't actually fear, but love. A selfless, giving, God-like love. Any other type of fear that causes us to hate, to distrust, to control, to dominate, or even to abuse one another is wrong. It is the true source of all that's evil, demonic, and occultic in nature, and in man. This is the worst kind of love. It's selfishness pure and simple. It's a Devil-like love.
Next Month: Differences between Eastern and Western Martial Arts
Master Ron Shively (5th Dan) is President of Yeshua Ministries, Ltd. He has more than 25 years of Martial Arts training, with belt and instructor rankings in T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Hsing-I Ch'uan, Pa-Kua Ch'ang, Northern & Southern Shaolin, as well as Chinese/Shaolin Kenpo Karate. Mr. Shively lives in Richmond, Virginia.
Lower-body warm-up exercises from Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan (Soo Bahk Do)
Grand Master Hwang Kee understood the importance of the lower body to Martial Arts. He developed powerful warm-up exercises to develop power from the waist down. Because of that development, Tang Soo Do is one of the most powerful kicking arts.
These are "examples" of Tang Soo Do warm-ups. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. The Tang Soo Do warm-up portion of your workout will take between 20 and 40 minutes (depending on age and condition), so you will not be able to do every exercise at every workout. The number of exercises available for each part of the body also offers a variety to keep the warm-up portion of your workout interesting and challenging. Because of the large number of lower-body warm-up exercises in Tang Soo Do, we will keep the description to a minimum. You can read more about Tang Soo Do stretching exercises at http://www.mindspring.com/~mamcgee/Tang_Soo_Do.stretch.html.
Next Month: Warm-up exercises from Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do
Please send your Training Tips to Mark McGee.
Yon Ch'uan Martial Arts
Yon Ch'uan Martial Arts translates as "Soft Fist, Cotton Over Steel." It is one of the original "Internal" Martial Arts. The principles came from Chen Hsi-I, a Taoist from the Hwa Shan mountain range in Shansi, China during the early part of the Sung dynasty. Yon Ch'uan is an ancient Chinese Temple-style meditation in movement. It comprises more than 500 sequenced, rounded, graceful, balanced movement patterns.
Yon Ch'uan was first known by the name "Lop Hop Pak Fat" (also spelled Liou He Ba Fah), which means "Six Combinations Eight Methods." The name was later changed to "Swimming Boxing," then "Twelve Movements of Exercise Before Birth." It was called "Idea Six Combination Boxing" and "Idea Spiritual Boxing" during the Ching Dynasty.
The late Grand Master John Chung Li, former Legacy Holder of Lop Hop Pak Fat, changed the name to Yon Ch'uan and Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan (after the mountain range where it originated). Master Li came to the United States in the late 60's to share the art with the American people he had come to love and admire. Master Li often spoke of his sincere appreciation to America for liberating Hong Kong from Japanese occupation during World War Two. Grand Master Chung Li was head of the Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Health Institute in China-town, Boston, Massachusetts for many years. He taught Yon Ch'uan at Yale, Harvard, MIT and Boston Universities. He also taught the scientific health attributes of Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan at the New England Medical Center. He instructed more than 700 seriously committed students while he lived in America. Grand Master Li passed the legacy of Yon Ch'uan and Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan to his top student, Master Robert Xavier. The Grand Master died a short time later.
Master Xavier is the Chief Instructor of Yon Ch'uan Martial Arts and Legacy Holder of Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan. Grand Master Li promoted Master Xavier to 8th Dan shortly before the Grand Master's death. Master Xavier is also one of only a few privileged students who received certification from Master Li in both the internal health care benefits of Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan and the 500+ elite internal movement vocabulary of the Yon Ch'uan self-defense system. Master Xavier lives and teaches in Palmetto, Florida.
Yon Ch'uan and Hwa-Yu T'ai-Chi Ch'uan combine relaxation in motion with precision breathing to stimulate the inner energies of the body, strengening the immune system, nervous system and regulating the metabolic processes. The Yon Ch'uan movement vocabulary increases the capability to utilize physical energy effectively and efficiently with the amount of least muscular resistance. The source of strength in the Yon Ch'uan internal system is derived from a relaxed posture of perfectly balanced whole body power connected in unison with springy energy spiraling through the physical body movement. The essential difference between meeting force with external strength as opposed to internal energy is when resisting force with force you engage the attacker on his or her terms. Whereas, when using SOFT internal energy, you deny both your attacker's expectations and the object of his or her attack: Yourself.
You can learn more about Yon Ch'uan Martial Arts at http://www.gmaf.org/yon-chuan.html.
Next Month: Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do
Please send information about your Martial Art and Style to Mark McGee.
We are pleased to announce that one of our Fellowship members has started the Christian Hapkido Federation! Master Joseph Lumpkin is a resident of Cleveland, Alabama. He is 43-years-old and has been training in Martial Arts since he was 16. His background is varied. He is a system analyst for InfoSystems, but has worked as a bail-bondsman, bounty hunter, newspaper reporter, as well as an engineer with Trinity Broadcast Network and Eternal Word Television Network. Joseph holds Black Belts in Hapkido, Shotokan Karate and Judo, as well as a brown belt in Aikido.
Master Lumpkin told GMAF why he started the Christian Hapkido Federation:
"We are a group, born of necessity and located in the bowels of the rural South. It is only now that the degradation of the family unit and the influx of gang activity has started to takes its toll in our protected part of the world. The fact we have waited this long to take up the cause means that we are late and have to work to catch up. After you see the result, the damage has been done, but it is not beyond repair. The problems here are the same as the larger cities some ten years ago. There is a growing number of broken homes, latch-key kids, as well as abuse and neglect within the homes due to the increased stress of making ends meet. There is little in the form of activity to keep the kids off the streets and out of trouble. Gangs and drugs are filling this void. Sound familiar?
I am a father of a four-year-old boy and a twenty-three year old girl. The worlds that these two will have grown up in will be as different as night and day as we have seen much decay in twenty years. I was unsure as to a solution of how to improve the odds for my son and the children in our community. The answer came in the form of a dear friend and student of mine. Danny Morton is a father of a five-year-old son, a fellow black belt, and an investigator with the Blount County Sheriffís Dept. He had just gotten back from a seminar on Homicide and Mass Murderers. The information he relayed to me put it all in perspective. The vast majority of these men grew up in a broken or dysfunctional home. Most lacked any father influence in their young lives and most had no involvement with group or sports activity. Instead of lamenting these obvious threads that were beginning to run through our county, we decided to do something about it. We designed a lesson flow that would bring together kids and father/authority figures in a Christian setting. Classes begin and end in prayer, and teach Christian principles throughout the course. Starting with stances and how every solid thing in life begins with a good foundation, we point them to the Rock of Christ. Hapkido uses soft blocks and we teach that a soft answer will turn away wrath. Breathing techniques are stressed as we teach that God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul, and so our breathing help us control our soul. It can help calm our anger and thus help us not to react in haste. Greater is he who controls himself than he who can take a city.
Although the founders of the Christian Hapkido Federation have black belts in other styles, as well as Hapkido, it was decided that we would choose Hapkido as the style of choice. This was in part due to the fact that within Hapkido one can find techniques that Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, and Aikido practitioners could identify with. This opened up a larger area of interest. It was also essential that the school be as free from denominationalism as possible. Although we are sponsored by the Blountsville United Methodist Church, our Christian thrust is very simple and non-denominational in nature. On the surface this may not seem to matter when kids are at risk, but there are many kids from Christian homes that suffer the same fate as the unchurched family. If the parents have strong beliefs they should not be allowed to interfere with the mission at hand: to turn the child back to the Lord. This approach offers less of a stumbling block.
Throughout all of this, there was the guiding hand of Ron Shively, who saw to it that we had the information and backing we needed to see the project through. Thanks to him, our foundation is recognized by Yeshua Ministries and Karate for Christ. It is off to a great start. There has been a heart-warming response from the community as they have come to see the need of this program. We have gotten free airtime on the local radio station and two free weeks of a quarter page ad in the local paper. We have had calls from commercial instructors in the area as to how they may join the Christian Hapkido Federation. We hope to establish criteria that would put Jesus in the local commercial Dojos in our county. Thus His word is spread and grows and gives hope."
Master Lumpkin also thanked Master Robert Xavier, another member of GMAF, for helping him begin the new Christian Martial Arts ministry. Master Lumpkin now has 100 students signed up for the new class! We congratulate Master Lumpkin and other members of the Christian Hapkido Federation. I know you will join me in praying for this new ministry. You may contact Master Lumpkin at lumpkinj@nacell.net.
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.
Grace Martial Arts Fellowship ©is a service of GraceLife(tm) Ministries
Taking God's Grace to the World!
"Some Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers."
Visit The GraceLife(tm) Menu Page for information and studies about the Gospel of the Grace of God.