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Church History: Anabaptist <-- Audio
Pastor Phillips of Grace Baptist Church gives us many examples and illustrations of the faithfulness of many of the 16-century, who were willing to die for their convictions. Many of these people had wrong or bad doctrine but were convinced that their beliefs should be based on the scripture alone until shown otherwise and would not be swayed by traditions and confessions of the Catholic Church.
Felix Manz
Conrad Grebel, George Blaurock and Felix Manz are names frequently found together in the history of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland. They were frequently called upon to give account of themselves and their activities in the presence of civil authorities.
One is amazed at the courage, fortitude and depth of conviction of Manz, as a young man in his mid-20s. He suffered martyrdom before he was 30 years of age. He was the first Swiss Anabaptist to be martyred at the hands of the Protestant followers of Zwingli.
Manz was the son of an "illegitimate" Catholic priest in Zurich, Switzerland. He was well educated and became an enthusiastic evangelist who was instrumental in bringing hundreds, if not thousands, of people to faith in Jesus Christ.
During his lifetime he suffered much persecution and numerous imprisonments. In 1526, he had been condemned to prison where he was to eat bread and drink water until he would "die and rot."
At 3:00 p.m. on (my birthday)January 5, 1527, he was taken bound from his last imprisonment to be drowned in the cold waters of the river Limmat which flows through the hear of the city of Zurich. Last minute efforts on the part of the clergy to cause him to recant were of no avail. He could hear the supportive and encouraging voices of his mother and his brother who stood nearby on the shore. His last words were, "Into thy hands, O God, I commend my spirit."
Felix Manz
Story of Dirk Willems
No story of an Anabaptist martyr has captured the imagination more than the tale of Dirk Willems.
Dirk was caught, tried and convicted as an Anabaptist in those later years of harsh Spanish rule under the Duke of Alva in The Netherlands. He escaped from a residential palace turned into a prison by letting himself out of a window with a rope made of knotted rags, dropping onto the ice that covered the castle moat.
Seeing him escape, a palace guard pursued him as he fled. Dirk crossed the thin ice of a pond, the "Hondegat," safely. His own weight had been reduced by short prison rations, but the heavier pursuer broke through.
Hearing the guard's cries for help, Dirk turned back and rescued him. The less-than-grateful guard then seized Dirk and led him back to captivity. This time the authorities threw him into a more secure prison, a small, heavily barred room at the top of a very tall church tower, above the bell, where he was probably locked into the wooden leg stocks that remain in place today. Soon he was led out to be burned to death.
Compassion for the Enemy
Pastor Phillips of Grace Baptist Church gives us many examples and illustrations of the faithfulness of many of the 16-century, who were willing to die for their convictions. Many of these people had wrong or bad doctrine but were convinced that their beliefs should be based on the scripture alone until shown otherwise and would not be swayed by traditions and confessions of the Catholic Church.
Felix Manz
Conrad Grebel, George Blaurock and Felix Manz are names frequently found together in the history of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland. They were frequently called upon to give account of themselves and their activities in the presence of civil authorities.
One is amazed at the courage, fortitude and depth of conviction of Manz, as a young man in his mid-20s. He suffered martyrdom before he was 30 years of age. He was the first Swiss Anabaptist to be martyred at the hands of the Protestant followers of Zwingli.
Manz was the son of an "illegitimate" Catholic priest in Zurich, Switzerland. He was well educated and became an enthusiastic evangelist who was instrumental in bringing hundreds, if not thousands, of people to faith in Jesus Christ.
During his lifetime he suffered much persecution and numerous imprisonments. In 1526, he had been condemned to prison where he was to eat bread and drink water until he would "die and rot."
At 3:00 p.m. on (my birthday)January 5, 1527, he was taken bound from his last imprisonment to be drowned in the cold waters of the river Limmat which flows through the hear of the city of Zurich. Last minute efforts on the part of the clergy to cause him to recant were of no avail. He could hear the supportive and encouraging voices of his mother and his brother who stood nearby on the shore. His last words were, "Into thy hands, O God, I commend my spirit."
Felix Manz
Story of Dirk Willems
No story of an Anabaptist martyr has captured the imagination more than the tale of Dirk Willems.
Dirk was caught, tried and convicted as an Anabaptist in those later years of harsh Spanish rule under the Duke of Alva in The Netherlands. He escaped from a residential palace turned into a prison by letting himself out of a window with a rope made of knotted rags, dropping onto the ice that covered the castle moat.
Seeing him escape, a palace guard pursued him as he fled. Dirk crossed the thin ice of a pond, the "Hondegat," safely. His own weight had been reduced by short prison rations, but the heavier pursuer broke through.
Hearing the guard's cries for help, Dirk turned back and rescued him. The less-than-grateful guard then seized Dirk and led him back to captivity. This time the authorities threw him into a more secure prison, a small, heavily barred room at the top of a very tall church tower, above the bell, where he was probably locked into the wooden leg stocks that remain in place today. Soon he was led out to be burned to death.
Compassion for the Enemy
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