Shortly after Jack, Murf the Surf, Murphy passed away I was interviewed by personnel representing Ron Howard’s Dream Works movie production company. During the latter years of his life, Murf and I were very close friends and we talked nearly every day. The movie company anticipated doing a documentary of his life and it is now finished and will begin showing on MGM+ (formerly Epix) on February 5.
The man that interviewed me wrote to inform me of its impending release yesterday. I wrote him back and thanked him for letting me know and then added, “I truly hope they left the salvation part of his story intact . . . “ He responded by saying, “Hi Bob, yes Murf tells his story about finding God and turning his life around. As you know, there are detractors who disagree with Murf and their voices are included as well, so we’ve covered the story from all angles.”
His “detractors” were primarily the police that investigated his crimes. They just do not believe that Murf came to know the Lord and that he feigned his salvation to get out of serving the rest of his life in prison. Nothing could be further from the truth. Murf loved Jesus with all his heart and spent the last 25 years of his life witnessing in prisons all over the world.
He was highly intelligent and talented beyond the pale. He led a fascinating life and was an accomplished artist, musician, Miami Beach lifeguard, world champion surfer, tennis teacher, dance instructor, and on and on. He could have been anything he desired but got hooked up with a bad element and turned to crime specializing in being a master jewel thief.
He was involved with the murder of two girls who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars in bearer bonds. He told me the story numerous times when it was just the two of us and he had absolutely no motivation to lie. The girls had stolen the bonds from their employer and had contacted Murf to fence them and he was using his contacts in the underworld to sell them. The girls were impatient and then made the tragic mistake of threatening to turn Murf and his two accomplices in the FBI. When they made the threat, he was driving the boat in which they were riding, and the girls were in the front and his two accomplices were in the back. He told me one guy was high on drugs and the next thing he knew he pulled out a pistol and shot one of the girls in the back of the head. He killed them both. Murf told me he did help try to hide the bodies, but he didn’t personally kill either of them.
Murf loved the limelight and was in the news all the time and he was the one who took the fall for the murders. He got sentenced to hundreds of years in prison. While in prison he became a follower of Jesus and became an exemplary inmate. Miraculously after having served 20 some-odd years he got an early release from prison.
This did not sit well with the police and one of them openly said if he ever came back to Miami, he would personally kill him. Murf deeply regretted the death of those two girls the entire time I knew him. He told me that he knew God had forgiven him for his part in it. But it was much more difficult to forgive himself. He knew that the blood of Christ covered ALL of his sins and was a new creature, some however, could not bring themselves to believe it.
I went into many prisons with him and watched him work tirelessly trying to get those hardened inmates to turn to Christ. He was highly successful because he knew what they were going through and that there was a better way. I would estimate that Murf was responsible for leading hundreds of thousands of inmates to the Lord, maybe over a million. If his conversion had not been real, why would he bother? He was already out of prison and as intelligent, charismatic, and articulate as he was could have gone on to other things that would have enriched him. Instead, he lived in poverty and dedicated his life, right up until his death, to serving God and helping other inmates find Jesus.
Many church-going non-Christians stubbornly refuse that someone’s life can change so dramatically. Indeed I have experienced that mindset from family and folks I knew at the time I was going down the wrong path myself.
All one must do is to go to the Bible. Look at the Apostle Paul who wrote 1/3 of the Bible. He was responsible for the deaths, beatings, and stoning of Christians until he met God. Look to Jesus’ own half-brother who wrote the Book of James. He didn’t believe until he saw Jesus resurrected. God can do anything He wants with anyone’s life – never forget that.
If you get a chance to watch this four-part series, know this, Murf’s detractors whether jealous inmates or hardened cops, don’t have a clue what Jack Roland Murphy accomplished for the Lord once he was saved. I have ZERO doubt that he is with Jesus and has been told well done.
His sins were forgiven. I look forward to joining him one day and hearing Jesus tell me the same. It reminds me of my favorite song of all time written by a wretched slave trader who no doubt was responsible for the deaths of many innocent men, women, and children, but God changed him, and he wrote this beautiful song:
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
This grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home
When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright, shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.