{"id":2852,"date":"2013-12-05T10:50:20","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T18:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/?p=2852"},"modified":"2013-12-05T10:50:20","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T18:50:20","slug":"hans-schlaffer-detained-in-austria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/2013\/hans-schlaffer-detained-in-austria\/","title":{"rendered":"Hans Schlaffer, Detained in Austria"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

No, this didn’t happen recently. Yet Schlaffer’s testimony lives on, unsilenced by the executioner’s sword.<\/p>\n

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?!)<\/p>\n

Well, here’s an introduction to Hans Schlaffer’s story on this day 486 years ago:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

On this day, December 5, 1527, Hans Schlaffer was arrested by local Roman Catholic authorities. […]<\/p>\n

When asked on what foundation the Anabaptists rested, he replied, “Our faith, actions, and baptism rest on nothing else than the commandment of Christ.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am fascinated by these excerpts from one of his last recorded prayers: <\/p>\n

“Eternal Father! We pray that You will send workers into Your vineyard; for the harvest is great, while the laborers are few. We pray for all those who carry Your gospel throughout the whole world, that You will strengthen them with the power of Your holy spirit, that in them all the terror of man may be quenched and that they will not renounce Your Word through fear.<\/p>\n

“Sustain us in Your Holy Name, and let us not wander away from You, fountain of living waters, that we may hold fast to the true faith firm unto the end.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like many Anabaptists<\/a> of that time, he was martyred for his faith, a “service” provided by the state church.<\/p>\n

But, as he wrote prior to his execution…<\/p>\n

“Oh Father in heaven, whoever lives in Christ your Son and suffers and dies with him will rise with him in glory to be in his Kingdom forever.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"book<\/a>\"\"Where is Brother Schlaffer now? Likely with James, Stephen, Michael Sattler<\/a>, Felix Manz, and thousands of others “under the altar”<\/a> wearing white robes.<\/p>\n

It seems Abel<\/a> is there also. Remember Abel?<\/p>\n

And the message for us? Consider this one for now, then add one of your own in the comments section below:<\/p>\n

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1).<\/div>\n

The pink-boxed quotes come from Hans Schlaffer Martyred for Standing for the Gospel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Oh, Wikipedia<\/a> says he was burnt, but GAMEO<\/a> says he was beheaded on February 4, 1528.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And eventually beheaded by the state church<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,11],"tags":[839,648,39,580],"class_list":["post-2852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-101","category-on-this-day","tag-anabaptists","tag-martyrs","tag-persecution","tag-religious-freedom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/prJUJ-K0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eaf.net\/mvp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}