The Scourge Of Racism
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In following up the end of last week’s blog calling for aspiring great women of God to allow Him to be glorified in them through their submission to His calling to be helpers, the Holy Spirit led me to post again this blog from 2012. Not through the pride filled pursuit of men’s roles and responsibilities have the aspiring great women of God in the Bible or history distinguished themselves before Him, but out of the fullness of their divinely created female roles and responsibilities! The women featured in this blog are examples and so are our sisters enduring similar persecution in hostile nations today. Of course, a major difference in the blog is the persecutors were supposedly fellow Christians. I have posted this blog today to enjoy some time off. My next post will appear as regularly scheduled on Sunday, November 30th. Have a great Thanksgiving.
Originally Posted November 26, 2012
I recently had the opportunity to read a series of excellent articles on Anabaptists produced by the magazine, Southwestern News a communication vehicle of the seminary I graduated from, Southwestern out of Fort Worth, Texas.1 While I found the articles a stimulating refresher of general information I had learned about this 16th century group of Reformation Christians, I was also thoroughly captivated by details I did not know about the persecution and martyrdom they endured from State, Catholic and Protestant authorities. The latter group of professing European Christian authorities includes a major name in the Protestant Reformation of the stature of Martin Luther and John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, headquartered out of Zurich, Switzerland.
After enduring so much in the contentious and deadly at times struggle to reform the Catholic Church, Protestant officials also turned to hideous forms of violence to crush those that differed with them. Zwingli gave support to the attempted rooting out of some who were his former students and led the group that came to be called Anabaptists. One of the primary convictions of the group was that baptism is exclusively for believers in Jesus Christ which is biblical. Their male members were hunted down and imprisoned, tortured with hot instruments to get them to recant; killed by the sword, burned at the stake, drowned, starved to death and exposed to the elements when they refused. These ostensible Protestant brothers and other persecutors did not show much mercy to the wives, mothers and daughters of Anabaptist men either.
In one of the articles titled, Anabaptist Womanhood by Sharayah Colter, Anabaptist women (as most Christian women in similar circumstances since the first century) were martyred for the faith in the same wretched ways as their husbands. As one act of civility, some women were chained to their homes for the years it took to raise their children then they were taken out and put to death. Many of course, endured being raped publically as a form of humiliation. These things the women suffered in the quiet dignity of submission to Christ without hostility or threats toward their persecutors. Such things are happening to our sisters at this very hour in various non-Western nations.
In this month of remembering and praying for persecuted believers around the globe, I hold up especially our sisters in Christ who in their submission and willingness to suffer for Christ put the great woman of God I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God, on full display. I salute and admire these godly women who as those throughout history such as the Anabaptist women, fulfill the portrait of womanhood God designed in their Christ-like character and demeanor as seen in His Word (see for example Judges 11:29-40 and Luke 1:26-38). They are in complete contrast to the many Western women today that profess to be Christians but are far from the biblical model in their selfishly ambitious press to be seen, heard and walk in the God ordained leadership roles of men for this age (1 Timothy 2:8-10; Titus 2:1-5; 1 Peter 3:1-6). Pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters.
A final word to my Protestant brothers of European lineage; there is martyr’s blood on the historical hands of the movement which includes that of my Christian forefathers (slave and free). Neither you nor any other professing Christians have been commanded or taught anywhere in the New Testament to harm much less kill a brother that differs doctrinally with you or is sinning. The only recourse we have for a biblically incorrect or sinning brother after attempts to gain his repentance taught by our Lord and His apostles is excommunication, avoidance and giving him over to Satan by declaration (Matthew 18:15-20; Romans 16:17-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Timothy 1:18-20). Otherwise, the Lord will surely deal with such a one (Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32; Hebrews 10:26-31).
Truly, how could anyone believe the God of all justice will somehow let the glaring sin of professing European Christians of the Reformation era along with their scattered guilty descendants beyond it pass that have murdered His faithful saints? He will not let them or other professing guilty Christians from any camp that murder His faithful ones escape (Isaiah 47; Jeremiah 50:8-16; Luke 18:1-8; Romans 2:1-11, 12:17-21; Galatians 6:7-8; James 5:1-6; Revelation 6:9-11, 17:5-6, 15-18:20)! And how can it really be believed that He will safely evacuate their unrepentant contemporary progeny from any form of suffering that has been foretold for followers of Christ until His return? You love the Lord? You will demonstrate it fully as all the other saints of history and our present time in days shortly to come (Acts 9:13-16; Philippians 1:27-30; Revelation 7:9-17).
1 You can view the fall 2012 magazine issue, Anabaptists: Patterns for Radical Discipleship and its articles at http://www.swbts.edu/southwesternnews/.
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