77: Why So Many Churches?: Anabaptists in Steel Cages – Part 9

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I'm Eddie Lawrence, and this is the Ready for Eternity podcast, a podcast and blog exploring biblical truths for inquisitive

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Bible students. Steel cages still hang from a church tower in Münster, Germany.

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Five hundred years ago, they held the mutilated bodies of men who dared to defy both

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Catholic and Protestant authorities. Their crime? Refusing infant baptism, rejecting political power, and insisting that following Jesus meant radical obedience, even to death.

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The year was 1525, and Europe buzzed with religious upheaval.

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Martin Luther had already nailed his thesis to the Wittenberg door eight years earlier.

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Reformers across Europe challenged Catholic teachings and practices, yet in the

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Swiss city of Zurich, a group of believers, later known as Anabaptists, felt the

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Reformation wasn't going far enough. These men and women called themselves simply

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Brethren. They embraced the Reformers' call to return to biblical Christianity, however they believed

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Reform was moving too slowly and compromised too much with worldly powers.

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On January 21st, 1525, these radical believers gathered at the fountain in the

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Zurich city square. George Blaurock, a former follower of the Reformer Holdrich Zwingli, approached his friend

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Conrad Grebel with an extraordinary request. He asked Grebel to baptize him as an adult believer.

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This simple act defied centuries of church tradition. Both the

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Catholic church and the emerging Lutheran congregations still practiced infant baptism.

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Grebel agreed. He baptized Blaurock by sprinkling water on his head.

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The other believers present followed suit, baptizing each other in turn.

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This marked the birth of the Anabaptist movement. Initially these believers used sprinkling or pouring for their baptisms.

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Later they adopted full immersion as the preferred method. They believed baptism should follow personal faith, not precede it.

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The other Reformers quickly noticed these adult baptisms. They coined a derogatory term for the movement,

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Anabaptist, a word meaning re -baptizers. The name suggested these people baptized themselves again, invalidating their infant baptism.

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The Anabaptists rejected this label. They argued they weren't re -baptizing anyone.

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Instead, they performed the first true baptism for believers who had never been properly baptized as infants.

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Despite their protests, the name stuck. History remembers them as Anabaptists, though they preferred

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Brethren or simply Christians. The Anabaptists went far beyond challenging baptism practices.

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They developed a comprehensive theology that shocked both Catholics and the emerging

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Reformed churches. First, they practiced radical discipleship.

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They believed Christians must follow Jesus' teachings strictly. This meant loving enemies, refusing to swear oaths, and sharing possessions with the needy.

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Second, they demanded complete separation of church and state. Unlike other

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Reformers who sought government support, Anabaptists rejected all political power.

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They refused to hold office, serve in armies, or enforce civil laws.

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Third, they embraced pacifism as a core Christian principle. They wouldn't fight wars, even defensive ones.

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Violence contradicted Christ's teachings about loving enemies and turning the other cheek.

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Fourth, they practiced radical egalitarianism. Both men and women could preach and lead congregations.

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This scandalized a society that strictly limited women's religious roles.

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These beliefs made Anabaptists appear dangerously subversive to both religious and political authorities.

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They seemed to threaten the entire social order. Both Catholic and Reformed authorities moved quickly to crush the

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Anabaptist movement. They declared it heretical and outlawed Anabaptist gatherings.

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The punishment for joining the movement was death. The persecution that followed was brutal beyond imagination.

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Authorities burned Anabaptists at the stake. They drowned others in rivers, a cruel mockery of their baptism practices.

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Some victims were drawn and quartered. Others endured torture designed to force recantation.

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Church historian Justo Gonzalez notes that Anabaptist martyrs probably exceeded those killed during the three centuries of persecution before Emperor Constantine.

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This staggering loss occurred in just a few decades. The martyrs faced death with remarkable courage.

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They sang hymns while burning. They forgave their executioners. Their testimonies, carefully recorded, inspired future generations of believers.

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Not all Anabaptist groups remained peaceful. In the German city of Münster, followers of Melchior Hoffmann created a radical kingdom.

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Jan Matisse and John of Leiden led Anabaptists who gained control of the city council in 1533.

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They expelled all non -Anabaptists and established what they claimed was a messianic kingdom.

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The community practiced polygamy and common ownership of goods under biblical justification.

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Catholic and Protestant armies surrounded the city in 1534, leading to a brutal siege.

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Münster fell in 1535 and the authorities tortured the Anabaptist leaders to death.

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They hung the leaders' bodies in steel cages from St. Lambert's church steeple as a warning.

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People later removed their bones, but the cages hang from the church steeple to this day.

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This violent episode damaged the reputation of all Anabaptists, even peaceful groups who rejected

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Münster's extremism. Despite intense persecution, some

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Anabaptist communities survived. They fled to remote areas where authorities couldn't easily reach them.

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They practiced their faith in secret, meeting in homes and forests. Over time, the movement split into various groups with slightly different emphasis.

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The most famous survivors include the Mennonites, named after Dutch leader

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Minnow Simmons. The Amish, led by Jacob Amon, separated from the

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Mennonites in the late 1600s. Both groups migrated to North America, seeking religious freedom.

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They established communities that preserved Anabaptist principles of pacifism, simple living, and adult baptism.

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The Anabaptists profoundly influenced Christianity despite their small numbers. They pioneered the concept of voluntary church membership based on personal faith.

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Anabaptists championed religious freedom and separation of church and state. They demonstrated that ordinary believers could study scripture and form independent congregations.

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Today, millions of Christians practice adult immersion because of Anabaptist influence.

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Many independent congregations trace their baptismal practices to these brave 16th century reformers.

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The Anabaptists paid a terrible price for their convictions, yet their radical commitment to following Christ, regardless of consequences, changed