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were no Sunday masses to attend, what harm could come from read ing the Bible and praying togeth er? How simple and clear became the divine way of salvation as Ed heard and then read for himself the words of Jesus. Ed returned home in Septem ber a new creature in Christ but still an active Roman Catholic. His love for the New Testament which Hutch had given him soon was noticed by his family. They were upset by Ed’s new religious concepts. Graduating from high school, Ed followed his electrical inter ests and began training at a trade school in Chicago. He rented a tiny apartment and threw all his spare time into the study of the new Douay Bible he bought. Murphy had always supposed that the average layman would have great difficulty reading the Bible. But he discovered that the Holy Spirit illumined the pages for him. “. . . Your own body does not belong to you, For God has bought you with a great price . . .” (I Cor. 6:19, 20, Living Letters) was the portion the divine light shone on one day. For the first time Ed Murphy realized that by rights his life belonged to the Lord. The electri cal career . . . was that God’s plan for his life? “0 Lord,” prayed the young student, “until now I did not know that I belonged only to You. Father, I am willing to do what ever You wish. Please show me Your will.” Almost immed i a t e l y , God showed him. Out of curiosity, Ed went to a Protestant church serv ice with a friend. Neither the ser mon nor the pastor impressed Murphy much. His friend left Ed waiting in the foyer for a few minutes after the service. A lit erature table stood nearby. Ed leafed through the magazines and pamphlets, picked up one, and took it home. Carefully reading the booklet that night, Ed was stirred by the
"Dear J o h n LETTER
b y D ick H illis
M y d a u g h t e r Margaret Anne graduated from Culter Aca demy in Los Angeles that weekend. At the baccalaureate service, I had eyes only for my sweet-sixteen. The ceremonies seemed interminable that muggy June afternoon. The speaker was an angular man with a large forehead, gaunt cheeks, and a lopsided chin, not handsome but magnetic, probably not yet thirty years old. His words soon captured my thoughts. He spoke with power, with the authority of a man who knew the Scriptures, with the controlled energy of one whose experience of God was deep. As I listened to Ed Murphy that hot Sunday af ternoon, the conviction formed in my mind: Murphy belongs in South America. I flipped over my program and reread the “blurb” on the Rever end Edward F. Murphy: Raised in the Catholic church; Biola graduate; a pastor in a Los An geles suburb. “Man,” I told him as we shook hands, “that was a great message, but I wish you had preached it in South America. I believe God wants you on the foreign mission field.” “Dr. Hillis,” Ed replied, “I’ve been praying for months that God would show me exactly where He wants me. I am ready to go as soon as I know where and with what mission.” We made an appointment to talk about it that week. In my office Ed told me the amazing story of his missionary calling. The name “Murphy” says Irish Catholic. Ed Murphy grew up in
a Roman Catholic church and was a devout, clean-living, loyal son of the church. “Was it your conversion that made you leave Roman Catholic ism?” I asked. “No. Oddly enough, Dr. Hillis, my discovery that God wanted me to be a missionary forced me to break with my church. “You see, Dr. Hillis, I realized that as a missionary I would have to preach salvation through Jesus Christ, not salvation through a church or its sacraments. Shall I tell you how I myself found sal vation ?” I nodded and Mr. Murphy be gan his story. In a summer forestry camp where he was working to save money for college, seventeen- year-old Ed looked for a friend whose conversation and conduct were clean. Soon he and Warner “Hutch” Hutchison teamed up. “Ed, are you a Christian?” Hutch asked as the two young men cleared a fire trail together one day. “Why sure! I’m a Roman Cath olic,” replied Ed in surprise. “I know that,” said his friend, “but are you a Christian?” Hutch went on to explain that a Christian has experienced per sonally the salvation Jesus came to provide. Murphy cut him short. How could a Protestant separated from the true church, understand the things of God? But deeply-religious Murphy saw no reason why he should not have simple worship services with Protestant Hutch out among the California redwoods. Since there
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THE KIN G 'S BUSINESS
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