March 19 - Massacres and Menno

March 19 – Massacres and Menno

The Anabaptists couldn’t seem to catch a break. Since so many of their leaders and teachers were persecuted and executed, wild heresies began to spread throughout the faithful.

One man, Jan Matthijs, decided that he could establish Christ’s thousand-year reign on earth (from the Revelation). While one of the major tenets of the Anabaptist doctrine was pacifism, his communal group in Munster, Germany took up arms against the army. Their food was cut off, their communications stopped, but they continued to hold out. Finally the leaders were killed and the group died away.

After this happened, both Protestants and Roman Catholic brutally oppressed all Anabaptists. Even John Calvin urged rulers to destroy them. By 1600, more than 10,000 Anabaptists had been executed.

Then came Menno Simons. He was a poor man who became a Roman Catholic priest. He didn’t invest much of himself in his job, in fact, he spent as much time at the bar as he did in his church. Then came the day that he decided he should study the Bible so that he could impress his priestly friends. In so doing, he was challenged to a different way of life.

In a nearby community, an Anabaptist was beheaded because he had been ‘re-baptized.’ Menno began to search the scriptures and came to the conclusion that infant baptism was not Biblical. He quested and studied, looking for the answers. A transfer to another church brought him into contact with more Anabaptists and then came the day that his brother, who had become an Anabaptist was killed. Menno Simon’s faith was being tested.

In 1536, he left the Catholic Church and became an Anabaptist. He rejected the violence purported by the Munsterites and taught a theology that focused on separation from the world.

Menno’s faith and understanding of scripture led him to become quite prominent in the faith and soon his followers would become known as Mennonites.