15.2.3 The Anabaptists Charged That Any That Would Kill Them for Their Faith Were Antichrist

Melchior Rinck, 1493 –1545, challenged the Christian authorities at Wartburg,

“the fact that you bring against me and all who are of the same face murder, robbery, prison, fire, water, sword and similar lying arguments, proves by your own work that your baptism is an anti-baptism and that you are indeed the Anti-Christ, of whom all prophets, Christ and the apostles have earlier spoken.”[1]

The charges above have been shown to be factual.. Michael Sattler, who authored the first Anabaptist confession of faith, was not just killed, his tongue was cut off, his body was to torn six times with glowing tongs, after which he was still thrown into the fire so hot that his remains were cremated.[2] It is hard for some in our day and time to think of such terrific persecution, but while the government may have been “Christian”, it was purely totalitarian in most regions, and civil obedience, even to the religion of the realm, was enforced with cruel force. It was in this overbearing political environment that these brave Anabaptist pioneers made their stand for primitive Christianity.

It is crucial to understanding this movement that the original Anabaptists were seeking to not just reform the existing church, but to restore the church to its original state with all that that entails. To the Anabaptists Christ was the true authority, not the government. The connection to Christ was the spirit. The guide was the New Testament. And anyone that opposed that and to the degree that they opposed that focus were Antichrist. It is important to realize then that the Anabaptists’ charge of being Antichrist was not just leveled at the Catholic Church, more often it was leveled at churches of the Reformation because it was in those Reformation controlled geographical areas that the Anabaptists started their mission and were extremely persecuted.

There were some in power who tolerated the Anabaptists. Philip of Hesse was an example of the few tolerant Christian authorities towards Anabaptists. Phillip advocated that the early church itself had tolerated those in opposition instead of persecuting them. He viewed the Anabaptist movement of as a challenge to take the “matter of Christian discipline seriously.” Himself a Landgraf (Holy Roman feudal authority) Hesse led in advising the church to view the Anabaptist mission as a force to further purify the church.[3] This shows that not only did the Anabaptists themselves strive to get closer to primitive Christianity, but they inspired at least some of the church at large to do likewise.

[1] ANABAPTIST VIEW OF THE CHURCH, Franklin Hamlin Littell, Starr King Press, Beacon Hill, Boston, 1958, p. 34
[2] ibid. p. 32-33
[3] ibid p. 32-36

Original Christianity

This web is a look at primitive, original Christianity, how it developed over time into innumerable denominations and divisions and how original Christianity compares to current practices. It is a resource for looking systematically at the beliefs and practices in the original Christian church, numerous movements and churches since, the modern Christian church, with discussion about how all these changes happened and especially focusing on how well each of these compares to scripture.

Why?

"Jesus Christ is Lord" is the common belief of billions of Christians. But there are tens of thousands of denominations. While ancient denominations like the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox claim to be the original and consequently "true" church, innumerable churches and denominations have started citing error in these ancient bastions and/or the leading of the spirit to reform the church and restore the church.

There are numerous disputed issues. Cessation doctrine (prophecy and the gifts of the spirit ended with the apostles), infant baptism, the inerrancy of Scripture, the form of Church government, the role of women in the church, and currently, the acceptance of homosexuality are just some of the many disputed doctrines that cause the Christian body to be so divided.

The Reformation movement performed an invaluable service. But instead of simply reforming the church or simply working to create one more correct alternative church the Reformation movement worked to increase the number of disputes over scripture and consequently the number of splits has increased exponentially.

The problem with looking at all the denominations is that it can become confusing to just compare this church or denomination to that one. The complexity of looking at all the theological implications can become overwhelming. For many busy people that means just making the best, less than fully educated decision they can, and staying with the church of their heritage or finding a church where they feel they can grow. Just finding the information can be an overwhelming task. Putting it into some understandable framework is an even more complicated task.

This web site, rather than trying to just compare all the current positions on the differences goes back to the beginning (primitive, original Christianity) and evaluates Christianity starting at that point. This includes looking at the gospel accounts, but also includes looking at early church documents as well as other ancient documents, both secular and religious. (There is also a section on Philosophy because its profound impact on Christian theological development.) The articles have numerous references to works both in print and online.

Next the web site looks at the developments in Christianity from original Christianity forward to see how the church developed over time comparing each development with what we know about original Christianity. The goals are:

To trace the development of the church from start to now to see how the church at large wound up with all these competing churches/denominations today, and

To equip people with the knowledge of original Christianity to enable people to make an informed decision on what is the true faith and practice of the church Jesus Christ started.

For an overview of the articles by category, go to the Table of Contents Page.

This is a work in progress. My prayer is that sharing my journey is helpful to you and that together we can grow in the faith that Jesus Christ made available some two thousand years ago.

Also Please Pardon our Dust. There are hundreds of posts and some of them still have typos. If you find typos You can contact Mark at [email protected]. Please be so kind as to mention the name of the post as well as to copy and paste the section with errors. Thank you and God Bless You.

15.2.3 The Anabaptists Charged That Any That Would Kill Them for Their Faith Were Antichrist

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