Anabaptists | Ain't Complicated

Hans Schlaffer, Detained in Austria

And eventually beheaded by the state church

They despised his beliefs. They branded him a heretic. They opted for intolerance and unwillingness to co-exist. Their final solution for him was contrary to justice…and the godliness they professed to defend.

No, this didn’t happen recently. Yet Schlaffer’s testimony lives on, unsilenced by the executioner’s sword.

Hans lost his head for his faith in Jesus, but he gained an eternal reward which hasn’t faded a bit after all these years (years which I don’t suppose he has noticed). (I wonder if Ernie Miller has met him yet.) (Grammarians, am I allowed a parenthetical train like this?!)

Well, here’s an introduction to Hans Schlaffer’s story on this day 486 years ago:

The December evening was cold. As Hans Schlaffer left the Anabaptist meeting in Schwaz, he was headed up the Inn River toward his home in the mountains of Austria. There he planned to sit out the winter months until Spring, when he would renew his ministry. But the plans of this former Roman Catholic priest received a rude shock.

On this day, December 5, 1527, Hans Schlaffer was arrested by local Roman Catholic authorities. […]

When asked on what foundation the Anabaptists rested, he replied, “Our faith, actions, and baptism rest on nothing else than the commandment of Christ.”

I am fascinated by these excerpts from one of his last recorded prayers: Read it all

Ken Miller Back to Jail

Miller told the judge that the week he has spent in jail has strengthened his resolve. The judge wants to test that further.

A week ago, Judge Sessions sent Ken Miller to jail for a week. That means the week was up and the time had come for another chat: Read it all

Hutterites vs National Geographic

Looks like National Geographic ran afoul of the Hutterian Brethren (aka Hutterites).

Or more specifically, some Hutterite bishops have chastised National Geographic Channel.

The point of contention is how NGC portrayed the Hutterites in a TV series: Read it all

A Sign for Ecclesial Communions

As a Mennonite, this was of interest to me:

“Who could deny, for example,
that the historic ‘peace churches’ of the Anabaptist tradition
have been for the older ecclesial communions
a sign of judgement,
a way in which God has called all the churches
to recover their abhorrence of violence in his name?”

Read it all

A Baby Step in 1525

On January 21.

A small step for a baby.

A giant leap for Christianity.

An historical surge forward…though it really was backing up…to find truth. Read it all

Nonresistance During the Revolutionary War

"We are not at liberty in conscience to take up arms to conquer our enemies."

Did you know this?

Some Americans supported neither side in the Revolution. Instead, as Mennonite and German Baptist leaders said in 1775, “We have dedicated ourselves to serve all men in everything that can be helpful to the preservation of men’s lives, but…we are not at liberty in conscience to take up arms to conquer our enemies, but rather to pray to God, who has power in heaven and on earth, for us and them.” Chief among these nonresistant Christians were the Quakers, Mennonites, German Baptists, Moravians, and Schwenkfelders.

Most nonresistant Christians were quite content with their lot as British subjects. As three Mennonite bishops in Pennsylvania wrote in 1773, “Through God’s mercy we enjoy unlimited freedom in both civil and religious matters.” Ironically, once the fight for liberty started, the freedom of nonresistant Christians became sharply limited.

Source: Anabaptists: US Anabaptists during the Revolutionary War

(Excerpted from the fifth grade social studies course produced by Christian Light Publications.)

December 13

1571 — Hans Misel is martyred for his faith after refusing to recant his Anabaptist beliefs. According to Martyr’s Mirror, when the executioner brought him to the place where he was to be executed, he said to him, that if he would recant, he still had authority to let him go. But he refused, and would there seal his faith with his blood, and so far as he was concerned, he said, he might proceed. Thus he was beheaded and then burnt, and as they could not burn him quickly enough, they cut him into pieces and burned the pieces. When the executioner had struck off his head, so that the same lay on the ground, his body still remained erect, with the hands uplifted, as though he were praying, till the executioner pushed him over with his foot. It was also said that his head and hair could not be burned, but that it was found entire and undisfigured in the ashes, and was thus buried.

(Being an Anabaptist, that is of particular interest to me. Thanks to Google Alerts and Voice of the Martyrs for the info.)

In other news…

1545 — The first session of the Counter-Reformation Council of Trent opens. Responding to the spread of Protestantism and the drastic need for moral and administrative reforms within the Roman Catholic church, it met on and off for 18 years.

1949 — The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

1972 — Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final moonwalk of Apollo 17. This was the last manned mission to the moon.

1981 — General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.

2006 — The Baiji (aka Chinese River Dolphin) is announced as extinct.