{"id":415,"date":"2013-03-24T17:39:44","date_gmt":"2013-03-24T17:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=415"},"modified":"2013-05-17T14:48:30","modified_gmt":"2013-05-17T14:48:30","slug":"the-glory-and-the-gloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ntmu.net\/?p=415","title":{"rendered":"The Glory and… the Gloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image013\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Birth of \u201cAnabaptism\u201d, Men to Emulate, Darts that Destroy,
\na Distressing Detour, the Dutch Demise, yet… Christ is Conqueror<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jaime van Heiningen<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was through Martin Luther in 1517 that the Reformation was ignited in Europe – it only took a \u2018spark\u2019. Luther\u2019s \u201895 theses\u2019, \"image007\"<\/a>exposing the church\u2019s shameless commercialization of \u201cindulgences\u201d, and his daring act of nailing them to the Church door of the Wittenberg Castle in Saxony, provided that spark. It also earned him the wrath of the Pope, as well as of the \u201cHoly Roman Empire\u201d and its brand-new Emperor Charles V, once he had ascended the throne at 19 years of age.<\/p>\n

In Switzerland, only a few years later, another Reformer arose, Ulrich Zwingli, and then, in the early 1530\u2019s, John Calvin arrived on the scene in France. These, we might say, represented the three main dimensions of the Reformation. However, in Switzerland, a fourth dimension came into view. That happened when several of Zwingli\u2019s friends parted company with him. These men, Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz and George Blaurock, could not see eye to eye with Zwingli over the procedures to see change effected in so many practices of Catholic tradition.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Zwingli, reforming at his own pace, always sought to maintain a cordial relationship with the civil authorities, seeing them as a vital link to get certain reforms implemented among the population in general. The three men, on the other hand, felt that the pace was far too slow, and in any case, there was a better way\u2026 The Scriptures should be followed without waiting for the authorities to get onboard. How could worldly authorities be expected to decide and implement spiritual issues? Bible believers should simply start to gather in the Lord\u2019s name, whether that was acceptable to the world and the authorities or not.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One issue proved especially thorny: should babies be baptized? Or was baptism to be applied exclusively to people who knew what they were doing, i.e. to believers who showed evidence of being the Lord\u2019s? Whereas today that issue may ruffle few feathers, at that time it proved to be a major stumbling block – Catholics and<\/em> Protestants saw infant baptism as a \u201cSacrament\u201d. Under no pretence should babies be deprived of it! And the \u2018rebaptizing\u2019 of someone already sprinkled as a baby was a major affront to the Church, if not to God himself, the clear implication being that \u2018sacramental baptism\u2019 was perceived as of no value. Grebel and friends were \u2018asking\u2019 for big trouble…<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In early 1525, they and others met secretly in the home of Manz\u2019 mother for prayer, Bible study and discussion. At this meeting, Blaurock, who had been a priest, asked Grebel to baptize him. He then baptized all the others present. This was done by sprinkling – immersion had not yet occurred to them \u2013 nevertheless it was a true \u2018watershed\u2019. Word leaked out and henceforth the movement would be known as \u201cAnabaptist\u201d (\u201cRebaptizers\u201d).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The following year Grebel was imprisoned. Then, having managed to escape, he died a natural death not very long afterwards. Manz and Blaurock continued faithfully, preaching and teaching, as did others, until, at different points, they too were imprisoned, tortured and later martyred, Manz by public drowning (1527), and Blaurock by burning at the stake (1529). Many thousands in the years thereafter, men as well as women, suffered similar fates.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However, far from stamping out the movement, what the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, were really accomplishing, was what the Jerusalem authorities had \u2018achieved\u2019 many years before them: \u201cthose who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word\u201d <\/em>(Acts 8:4); \u201cand the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord\u201d<\/em> (11:21).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God\u2019s Word, and its glorious Gospel of salvation in Christ, passed from town to town and from country to country, but in its wake, how much blood was shed, how many hearts were broken, how much suffering was endured and how many tears flowed\u2026! Even so, it may be said that truly this was a story of Glory!<\/strong> Glory for the Redeemer and glory for the redeemed! Many (underground) groups or congregations came into existence.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As will always happen, when Satan finds that persecution is spurned by the Lord\u2019s people, he prepares other fiery darts. The darts of fanaticism on the one hand, and false teaching on the other, are favorites, used to great effect by the \u201cprince of the world\u201d. It was so in NT times and it was so again in the period under discussion. His dark strategy paid off handsomely. The lack of thorough Bible knowledge, not just an intellectual understanding, but above all a spiritual grasp of Bible principles, even among some of the leaders of the movement, caused havoc.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The apostle John, some 60 years after the Lord\u2019s ascension, wrote to the believers: \u201cDo not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you\u201d<\/em> (1 Jn. 3:13), and the Anabaptists didn\u2019t. He also wrote: \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world\u201d<\/em> (4:1), but this dismal trap was not <\/em>avoided – very many Anabaptists fell into it headlong. Muddle-headed \u2018prophets\u2019 among them started to prophesy all kinds of things about the Lord\u2019s return, and when in the city of M\u00fcnster in Germany, not far from the borders of Holland, many citizens joined the Anabaptist movement, M\u00fcnster was declared the \u201cNew Jerusalem\u201d. It proved to be a debacle of the first order.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The movement by then had spread to Holland. Dutch Anabaptists, known as \u201cDoopsgezinden\u201d (baptism-minded) – the name that is now their official \u2018denomination\u2019 – started to leave behind everything and travel to join their brethren in M\u00fcnster, just as others did from other parts of Western Europe.<\/p>\n

One RC priest in the north of Holland, who neither before<\/em> he was a priest, nor during the first ten years as<\/em> a priest, had ever <\/em><\/strong>read the Bible, had become a Bible-loving priest! His name was Menno Simons. When his only brother was killed as an Anabaptist, Menno experienced a deep spiritual crisis. But by then he had learned where to go \u2013 back to the Bible. Later he wrote that he “prayed to God with sighs and tears that He would give to me, a sorrowing sinner, the gift of his grace, create within me a clean heart, and through the merits of the crimson blood of Christ, graciously forgive my unclean walk and unprofitable life…” His life was transformed, and it led to his exit from RC-ism!<\/p>\n

\"image009\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One thing that had powerfully impacted Menno for years was the fact that Anabaptists, on the whole, even as they were horribly persecuted, would surrender peacefully and be led to the prison house, the pyre, the gallows, the scaffold or the torture chamber, blessing their persecutors and giving testimony of Christ in one way or another. Now that he had come out of organized religion himself, Menno might have aspired to an unobtrusive way of living\u2026 Rather what he desired was to be useful to his Savior, whatever the cost. It didn\u2019t take him long to find out that God had, indeed, important work for him to do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was the time (in 1535), that Anabaptists, the Dutch \u201cDoopsgezinden\u201d among them, were packing up and moving to M\u00fcnster, the \u2018New Jerusalem\u2019. Menno realized that this was more than just an innocent illusion – it was a dangerous delusion, and it could be fateful; it could not<\/em> be of God. His efforts to persuade many to come to their senses and stay where they were, did not meet with much success. Although he was no more than a young convert himself, albeit with a love for God\u2019s Word and a commitment that were neither cheap nor shallow, Menno, like a latter day Jeremiah, had that discernment that could see a tragedy in the making\u2026 Gloom<\/em><\/strong> seemed to be unavoidable!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Events ran their course in M\u00fcnster. The RC bishop and his army besieged the city. The citizens suffered under the lack of basic necessities, but the heavy hand of obsessive leadership within the city, now truly divorced from Biblical guidelines, was even more oppressive. If the first leader, killed in action, might justifiably be called a maniac, his successor, a Dutchman like the first, surely qualified as a super-maniac. Among the things he introduced and enforced was polygamy, he himself taking 16 wives. When the bishop finally, after 18 months, managed to retake the city, many Anabaptists were massacred.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It stands to reason that after these tragic events, all Anabaptists, everywhere, were looked upon with even greater suspicion and alarm than before. However, God had men like Menno – waiting in the wings \u2013 who were ready by his grace to pick up the pieces. Menno, from now on, always had to keep a low profile, yet God used him wonderfully among very many old and new groups, teaching and counselling from the Bible, always just a few steps ahead of those who were eager to see him burn. He amazingly died a natural death in 1561.<\/p>\n

Whereas in many countries his followers started to be called \u201cMennonites\u201d, in Holland they stuck with \u201cDoopsgezinden\u201d. Historians \"image011\"<\/a>reckon that in the worst 45 years of persecutions (1530-1575), some 3500 Dutch Doopsgezinden were arrested and imprisoned, and of these, 1400<\/strong> were killed, mostly burning at the stake. But faith was alive, love among the believers strong, and the testimony shun brightly!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The suffering didn\u2019t spell \u2018gloom\u2019 – however horrific. These were times of Glory! It had seemed that through the M\u00fcnster debacle, gloom was about to settle definitely on this work of God, but by God\u2019s grace it lifted! How much the faithful prayers and efforts of Menno and others meant to God\u2019s work! They were men and women who \u201cloved not their lives\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Satan, however, was not yet done. One dreadful dart was still available: it was the dart of lethargy<\/strong>! The persecutions ceased and the Doopsgezinden were at last accepted as \u2018worthy members of society\u2019 \u2013 it caught them with their guard down. Suddenly the world around them proved to be a lot friendlier, so, very gradually, they got conformed to it. The ideas of \u2018denominationalism\u2019 began to encroach. Solemn Bible warnings to be wide awake<\/em><\/strong> and alert<\/em><\/strong> went unheeded. However slow the process, it was relentless \u2013 it just went on-and-on, for centuries.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Gospels and Revelation document how our Lord, a total of 12 times, tells his followers to \u201cbe awake\u201d or to \u201cwatch\u201d. He concludes his parable of the \u201cvirgins\u201d, for instance, in which even the \u201cwise ones\u201d went to sleep, sternly saying: \u201cWatch therefore\u2026!\u201d<\/em><\/strong>Paul and Peter repeat the command another six times. Who would have thought that dozing off (spiritually) is such a serious matter? Let\u2019s have another look at Menno\u2019s \u2018descendants\u2019 – i.e. in Holland alone. What has recent research established?<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Today there is not one<\/em><\/strong> pastor among them who believes that the Bible is the Word of God\u2026!<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Only a tiny minority of Doopsgezinden believe that God influences human lives.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fully 90% of them do not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God. At the most He was an example, a spiritual leader, a teacher \u2013<\/p>\n

*\u201cKracht van een minderheid\u201d\u00a0 <www.uitgeverijmeinema.nl\/shop_details.php?productId=23368<\/a>><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lethargy<\/strong> has done its work and gloom has settled in. It has come to stay! The light of the \u2018candlestick\u2019, shining so brightly during most of a century, has been snuffed out; the \u2018Gates of Hades\u2019 have prevailed. Does it remind us of the daughter-in-law of Eli, high priest in Israel? She breathed her last and, as she realized what had come upon the nation, she uttered: \u201cIchabod\u201d \u2013 \u201cthe Glory is gone!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But how to reconcile this obvious and stark reality with the Lord\u2019s promise that He would build his church, and that the Gates of Hades would not<\/em> prevail against it? At this point we do well to keep in mind that, all through the centuries, the pattern has been just as gloomy. We might ask about the thriving congregations, so full of light, life and love, of the apostles\u2019 times \u2013 where are they? In their case too, once they had \u2018dozed off\u2019, certain situations would appear to warrant compromise. So they\u2019d call it \u2018the only sensible and pragmatic thing to do\u2019. Losing their footing, popular false teachers and prophets would do their<\/em> bit, and down the slippery slope they went\u2026 Had not the Lord and the apostles seen it coming? (Mt. 7:15-23; Acts 20:29-31; 1 Ti. 4:1-3; 2 Ti. 4:3-4; 2 P. 2:1-3, etc.).<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The answer to the question, about the Gates of Hades not<\/em> prevailing, is found in the fact that Jesus was speaking, not<\/em> of local or regional churches, even less of denominations, but of his universal<\/span> church \u2013 the \u201cbody of Christ<\/strong>\u201d, consisting exclusively of all the truly redeemed<\/strong>! He never said that local or regional \u201cbattles\u201d might not be won by the enemy\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Precisely because of such<\/em> an enemy with such<\/em> clever strategies, our Lord put such<\/em> emphasis on the need to be awake and alert! Are you<\/em> involved in a local work and testimony? If so, realize that that work and that testimony will eventually succumb and disappear, unless<\/em><\/strong> there is a conscious and a constant dependence-on-Christ<\/em><\/strong>, a looking to HIM and HIS Word for his<\/em><\/strong> guidance and his <\/em><\/strong>enabling!<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Praise God for days of glory, but beware, days of gloom are only just ahead!<\/p>\n

\"image015\"<\/a>
\nMatthew 6:23<\/strong><\/p>\n

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