Many of the Anabaptist's understand what all true (Saved/Transformed) Christians understand intrinsically; that ultimately, it is the Indwelling Holy Spirit that will teach all truth (via Gods word). Church is for Fellowship and worship; a time to meet and bond with others within the Body of Christ. Modern Capitalists, who use God for personal gain, will tell you that you need them for sacraments (Roman Catholics and their offspring), or their perpetual teachings (Protestants and their "eternal-student theology's"): Rather than demonstrating the life (and the lifestyle) of Jesus Christ (as well as the lifestyles of the Apostles), they become monkey-see-n-do teachers who end up parroting the same basic message as the church next door! What they teach must align with their own socio-cultural lifestyles in order to avoid appearing hypocritical (hence, the Biblical attenuations). But those who "gnosis" (who know deeply and intimately) the Lord; well, they already know (and will not need to read this, though they'll want to)! The Indwelling radically transforms the Godless hominid into an entirely different, Spirit-centric, Christ-centric being (like the caterpillar who transforms into a butterfly); Divine, indeed! Conversely, the Godless-religious "Christian" merely adds church services to their existence; a socio-cultural conformation; making their brand-name church, Bible idolizing, tithing, bad-habit-breaking testimonies, and easily faked spiritual gifts, diets and the like, as the only visible changes; the only demarcations between them and the rest of the Godless world. Denominations are just that; divisional variations of cultural conformations, as a response to said demands. The Catholics have the patent on the word "Catholic", just as all the Protestor divisions are holding the rights to their brand-name. In other words, if I decided to start my own personal "Catholic Church" business, they would sue me for this. If I called my tax-deductible religion-business church-service, with any registered title, I am violating man's law. These people see their religion-business trade-name, as their own demarcation, and do not want to share it. The Anabaptists were not, and are not, registered as a trade name. Anabaptist's are Amish; it is who we are, more than a badge or a brand name that focuses on (and exists because of) independent, private interpretations of Scripture. The Theology of Anabaptism differs in unique ways, but it is not a competition for business, it is life! Competitivism in religion is the fruit-evidence of the Godless-religious, and their prophetic presence here in the end-times scene!

In today's modern Sodom, homosexual Christian Ministers pulpit the messages of its respective time/culture by making the Bible relevant to that time/culture; to them. Without the Indwelling, hominids sink ever-deeper into the abyss of Godlessness; the puzzling part is why the Godless even bother with religion, or church, or marriage, etc., until one understands the power of Satan upon anything with Jesus' name in/on it (I call Satan "the seed snatcher" from Matthew 13). Satan takes those seeds of knowledge about the Lord Jesus Christ, and kills them or keeps them from maturating. The name of Jesus Christ is all they end up knowing, adhering to culture-driven mentalities and directives approved by employees of the businesses of religion. Again: The Indwelled (the Saved) live as Christ, the Godless do not! They carry in their pockets/purses, all the Scriptures that help to justify their gluttonous, greedy, ignorant, emotionally immature ways. Any rebuke or reprove is met with the same no-growth, "thorn in the flesh, there-go-I" excuses, indicative of the Godless-religious. Those of the flesh are blame-shifters; they have the proverbial finger pointed at others who are to blame for their hand-to-mouth diseases; their feelings; their problems. Most of their problems are but, the end-consequence of living lifestyles contrary to Gods intentions for us; Gods will for humanity. God clearly did not prescribe the Industrialization of Earth, or the modern Capitalist's lifestyle. Jesus Christ taught "the fruit-ministry"; that we are the sum of our actions, not our thoughts, self-beliefs or self-image/s! Jesus Christ was the first Existentialist, though He was far more that that: He was/is the Savior of the world; the King of kings, the Lord of lords! We are what we DO, and no more: That's the credo of the Existentialist Philosophers (including myself) such as Christian Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard.

We of the Indwelling live much as Christ and His early followers lived; We work with our hands in laboring within Gods creation. No Indwelled Christian has ever pleaded for money, nor would we/they accept monies from someone we do not know. If you want to see the Godless-religious, look for men who do not build or grow (non-laborers); men (and women) who are willing to take monies from complete strangers, like a politician, indeed! No Saved person will hold out a collection plate at church, or take offerings or donations (for nothing), on TV, on-line or elsewhere; no Saved person ever takes money from strangers. The beggar takes anyone's mammon! This begging is not just pathetic and harmful, it is fruit-evidence in itself. We are not to take monies we did not earn with our labors; we do not go into debt with a Godless lender (usury). We are not to take monies from anyone unless we are providing them real-life services or goods, or just giving them a gift. This means that Pastors never take monies for being who God called them to be. I Pastor and have never taken a dime for it (never will), and the thought of it makes me squirm. First, the very honor of being a part of the Elect of God, is so staggering to me, that I have yet to fathom the depth of that gift from God. To then be called to serve Him, in any capacity, is tearfully deep. The very thought of taking all this, and then reselling it to others so that I do not have to labor, well, I have no words for this, other than to know that the Godless-religious are going to be here; they're going to exist, and there's nothing I can do about it, except to teach it (as I am, right now). Part of our ministry of mimicing the Lord Jesus Christ, is to publicly expose hypocricy and false teachers. When you live in the Godless world, and you seek after the things of the Godless, you will need their money in order to live as the Godless around you. Thus, the Godless-religious buy homes built by others, and even go into debt to the Godless for decades, paying them millions of dollars for this temporal box. As a consequence of being fully indoctrinated and immersed in the world, they try to navigate it as "Christians", and the only ones to follow them are others in the same boat; the blind leading the blind, as Jesus put it. They are all trapped in the hominid experience; they have not been radically transformed, they are thus left to the traits of the Godless hominid, which is foremost, competitivism. The Godless-religious are all in competition with one another to corral as many tithe givers as they can, and so the war of religion is fought on every possible front. Now imagine if they all got their needs from God, by serving His creation and providing their own shelter and food, and stop taking monies from others. But you see, they are in the world and of the world, and their lifestyle is a major piece of this fruit-evidence! The American Amish are marketed by the Godless world as peculiar people living in some stone-age way, and this marketing attracts many tourists to Lancaster County, PA. They are made a spectacle: (1st Corinthians 4:9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.)

We do not reach the lost with our words; We teach the lost with our actions! Religious arrogance is reflected in the belief that humans can somehow convert someone else (with words and church attendance) whom God has not chosen to begin with. When I first started attending my first chain-store church, they always wanted to go out and do street ministry (or so they called it); it always made me uncomfortable to go out and pass out tracks to every person we made eye contact with. I felt an uneasiness about it all, but at the same time, I understood the basic principles of Loving the lost, serving where ever you're at, and the core-desire to serve Christ. All these things are good, but this was/is not what God wants us to do. Jesus Himself, did not recruit, He called out certain ones, knowing intrinsically that they were chosen of God, for good and bad (as w/Judas Iscariot). The chosen will hear His voice and follow Him; in the case of post-Jesus, the Indwelling Holy Spirit is the God-on-Earth that Jesus sent as His replacement. Jesus called His Disciples friends and brothers/sisters. The relationship changed from a distant God, to an Indwelling God. Since Jesus Christ was/is God, and the Holy Spirit is also God, we have Jesus-in-us; we are now to replace Jesus by following/copying/imitating Jesus, as much as it is in our power to do so. We of the Indwelling, do not evangelize/recruit people into church businesses, we evangelize by lifestyle example; we disciple; we bond for life as a community. Not all who followed Jesus did so because of Jesus, but because of the fish and loaves; everyone has different motives: Judas Iscariot had the motive of making money by his association with Jesus, and the JI's exist till this day. For those building church businesses, they need many people giving them monies; for the rest, it is about getting others to believe what they believe in order to add value and strength to their own faith. The Indwelled live as Christ (its called lifestyle Evangelism); Gods Elect will see that, and be drawn in, others will look upon it, think it extreme and continue to follow their culture; their flesh: They will find culture-centric churches and remain conformed! Jesus said it: You will know them by their fruits (fruit-evidence = actions/inactions). Not all who say "Lord, Lord" are of the Elect of God (the chosen ones). The Elect will be attracted to those of the Indwelling; those who look like and live more like the Amish (or the Gnostics), than like the rich and famous: the suit-n-tie materialistic Capitalist's (in religion; the hirelings | the Religionists)!

The suit-n-tie was the Godless Industrialist's way of showing off economically; that he did not labor with his hands, but was rich from his business greatness (most of which, exploited workers): Jesus Christ and the Apostles worked with their hands to support their earthly mission/s. To wear a suit-n-tie is analogous to Jesus Christ wearing a Pharisee's Vestment: God forbid! Now, few who attend Christian churches, know (or gnosis) Christ (see Matthew 7); not all who "Pastor the flock" know Him either! Thus, many will dress to impress, and since the suit-n-tie is this cultures barometer of authority and/or success, many of the Godless-religious will be caught dead in them!
The Pastoral is a calling from God, not a job someone wants and then trains for! The Amish have no Pastoral stars; the Preacher is selected out of a small group of Elders, usually with little notice! Why? To allow the Holy Spirit to speak thru them, as the Indwelling inspires; not some prepared or parroted speech purchased on-line (like at sermons.com)! No one "owns" their church buildings (for the Amish groups who have them, most home church); it's not a business and there is no staff on salary; they do not take tithe offerings. Church for them is about devotion to God; also an opportunity to communicate with others that live too far to see during the week. Indeed, the rule of life applies here as well: Remove any material rewards from the equation, and you will find out soon enough, who is there for Christ's sake, and who is not; who is there for the fishes and loaves, and who is there just to Fellowship with Him. This is true also for personal wealth; without much earthly resources, you find out quickly, who your true friends are, and who are not; who is truly Saved, and who is not! Until we fully surrender our life over to the power of the Indwelling, we will be lead by everything but: the Cross, we are to pick up is daily; hourly even! Our every decision is either a subtle prompting along the gentle tether of the Holy Spirit, or, it's the flesh; it is you: When the end-result is carnal, so is its root. When humans live contrary to Gods will for them, they're usually oblivious to it; they live, business-as-usual, all the way until the end! All we can do is show them a better way, and if they do not like it, they will not follow us; they will follow the path of last resistance.

James 2:1-5 | Luke 20:46-47 My brothers, do not have the faith of our Lord Christ, the Lord of glory, with respecter of faces. For if there comes a gold-fingered man in fancy clothing into your assembly, and if there also comes in a poor man in shabby clothing, and if you have respect to him who has the fancy clothing and say to him, You sit here in a good place, and say to the poor, You stand there, or sit here under my footstool; Did you not make a difference among yourselves and became judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He has promised to those who love Him? | Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts; Which devour widows' houses, and for a show make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.
Verily, verily, I say unto you: He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the porter opens; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be Saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I came that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have {Gentiles}, which are not of this fold {us Jews}: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts are overcharged with surfeiting {over-consuming} and drunkenness, and cares of this life; and so that day comes upon you unaware. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole Earth. Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. Verily, verily, I say unto you: you seek me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate of the loaves and fish, and were filled. Labor not for the meat that perishes, but for that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him has God the Father sealed. If a man Loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will Love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that Loves me not, keeps not my sayings, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's that sent me.
These things I have spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name; He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, do I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you Loved me, you would rejoice, because I said; I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, when it has come to pass, you might believe. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes and has nothing in me. But, that the world may know that I Love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise; let's go now. I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that bears no fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word, which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a withered branch, and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my Disciples.
All things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever does make manifest, is light. Therefore he says: Awake, you that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

People must find Jesus Christ (not just church/religion, followed by some self-belief), and let the Indwelling Holy Spirit transform them from Godless hominids into Spirit-centric, Love-centric human beings (Love as a verb, not mere attachment emotions that all mammals possess)! In Love, we are dedicated to a simple life; to pass Earth onto progeny far better than we received it: We replace what we take, in respect to God our Creator. The proof of our Spiritual status is witnessed in how we treat the home God created for us (Earth). The Godless are mindless Capitalists, satiated with greed and materialism as pathway to self-worth and self-importance (thus, the Affluenza disease and its subsequent Capitalist-centric cultures)! God is Love, true Christians are that Love, and the opposite of Love is indifference (to just not care; to live on, business-as-usual). True Christians are not merely those who believe they're Christian and go to church; they are those who live as Christ did and would! Jesus would protect the Creation; to be a wise steward over the globe that is (after all) Gods! Godless/Loveless hominids do not Love; they show concern only as it benefits them financially, emotionally and/or egoistically. The US Amish are fine examples of true American Christians, but one need not live completely as they do, to be a good steward. As Urban Amish, my residence is close to service and all the things I like to do, and many others live in urban settings; the Amish live in rural settings; anyone can make wise choices no matter where they are at. It is not the spot on the map, but the condition of the Soul, that defines us!

We ARE our day-to-day volitional choices; the tobacco industry can't sell me anything if I choose not to pick it up and take it to the cashier! If I do then I only have myself to blame; that's called personal responsibility, folks! Demand drives supply, not the other way around: The same is true for gasoline, paper, imports, drugs, and every other thing under the sun that hominids purchase! Take personal responsibility for your life; for your actions and inactions; for your emotions and ego. Break the cycles, don't be slave to them. Jesus Christ is the solution; not religion, not politics, not society's squeaky wheels! Plant a tree (ArborDay.org), volunteer for your neighbor, find purpose in being that does not include buying some "thing"; lifestyles that result in the continual plundering of Gods biosphere: Earth! Shopping malls and automobiles are planet-killers. For the Indwelled, it is a living testimony for the watching-world! It is obvious that the mass-burning of gasoline is horrifyingly destructive, but like Galileo learned (in disbelief), denial of empirical fact is powerful and life-long for most that simply cannot grow beyond their own flesh: even religious leaders like the Papacy! Most Saved/transformed humans make radical changes in their lives; in their lifestyles. Many quit more than bad habits, they quit jobs, they sell things, and they discover the freedom of non-ownership and non-materialism. They sell all they have, take up their daily Cross, and follow Him! The Godless crave more; they hunger for wealth and economic superiority (they serve the slut of materialism; the look-at-me bling peddled by the prince of this world: John 12)! The poetic ditty fits: "A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still"!

In Gods creation/design, the economy and the ecology are not interconnected. In Gods creation, we find all we need to live healthy and peacefully. Conversely; In mans creations, we find war and pollution; rape and murder; stress and debt; addictions and compulsions. The Godless have damaged egos; for whatever reason in this life, they have dedicated themselves to ignoring, defying or denying God; their Soul; their eternal fate. Thus, the Godless (and the Godless-religious) are dominators; we see this when one of them gets power (like Hitler); the dominator mentality is to see the Earth as something to tame; to rule; to market and sell. Greed is the ugliest characteristic in the human condition, and now, we are witnessing its affects on a global scale. If even half the human population of Earth were true/living Christ-followers, the word "global warming" would not exist in our vocabulary. Since the USA is 5% of Earth's human population, and yet consuming almost 40% of Gods creation, logic dictates where God will start first! God blessed America, and then the Godless-religious Colonizers brought the curse; no true Christian believes that God blesses that! No true Christian believes that God blesses America today; those very words are anathema! The USA will be the catalyst for God to return to judge the world; it's the most corrupt and Godless group of humans to ever reside on the face of Earth, and those who think that God has anything whatsoever to do with this Godlessness, are blind and in darkness, evil and corrupt. This is why Anabaptists are not Catholic or Protestant! (small PDF)

"The notion that man must dominate nature emerges directly from the domination of man by man. But it was not until organic community relations dissolved into market relationships that the planet itself was reduced to a resource for exploitation. This centuries-long tendency finds its most exacerbating development in modern capitalism. Owing to its inherently competitive nature, bourgeois society not only pits humans against each other, it also pits the mass of humanity against the natural world. Just as men are converted into commodities, so every aspect of nature is converted into a commodity, a resource to be manufactured and merchandised wantonly. The plundering of the human spirit by the marketplace is paralleled by the plundering of the earth by capital." (excerpt from: Post Scarcity Anarchism, 1995, Murray Bookchin).

Economic growth in the USA is to plow up the natural world and build something that a Capitalist can profit from: Pro-economy is anti-ecology: I know well, for I was in the new home construction industry for 2 decades (BC), I witnessed deforestation for track home developments! When the Holy Spirit/God, Indwelled my Soul, I was transformed far beyond this world; no longer conformed to it, I could see what God shows all with Spiritual eyes to see (and ears to hear); that we are pilgrims merely passing thru; we therefore live (metaphorically) in tents, so that we are not trapped in debt and slave to materialism or money; we do not follow the lives/actions of the cultures elite, we instead, look to the Lord always. We never get bored; we do not need to be entertained by the Godless. We can meditate and fast; we can be alone with the Lord in the natural world and love it; we are content with the simple life; we can even be/live as monks! The Godless-religious get bored fast; they get bored with meditation and prayer; they get bored with religion and thus, limit it to Sunday and fickle meal-prayers. Even their hireling makes sure that his sermon does not go on too long, so that everyone can get to the mall! They buy all the (name-branded, look-at-me) things that the Godless buy; they follow the actions and the mentalities of the Godless, yet they're oblivious to doing so. Why? No Indwelling--no conversion--no conviction! They desperately want to fit into their culture; their social surroundings, and so they conform to it all, to win friends and influence people: Then to compensate for the guilt they feel, they attend weekly church; dump the kids into school rooms, pay their tithes, say their prayers, hail Mary's or whatever, and then live the rest of the week just as the Godless live (fully culturally indoctrinated). We do not have to become Amish, but we must be born again: Saved. This will be evidenced in the radical transformation of our lives (a Spiritual metamorphosis), and church attendance has zero to do with that. The evidence is in our lifestyle outside of the 2 hours at church! Likewise, church is not a business that opens its doors for "services" that they expect to collect from; like having optimal business operating hours. This is the secular world; they operate businesses to best maximize the bottom-line; they tailor all they do, to the client-base; they willingly compromise their original plans, for the money that they continue to spend increasingly, like addicts. The Fellowship of Believers is more like a family; we are all equal Brothers and Sisters in Christ; He and He alone is the Head, and we humans with the Indwelling Holy Spirit conquering our lives, are the Body; the bride, indeed!

So you; speak and do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, he that has showed no mercy, and mercy rejoices against judgment. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you says unto them: "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled"; notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body; what does it profit? Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say: You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils also believe, and tremble. Him that is weak in the faith, you receive, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believes that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eats herbs. {Herbs: vegetarians} Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him which eats not, judge him that eats: for God has received him. Who are you that judges another man's servant? To his own master he stands or falls.
Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. He that eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For, to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you set at naught your brother? For we shall all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ. For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not, therefore, judge one another anymore: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block; an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteems anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.But if your brother is grieved with your meat, you now do not walk charitably. Destroy not with your meat, him for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil spoken of: For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another. For meat cannot destroy the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eats with offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak. Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he that does not condemn himself in the things that He allowed. And he that doubts is damned if he eats, because he eats not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin. We then that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself; but, as it is written: The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on me. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded, one toward another, according to Christ Jesus: That you may, with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ!

  [Source: Article By Rich Preheim of the Religion News Service]

In the early 16th century, groups of European Christians started splitting from the Roman Catholic Church in what is now known as the Protestant Reformation. But while Protestants and Catholics were at odds, they had one thing in common: Anabaptism had to be eliminated. The Reformed Christians drowned Felix Manz, the first of thousands of Anabaptist martyrs over the next two centuries. The Catholics burned at the stake Michael Sattler, author of the first Anabaptist confession of faith. Even Martin Luther, who is credited with ushering in the Reformation, urged the execution of all Anabaptists as heretics. Such persecution helped drive the early Anabaptists; the spiritual ancestors of today's Mennonites, Amish and Hutterites, into isolation, suspicious of the rest of the world. But now nearly 500 years later, the Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed churches, the primary antagonists of Anabaptists in the 16th and 17th centuries, are seeking to make amends. "We all have black sheep in the family. We all have ancestors that we aren't proud of," said Bishop Joseph Martino, head of the Vatican-appointed delegation that last fall concluded five years of meetings with a group from Mennonite World Conference, the global Mennonite Fellowship. In addition to the Catholics, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Mennonite Church USA this spring finished a two-year series of meetings, and on June 26 the Reformed Church in Zurich, Switzerland, will hold a reconciliation ceremony with participation by Anabaptist descendants from around the world. The Protestant Reformation was born in 1517 when Catholic monk Martin Luther challenged the church by posting his 95 thesis in Wittenberg in what is now Germany. He went on to found the Lutheran church. Another pivotal development came in the early 1520s, when priest Ulrich Zwingli renounced Catholicism but remained in the pulpit of Zurich's main church, leading to the start of the Reformed movement. But some Christians thought Luther, Zwingli and other reformers did not go far enough. Particularly at issue was infant baptism. For generations, newborns had been baptized, but some believers argued that only adults can make a decision to follow Jesus Christ and join the church. Anabaptists insisted on believers' baptism (first conducted in Zurich in 1525) and refused to have their children baptized as babies. But the Anabaptist position, while religious, was also political. Baptism was not only into the church but also into citizenship in the state, since state and church were one, be they Catholic, Lutheran or Reformed. So rejecting infant baptism was seen as threatening the civic order. As a result, Anabaptists were severely persecuted, forcing them to frequently flee across Europe and eventually to the Americas in search of security to practice their faith. But that was then and this is now, according to church leaders. In fact, said Paul Schreck, ELCA associate for bilateral dialogue, many church members are unaware of that chapter of their church's history. "I think most Lutherans around the world would be horrified that their forebears put to the sword people who disagreed with them," he said. Both the Catholic and Lutheran dialogues covered many topics, but they also included repentance. In the final report of the Catholic-Mennonite meetings, released this spring, the Vatican delegation said Catholics "can express a penitential spirit, asking forgiveness for any sins which were committed against Mennonites, asking Gods mercy for that, and Gods blessing for a new relationship with Mennonites today."

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