The Anabaptists:
living as disciples
in the midst of tribulation

500 years ago, Christ again called forth a people for His own name, a people who would take up the cross daily and follow their Lord, loving not their lives even unto death. Persecuted by Protestants and Catholics alike, they did not leave us libraries of theology written with pen and ink, but the testimony of the transforming power of the gospel written on hearts of flesh.

They found little need of writing commentaries and books of systematic theology, their faith had already been delivered once for all unto the saints in the New Testament. They refused to be content with imputed righteousness but sought to daily live a life of righteousness in Christ by the grace of God through faith.

Today, as we face the coming fires of tribulation, it would serve us well to look to our brethren who have have already come through the fire and won the victory. The path we must walk is not a trail we will blaze, but a well worn path marked with the blood of the saints. Even now they whisper in our ears, "Do not fear. The Lord is with you, as He was with us."

Who were those the world labeled Anabaptists? First of all, this is the name the world gave them, as it earlier named the disciples of Jesus, "Christians." As with the first disciples, the anabaptists most often used the term brethren, though sometimes refering to themselves as New Testament Christians. Since men of the world cannot behold the kingdom of God and regard the things of the Spirit as foolishness, they look for the origins of the Anabaptists in other groups in the past. But true Christians are not birthed by men but by the Spirit of God, and the seed of the true Church is not the thoughts, theologies, and organizations of men but the Word of God.

This then is the origin of those called anabaptists: "The seed is the word of God... And the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." This is the origin of all saints. The Anabaptists heard the Word and held it fast, bearing fruit with perseverence. They were not the children of the Reformation, but the children of God. While some followed Luther, some Zwingli, some Thomas Müntzer and the Zwickau prophets, and many helt to the Pope; the disciples of Jesus clung to Christ and His Word. Having been translated from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God, they had little regard for the treasures and honors of the world. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, they endured shame, persecution, and death, fixing their eyes upon their Lord who bid them "come, follow Me."

Why were these simple, peaceful, righteous people persecuted mercilessly by Protestant and Pope alike?

Little children, let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.

Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:7-13 NAS)

Brothers and sisters, if we follow Jesus with all our hearts and cling to Him alone as those who went before us, we too will be persecuted by the world and its churches. It is instructive to hear what some of the enemies of the brethren were saying:

I frankly confess that in most [Anabaptists] there is in evidence piety and consecration and indeed a zeal which is beyond any suspicion of insincerity. For what earthly advantage could they hope to win by enduring exile, torture, and unspeakable punishment of the flesh? I testify before God that I cannot say that on account of a lack of wisdom they are somewhat indifferent toward earthly things, but rather from divine motives. -Capito 1527

"every Anabaptist and rebaptized person of either sex should be put to death by fire, sword, or some other way." -Diet of Spires A.D.1529

"If you investigate their life and conduct, it seems at first contact irreproachable, pious, unassuming, attractive, yea, above this world. Even those who are inclined to be critical will say that their lives are excellent." -Zwingli A.D.1527

Those who unite with them will by their ministers be received into their church by rebaptism and repentance and newness of life. They henceforth lead their lives under a semblance of a quite spiritual conduct. They denounce covetousness, pride, profanity, the lewd conversation and immorality of the world, drinking and gluttony. In short, their hypocrisy is great and manifold. -Bullinger

"the people were running after them as though they were living saints." -Bullinger A.D.1531

The Anabaptists have the semblance of outward piety to a far greater degree than we and all the churches which unitedly with us confess Christ, and they avoid offensive sins which are very common among us. -Preachers of the Canton of Berne A.D.1532

Among the existing heretical sects there is none which in appearance leads a more modest or pious life than the Anabaptist. As concerns their outward public life they are irreproachable. No lying, deception, swearing, strife, harsh language, no intemperate eating and drinking, no outward personal display, is found among them, but humility, patience, uprightness, neatness, honesty, temperance, straightforwardness in such measure that one would suppose that they had the Holy spirit of God. -Roman Catholic theologian, Franz Agricola, in his book of 1582, Against the Terrible Errors of the Anabaptists

** the following is an excerpt from Mennonites in Europe from Rod and Staff Publishers

Anabaptism was made a capital crime. Prices were set on the heads of Anabaptists. To give them food and shelter was a made a crime. In Roman Catholic states even those who recanted were often executed. Generally, however, those who abjured their faith were pardon except in Bavaria and, for a time, in Austria and also in the Netherlands. The duke of Bavaria, in 1527, gave orders that the imprisoned Anabaptists should be burned at the stake, unless they recanted, in which case they should be beheaded. King Ferdinand I of Austria issued a number of severe decrees against them, the first general mandate being dated August 28, 1527. In Catholic countries the Anabaptists, as a rule, were executed by burning at the stake, in Lutheran and Zwinglian states generally by beheading or drowning.

Emperor Charles V of Germany issued a general mandate against the Anabaptists on January 4, 1528, which was read from the pulpits of all cities, towns, and villages, decreeing that not only those who had received baptism but all parents who did not have their children baptized in good time were guilty of a criminal offense deserving death. Within a few years a number of imperial decrees followed. Not only were the Anabaptists to be executed by fire, but their dwellings also should be burned, unless they were located in towns or cities in which case they should be raced to the ground. In certain provinces their houses were not destroyed by confiscated. Speaking of northern Germany Menno Simons relates that in 1546 a small house of four rooms was confiscated because the owner had rented it to Menno and his family. In the Tyrol even the houses ion which an Anabaptist had been given temporary lodging were to be destroyed.

Thousands sealed their faith with their blood. When all efforts to half the movement proved vain, the authorities resorted to desperate measures. Armed executioners and mounted soldiers were sent in companies through the land to hunt down the Anabaptists and kill them on the spot without trial or sentence. The old method of pronouncing sentence on each individual dissenter proved inadequate to exterminate this faith.

In the first week of Lent, 1528, while Hubmaier was in prison at Kreuzenstein, King Ferdinand of Austria commissioned a company of executioners to root out the Anabaptist faith in his lands. Those who were overtaken in the highways of fields were killed with the sword, others were dragged out of their houses and hanged on the door posts. Most of them had gone into hiding in the woods and mountains. In a forest near Lengbach seventeen were put to death.

In the province of Swabia, in South Germany, four hundred mounted soldiers were, in 1528, sent out to put to death all Anabaptists on whom they could lay hands. Somewhat later the number of soldiers so commissioned was increased to eight hundred and then to one thousand. In various provinces an imperial provost marshal by the name of Berthold Aichele, with his assistants, put many Anabaptists to death. On Christmas day, 1531, he drove seventeen men and women into a farmhouse near Aalen in Württemberg and burned the building together with the inmates. Three hundred and fifty Anabaptists were executed in the Palatinate before the year 1530. The Count of Alzey, in that province, after having put many to death, was heard to exclaim: "What shall I do? The more I kill, the greater becomes their number." At Ensisheim, "the slaughterhouse of Alsace," as it was called, six hundred were killed within a few years. Within six weeks thirty-seven were burned, drowned, or beheaded at Linz, in Austria. In the town of Kitzbüchl in the Tyrol, sixty-either were executed in one year. Two hundred and ten or more were burned in the valley of the Inn River. The number of Anabaptist martyrs in the Tyrol and Görz was estimated at one thousand about the end of the year 1531.

It may be recalled here that it was comparatively easy for the catchpolls to ascertain who was and who was not an Anabaptist. They simply put the question to suspected persons. A true Anabaptist would disdain saving his life and burdening his conscience by telling an untruth and denying his faith.

** end excerpt

...let no one deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous... (1 John 3:7)

Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you. (1 John 3:13 NAS)

And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. (2 Timothy 3:12 NAS)

"They will make you outcasts from the synagogue [church], but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God." (John 16:2)

Why true Christians have and will continue to be persecuted for righteousness sake.

Why does God permit His true children to be persecuted by the world, even unto death, while it often seems that the citizens of this world lead a blessed life, with full bellies and full bank accounts? Why will the Lord permit His Bride to endure the Tribulation. I will set for three reasons:

1) The love of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son to die for the sins of the world. If God for the sake of His love for a sinful and lost humanity did not spare His own Son, will He spare us? We are His witnesses, the fruit of His grace and love. Our lives and words ought to proclaim the Good News that Christ purchased the New Covenant for humanity with His own blood and now all who will enter into that covenant in Christ may freely enter the Kingdom of God.

2) Tribulation is about separating the wheat from the chaff. In fact the Romans used a threshing sledge they called a tribulum for that literal purpose. In tribulation, those who love their lives more than Jesus flee the Church and Christians are cleansed of the flesh. The Holy Spirit will present only a holy Bride, without spot or wrinkle to the Lamb. Yje wheat is gathered into the barn, and the chaff is burned.

3) The final and Great Tribulation of the Saints will bring the wrath of God poured out in full measure on His enemies. As you have done it unto the least of these My brethren you have done it unto Me. In persecuting the children of God the world demonstrates its hatred toward God Himself. All will be clearly exposed as friends or enemies of God. And when the unrighteous are cast into hell, there will be a great amen.

Should we follow Menno Simons, or Hans Hut, or other leaders of the early Anabaptists, or join the Mennonites or Amish today? No. We should follow Christ. We must abide in Him and His words must abide in us. This was also the goal of those brethren the world called Anabaptists. But as we look at the lives of our brethren who suffered 500 years ago, we see that we are not alone. Many others before us have been called to witness to Christ even unto death. Many others have had to live in the midst of a perverse and hostile world with only the Lord as their portion.

As He said to them, as to us also the Lord Jesus says: "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do" (Luke 12:4 NAS) "and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die." (John 11:26)