Podcast appearances and mentions of felix manz

Over the past year, Carol has been digging into the faith practices of her spiritual ancestors — the Anabaptists. Her research led her to conclude that the early Anabaptists of the sixteenth century, many of whom were former Catholic priests, nuns, and clerics brought more with them from their Catholic background to their "new" convictions than we realize. One practice evidenced in the extant writings of early leaders like Menno Simons, Felix Manz, and Balthasar Hubmaier is called lectio divina.

Jason Landsel, author of a new graphic novel, Jason Landsel, author of a new graphic novel, talks about the Radical Reformation and its legacy. Peter and Susannah give a brief but lively summary of the story of the life of Felix Manz, one of the original Radical Reformers who was a founder of what would become the Anabaptist movement. His story, bound together with the story of Ulrich Zwingli, the Magisterial Reformer of Zurich, raises questions about the role of state authority in the life of the church, freedom of conscience, and the nature of conversion, which are still passionately debated today. Peter and Susannah speak with Jason about the political-theological issues involved, the role of humanism and the return to sources in the Reformation, and the personal story too: Manz had been Zwingli's protégé, almost his surrogate son, before he sentenced him to death. They discuss also the historical background to the debates over baptism and tithes and church membership and independence which fueled the drama of Felix's life, which involved a number of jailbreaks as well as intellectual ferment. The Ottoman armies were advancing, and Catholic Europe and the other Reformed areas were watching as this debate over the future of the Reformation played out in Zurich.

Episode 818 - Jason Interviews Richard Mommsen BY WATER: The Felix Manz Story - Plough Books - a compelling and timely story about young people standing up for truth against the corrupt political and religious leaders of their day - the first of a three-volume graphic novel series that dramatically and creatively evokes a little-known chapter in the history of Europe's Reformation. Five hundred years ago, in an age marked by war, plague, inequality, and religious coercion, there were people across Europe who dared to imagine a society of sharing, peace, and freedom of conscience.Buy It:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/by-water-jason-landsel/1141400522Our Merch https://comicsfunprofit.threadless.comPatreon https://www.patreon.com/comicsfunprofit Donations Keep Our Show Going, Please Give https://bit.ly/36s7YeL Thank you so much for listening and spreading the word about our little comic book podcast. All the C4FaP links you could ever need in one place https://beacons.ai/comicsfunprofit Listen To the Episode Here: https://comcsforfunandprofit.podomatic.com/

BUZZ BUZZ! Richard Mommsen and talk about the new nonfiction graphic narrative about a religious uprising led by Felix Manz. I thought our discussion was wildly pertinent considering today's political environment, and I really hope you all dig this and give the graphic novel a shot! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Would you die for your beliefs? Five hundred years ago, in an age marked by war, plague, inequality, and religious coercion, there were people across Europe who dared to imagine a society of sharing, peace, and freedom of conscience. These radicals were ready to die for their vision. They were executed by the thousands—by water, by fire, and by sword—in both Catholic and Protestant states. Next year, Plough Publishing House will present BY WATER: THE FELIX MANZ STORY, the first of a three-volume graphic novel series that dramatically and creatively evokes a little-known chapter in the history of Europe's Reformation. Written by Jason Landsel and featuring art by Sankha Banerjee, BY WATER is a compelling and timely story about young people standing up for truth against the corrupt political and religious leaders of their day. “Felix Manz was the son of a Catholic priest who became an unlikely leader and ultimately the very first martyr of the Radical Reformation,” said writer Jason Landsel. “BY WATER chronicles the real life conflict between Manz and his mentor, the establishment reformer Ulrich Zwingli. Manz revered Zwingli as a father figure, but ended up being drowned on Zwingli's orders for insisting that only believers should be baptized.” “This trilogy tells the story of the radicals from the Reformation period who tried to build an alternative society inspired by Gutenberg's Bible and Thomas More's Utopia,” said Plough Publishing House Editor Sam Hine. “These graphic novels skillfully combine historical figures and events with imagined scenes and encounters to create an ambitious, action-packed and historically accurate account of young people standing up for their convictions.” BY WATER: THE FELIX MANZ STORY will be published by Plough Publishing House on March 21, 2023 and will be followed by subsequent volumes titled BY FIRE and BY SWORD. Plough Publishing House, founded in 1920, is an independent publisher of books on faith, society, and the spiritual life. The company is based in Walden, New York with branches in the United Kingdom and Australia. Plough also publishes Plough Quarterly, a bold new magazine of stories, ideas, and culture to inspire faith and action. Jason Landsel is a New York-based writer and illustrator with a lifelong fascination with the history of social and religious radicalism. As a contributing art director to Plough Quarterly, his artwork is featured in a regular column of the magazine. He is a member of the Bruderhof, an Anabaptist community movement that traces its roots to the Radical Reformation. Sankha Banerjee has illustrated graphic novel adaptations of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Wind in the Willowsand well as graphic historical biographies of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Wright brothers. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lyon, France, and the India International Centre in Delhi. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Multimedia and Animation, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, India. Richard Mommsen, who assisted in historical research and scriptwriting for By Water, is also a videographer, podcast producer, and director of the Bruderhof's historical archives. For MOLLY on sale now! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/comics-in-motion-podcast/message

A new MP3 sermon from Currytown Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Felix Manz Subtitle: Outsiders Speaker: Jimmy Money Broadcaster: Currytown Baptist Church Event: Sunday School Date: 8/7/2022 Length: 32 min.

Eine Predigt der BewegungPlus Burgdorf mit Matthias Wenk

The Violence of Love, Part 5: Felix Manz was the first martyr of the Radical Reformation, drowned by his fellow Christians for performing adult baptisms. His story is a story of a world on fire with commitment to Christ, with friends who became enemies wrestling over nonviolence, justice for the poor, and the meaning of the gospel. Pete and Susannah discuss what his time has to say to ours. Then, they catch up with Rachel Pieh Jones, whose eighteen years living among Somali Muslims has taught her more than she could have imagined about her own Christian faith. Her book, Pillars, released recently with Plough Books, describes this journey of friendship and discovery. Pete and Susannah also talk about Bruderhof Easter Gardens, and almost-post-vaccination life in New York City. Read the transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For episode 4 of the "50 Baptists You Should Know" series, listen to hear about the rejection and martyrdom of Felix Manz who was drowned in Lake Zurich, and George Blaurock who was burned at the stake.

For episode 3 of the "50 Baptists You Should Know" series, listen to hear about the birth of the Anabaptists with three men, Conrad Grebel, George Blaurock, and Felix Manz, who defended their position against Huldrych Zwingli in Zurich, Switzerland at the Great Disputation of 1525.

On this day, we remember Edward the Confessor and Felix Manz. The reading is from Anne Locke, "Sonnet on the 51st Psalm." We’re a part of 1517 Podcasts, a network of shows dedicated to delivering Christ-centered content. Our podcasts cover a multitude of content, from Christian doctrine, apologetics, cultural engagement, and powerful preaching. Support the work of 1517 today.

This week, Dr. Ballard explores a pair of historical and biblical accounts about perseverance through danger and trials, the stories of Anabaptist leader Felix Manz and Mordecai from the Book of Esther. Both men's lives demonstrate what it means to stand for God's truth no matter the opposition, even when their very lives were put on the line.

Se puede rastrear con bastante certeza el origen del anabaptismo en la ciudad de Zurich, en medio de la comunidad de reformadores que seguían a Ulrico Zuinglio. Un grupo de creyentes que analizaban las Escrituras y que encontraban puntos de divergencia entre lo que pedía la Biblia y la práctica de la iglesia que se estaba reformando, trató de instar a Zuinglio de aplicar reformas más estrictas.  Ante la imposibilidad de Zuinglio de adelantar reformas más profundas, probablemente por las limitaciones políticas del reformador, este grupo se organizó en una especie de hermandad, entre quienes conformaban este grupo estaban Wilhelm Reublin (1484–1559), Felix Manz (1498–1527), John Brotli (1494–1528), Georg Blaurock (1492–1529) y Conrad Grebel (1498–1526).  Lo primero que hicieron al iniciar la comunidad fue aplicar el bautismo. Georg Blaurock, un ex sacerdote católico, le pidió a Conrad Grebel, un joven humanista de familia noble que hacía poco había vuelto de la Universidad de París, que lo bautizara. Una vez que Blaurock fue bautizado, hizo lo mismo con otros hermanos.  Pronto se le dio el apelativo a este grupo de "anabaptistas" o "rebautizadores". Este apelativo fue impuesto por aquellos que veían con escepticismo el hecho de que el grupo no considerara el bautismo infantil como válido. Mientras el grupo de anabaptistas crecía, empezaba a despertar una gran oposición tanto por católicos como por los reformadores. El pacifismo extremo que practicaban los anabaptistas se convirtió también en una molestia para quienes querían mantener el orden social y político. Las posturas iniciales que diferenciaban a los anabaptistas de los protestantes y católicos era el hecho de que creían que las autoridades seculares no debían gobernar o interferir en los asuntos de la iglesia. Pero la persecución oficialmente empezó en 1525, cuando los cantones suizos católicos empezaron a condenar a los anabaptistas con la pena capital. A esto le siguieron los cantones protestantes. En 1521, Carlos V decretó pena de muerte contra los anabaptistas y en 1529 se promulgó un decreto imperial contra el grupo. La cantidad de anabaptistas que murieron en este periodo fue enorme. Fueron quemados, torturados y ahogados, como una especie de condena por el hecho de “rebautizar”. Pero no todos los anabaptistas fueron pacifistas. Después de que la primera generación del movimiento pereció en la persecución, los anabaptistas se hicieron cada vez más radicales. Thomas Müntzer (1489–1525) unificó varias doctrinas anabaptistas con las ansias de justicia de los campesinos y lideró un movimiento que fue suprimido por los príncipes alemanes en 1525. Muchos anabaptistas siguieron su ejemplo, entre ellos Melchior Hoffman (1495–1544). Hoffman empezó a anunciar en Estrasburgo que la venida del Señor estaba cerca, que él sería encarcelado durante seis meses, que vendría el fin y que Estrasburgo sería la Nueva Jerusalén. Abandonó el pacifismo e instó a sus seguidores a luchar contra sus oponentes. Finalmente Hoffman es encarcelado, lo que incrementó su popularidad. Luego Hoffman dijo que la Nueva Jerusalén no sería ya Estrasburgo sino Munster. Pronto llegaron la suficiente cantidad de anabaptistas para tomar el control de la ciudad. Una de sus primeras medidas fue expulsar a los católicos. Pero finalmente las fuerzas católicas lograron retomar el control de la ciudad y los líderes anabaptistas fueron arrestados y ejecutados. Así concluyó el principal brote de anabaptismo revolucionario. Pronto, dentro del movimiento se empezó a considerar que el fracaso del movimiento estaría en el abandono de sus posturas pacifistas.

Learn about the Swiss Reformation, spearheaded by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich as well as the formation of the sect of Anabaptists known as the Swiss Brethren, including Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. Key events covered in this episode include: 1519 Ulrich Zwingli begins Reformation in Zurich 1529 Zwingli and Luther part ways over Read more about 118 Zwingli and the Swiss Anabaptists (Five Hundred 3)[…]

Learn about the Swiss Reformation, spearheaded by Ulrich Zwingli in Zurich as well as the formation of the sect of Anabaptists known as the Swiss Brethren, including Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, and George Blaurock. Key events covered in this episode include: 1519 Ulrich Zwingli begins Reformation in Zurich 1529 Zwingli and Luther part ways over Read more about 118 Zwingli and the Swiss Anabaptists (Five Hundred 3)[…]

Pastor Jeff Williams: July 24, 2011 Going Beyond, Part XIII, “Beyond Our Differences.” (A video is played at the beginning of the service that is shown in two parts. The link to Part 1 can be found here: http://www.sermonspice.com/bundle/27225/the-source-one-bundle.) We're going to talk about that this morning. We only have one week left in the “Going Beyond” series. Next week, we'll be talking about “Beyond Death,” and then that's it. We will be moving on to other things. This morning, I'm going to tell you a story about a man who was flying his airplane and got lost. He ended up having to land the airplane in the ocean near a deserted island where no man had ever set foot. There the plane sunk into the ocean. He swam to shore and lived there for decades until he was discovered. The rescuers came, and he gave them a tour of the island. He said, “Over here is my house. I built that with my own hands with the things I found on the island. It survived storms and all kinds of things. I've lived there for over 20 years. Here's the church I built. I thought it was important to worship God, so I built a church with my own hands. I would go there and pray, sing, and worship the Lord.” The rescuer asked, “Well, what's that third building over there?” He said, “Oh that. That's where I used to go to church.” Even when you're on an island by yourself, apparently there are splits in the church, ha? That's where I used to go to church. I laugh about that story; it's funny, but when we really see division in the church, it's ugly. It's far from the cry of Jesus, the prayer of Jesus, that the church is one. One thing that really saddened my heart was years ago, we had the Day of Compassion. That's not what saddened my heart; that was a good thing. We pooled together a lot of churches from the area. We, as a church, were very involved. I served as a coordinator to bring together volunteers and also to sign new churches up and get churches involved. We had many, many churches from Rock County join us. We fed like 6,000 people. They had checkups, screenings, and haircuts. They took food home, and it was a wonderful thing. As we had our rally to kick things off, there was a gentleman out there handing out a brochure made specifically for the Day of Compassion. It was a rebuke basically saying, “Shame on you, bible-preaching churches, for fellowshipping with churches that are here like the Presbyterians who believe that you cannot lose your salvation. Shame on you for associating with Lutheran churches here. They baptize infants, and you should have nothing to do with the Lutherans. Shame on you for having Catholics here. Shame on you for associating with the Catholics.” On and on the list went of all the groups we should not be in fellowship with. It read that we should not have been joining together to help the poor and feed the hungry, and it said how wrong that was. I read that tailor-made brochure for that event and just shook my head. I thought, “How blind. How wrong that is!” Today we're going to talk about “Going Beyond Our Differences.” When differences lead to division and destruction, it's always because we have taken the secondary and put it in the place of the primary. We take the secondary, take the lesser, and put it at equal or greater than that which is most important. We see this in life. We'll talk about theology for a moment, but we see that happen in life. Whenever you see it happen in life, you see bad results come from it. Let me give you some examples from it. Let's start with some trivial things-well, it's trivial for some of us. For some of us, it's really important. One: [We see it when] players and owners put their own personal interests over the sport they represent, and we're seeing that right now and wondering if we're going to have football season or a basketball season this year. You say, “Put the game first. Don't put your pocketbook first.” Two: We see it with curiosity over safety. What's more important? Your safety or curiosity? We heard the tragic story in the news this week of the woman who just became so curious about what it would be like to step into the water at Yosemite. She lost her footing and two others came in to save her and lost their footing, and down the Falls they went. We were at Yosemite this past week, in fact, just a few days before that happened. We rafted in the Merced River. I can tell you: we got stuck on a little tree, and I had to get out of my raft to get us loose. I was only in a few inches of water, and I could feel the power. It looked pretty calm, but when I got in it, I was like, “Wow! This is intense for not being very deep.” I got the raft loose and got back in. We had to climb out at a certain point before the River got treacherous. He said, “Stay to the left.” Man, I was staying to the left with everything I had while getting out of that raft. There are people who take chances and people who get to the edge because they want to see over and see what's down there. There are guard rails there, and they're there for a reason. Sometimes hikers will get over the edge, get over those boundaries, just to see. They're curious as to what it looks like down there. They'll lose their footing, and that's it. We put curiosity over safety. Three: Partisan politics over moving the country forward. What is more important: moving the country forward or your party, your district? What is more important? Yet, this happens. I think maybe the last time we saw this happen was in, what? 1954? Or was it yesterday? I think it was yesterday, and it's probably going to be tomorrow too. It's very discouraging for us to witness. Let's look at some more examples. I just put these in random order. Four: Parents put business over family. We're not to sacrifice our families on the altar of career ambition, yet many do. Business is there as a tool. It's there to provide for your family. It's not to become your family. It's not to become your spouse, so for many it consumes them. Family gets the leftovers, so that's a missed priority. Five: Pleasure of the palate over our health. I'm talking primarily about the 11 o'clockers who are going to come in. I know you guys have no problem with that. That late crowd-they're probably coming to church late because they're out eating somewhere. When we were on vacation, we found this chocolate brownie sundae. That was amazing! We felt like we were entitled to that every night. We all shared it. It was like a huge bowl, and we'd all eat out of it, but still… It was like, “Well, we know this isn't good for us to have every day, but we are on vacation.” Honestly, we make choices to put things in our mouths because they taste good, but it comes at the cost of our health sometimes. That's just a fact. Six: Pleasing to our eyes over staying within our means. Something looks good-that vacation in Europe looks good. “I don't have the money, so I'm going to take out a loan to go.” “Boy, that boat sure looks good.” “That convertible looks good.” Whatever it is that's tripping your trigger, “It looks good and I have to have it, but I can't afford it,” America does that very well. We're sky high in debt because we make decisions like this. Let's look at a couple more. Seven: Political ideology over the value of human life. That's right out of the headlines. [This week we heard] the terrible story in Norway of a man who, because of his political beliefs, felt it was necessary for him to take and kill innocent young people. How in the world do we get so twisted that we think our political ideology is more important than the life of a human being? It's hard to imagine. Eight: We come to matters of secondary doctrine over primary doctrine. That's where we see divisions; that's where we see churches split. That's where we see Christians fighting with each other and saying, “I'm not going to associate with you anymore. I'm not going to have fellowship with you anymore.” We take secondary doctrine and put it over primary. First of all, we have to understand what primary doctrine is. The Bible is very clear that there is primary doctrine. There is Truth that is the most important Truth. We're going to talk about what that is. It's clearly identified and defined for us in Scripture. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:3 (page 1139 of pew Bibles). Paul says, “For what I received I passed on to you…” Whenever Paul says that-for what I received-we know from other Passages he is talking about direct revelation from Jesus Christ. He's saying, “I didn't get this secondhand. I wasn't taught this by man. I received this through direct revelation and understanding from the Lord Himself. What I'm about to say is from the throne of Heaven (Verse 3), “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance…” In the Greek, it means of number one rank or number one priority. Paul is clearly defining that Truth that is most important. He is saying, “If you want to be a Christian, if you want to be counted as a New Testament believer, what I'm about to say is absolutely essential for you to understand and receive.” “For what I received I passed on to you…” that it's important you understand that the gifts of the Spirit ended at the time of the Apostles and there's going to be Pre-trib [ulation] Rapture. Is that what it says? No. What is the most important thing? “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared…” Paul says, “There are several things you need to understand. Number one, He is the Christ. He is the Son of the Living God, the Divine Son of God, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophesies. He is the Christ; He is the anointed One. He is the Messiah. He died for our sins. He is the Savior of the world. He rose from the dead. He really died and He really rose.” He said, “According to the Scripture,” he stressed that over and over again, “the Scriptures have divine authority in our lives. They are revelation from God.” Friends, that is the most important doctrine: 1.) Who is Jesus? 2.) What did He do? And 3.), understand that the Bible is the Word of God, and it's our authority. This is a special Book. It says, “The Holy Bible.” Do you know what the word Holy means? It means different. It comes from the root word hagios. It's a different Book because it was written by the hand of God. Paul makes it very clear: here is what is the most important. There are secondary doctrines as well. I think I'm safe to say that if we were to lay out all these secondary doctrines and discuss them, there are probably no two people in this room that are going to believe exactly the same about each of these secondary doctrines. The core doctrines that I've just read-the vast majority of us-somewhere in the upper 90 percentile-say, “Yes, I believe that. Yes, I stand on that.” But, in these secondary doctrines, sometimes it could be as much as 50/50 in this room. It might be “I'm this. I'm that.” Or, many of you would check, “I don't care. It's not important to me.” Let's look at some of those secondary doctrines. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these. We're just going through them. 1.) Eternal Security. Can a Christian lose their salvation? Once saved, always saved. There are denominations that form over this. There are churches of the centuries. There are churches that have split over this doctrine. There are Christians that don't talk to each other over this doctrine. The second coming is really important to many people. “When is Jesus going to come back? How is He going to come back? Is there going to be rapture, or isn't there going to be rapture? Is there going to be a millennium? Isn't there going to be a millennium? Is Revelations symbolic? Is Revelations already fulfilled? Is it for the future? Is there an anti-Christ? Who is he?” There are all these questions about the second coming. Some churches will put it in their sign. “Welcome. Here are our service times, and here is what we believe about the endtimes.” It will be right on their sign. “If you want to be a member here, you have to believe this about the end times. It's extremely important.” Everything revolves around their views of the second coming. 2.) The gifts of the Spirit is another one. Are the gifts of the Spirit operational today, or were they only around for when the Apostles were here? Is there such a thing as a miracle today? Is there such a thing as the prophetic today? Does God still use the gifts of tongues? Does God still use words of knowledge? Does He still speak through the Spirit to the churches, or is that something that is gone? On each of these views we've mentioned so far, I know for a fact there are people who believe different things about these right here in this church and have been here for years. They're worshipping side by side the same Lord, and I think that's a strength. I know that's a strength of this church. We major in the majors. The gifts of the Spirit, are they operational today? There are divisions, denominations, and factions in churches over that issue. 3.) The sacraments-communion and baptism. Baptism-do we immerse all the way, or do we sprinkle? Is it for infants? Is it for adults? I remember a lady who had really long hair. She told me she had to be baptized seven times. I asked, “Why did you have to be baptized seven times?” She said, “Because my church believes that unless you're fully immersed, it doesn't count. The tips of the follicles of my hair would come out. They couldn't get me deep enough in the baptismal for all of my hair to go under.” People all around her were holding her hair down so it would count. There is an entire denomination that teaches that unless you are baptized and the minister says, “In Jesus' name,” during the baptism, it doesn't count and you're not saved. Going back to the gifts of the Spirit, there are people who believe that unless you speak in tongues, you're not a Christian and you're not saved. We're going to have baptisms today at our picnic. There are going to be some adults that are going to be baptized because they have repented of their sins. They have made a commitment to Christ. Did you know that what we're going to do today, centuries ago, Christians were killed for that? Did you know that? There was a reformation and a man by the name of Zwingli who got some guys named Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz. They were the founders of the antibaptists from which many of our denominations have sprung from. They said, “You know, Mr. Zwingli, we're not seeing infant baptism in the Bible. We don't remember it. We didn't give our permission. Why can't we get baptized again because of our faith?” They started to do that then. Antibaptist means to be re-baptized. They didn't like that term because they felt like it was their first baptism. That was their conviction. They got so up in arms that Zwingli ordered the execution of 5,000 Christians. Do you know how they died? They were drowned. Felix Manz and others were drowned because they were baptized as adults. That is so sad. Murder was committed in the name of Christ. It's hard to imagine. Communion-it should be something that unites us, right? Yet, there is division over communion. Is it the Body of Christ, or is it just symbolic of the Body of Christ? Is it just the power, the essence of Jesus in the elements; or is it just memorial? There are churches and denominations that have split on that topic. 4.) The role of women in the church. Should they teach in the church? Can they teach? Can they be pastors, elders, deacons? What is their role? Should they be silent in the church? We've had people leave our church and say, “You have women in positions of authority. I can't worship with you,” and they left our church. 5.) What is the nature of hell and demons? Can a Christian be possessed? Are there demons today? Do they possess people? I put etc because there are all kinds of other theological differences we have. Then there are other differences. Besides theological differences, let's take a look at that list. There are differences such as political points of view. Do you know that at Faith Community Church, we actually have Republicans, Democrats, and Independents worshipping together (congregation laughing)? There are educational-and I'm not going to tell you who is who-differences in this church. Some of us have degrees. Some of us dropped out of high school. What does the Bible say about our educational differences? There are socioeconomic differences. We have some who are affluent, most of us who are middle-class, and others who are really struggling. There are cultural differences. We bring out culture into our worship. I've worshipped with a few different cultures. I've appreciated them all. When I'm on vacation, we love to go to African American churches because they're so friendly. They're so lively, and their choir is powerful. The preaching is entirely different. I can't preach in that style. The congregation talks back. We're quiet in here; it's our culture, but they're talking back to their preacher. It's a conversation going on back and forth. It's not my thing, but I enjoy it. I enjoy being a part of it. One Sunday we were in a church in New Jersey. We were the only white people in the church. They said, “Any first time visitors today?” (Congregation is laughing.) We were sitting in the back, and everyone turned and looked at us and smiled. Then I smiled, and we had a great time. When we worship with the Haitians, they bring their culture. When we worship with the Dominicans, they bring their Latin culture. When we worshipped with the Swedes, they brought their culture-which was different than any of the above. It's one Body of Christ, but in some cultures, it affects how we dress. What is acceptable? Each culture is very different. In our culture today, there is fighting in the church among dress. There are churches that you have to wear a suit and tie to. You have to wear a nice dress because you have to look your best for God. I appreciate that. I understand where they're coming from. Others will say some people won't come to church because they don't want to come to a fashion show. The Bible doesn't talk about how we're supposed to dress when we come to church. It doesn't say anything about that. Maybe God didn't think it was that important. They say we can just come comfortably-dressed. There are two different schools of thought on that. What music do we have in our church? That's cultural. [There are churches where] all you can have is an organ, or you may have no music. Some churches have that culture-no instruments. Others say, “We can have guitar. We can have drums, but we just can't have it too loud.” Others are all out like you're going to a rock concert. I suppose one of these days some churches are going to have rap. That's where we draw the line right there! No rap in the church! I'm sure it's probably going on somewhere. We bring our culture. We have racially-different ethnic backgrounds. We have philosophical differences. How should we govern the church? What's our target audience? How do we reach that target audience? Where do we allocate our resources? There are all kinds of differences: theological, cultural, gender, socioeconomic. You name it, we have all these differences. How, then, do we overcome all those differences? By making the main thing the main thing-by keeping that which is primary, primary. I'd like us to look at some Scriptures this morning, and I want to read them in succession because I want you to see the commonality of these key Scriptures. First is Galatians 3:28 (page 1153 in pew Bibles). Paul writes and says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek…” It doesn't matter your nationality. “…slave nor free…” It doesn't matter your socioeconomic status. “…male or female…” It doesn't matter your gender. “…for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Let's look at another in Colossians 3:11 (page 1167). The Apostle Paul writes these words, “Here…” in the Church. “…there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” Now what is a Scythian? A Scythian was a barbarian. This was identifying a particular kind of barbarian. When we think of barbarians, we think of Conan the Barbarian and axes and spears and blood and guts-at least I do. Really, the word or the title barbarian comes from how they talked. It used to be said that when they talked, it sounded like they were saying, “Bar, bar, bar, bar,” so that's how it came to be called barbarian. It sounds like they're babbling because they were uneducated, uncivilized. Barbarian was code for uneducated, uncivilized. The Scythians lived in the area that is now Russia. They were pretty much warrior nomads, and they were looked down upon, “You're not educated like the Jews and the Greeks. You're barbarians! You can't even talk correctly!” We talked about educational differences. Paul was saying at the cross the barbarian is welcome. At the cross, the uncivilized, the uneducated, can come and receive the same gift as the educated. Basically, he's saying, “God takes away all of those barriers and all those labels, and He replaces them with the words brother and sister when we are in Christ.” In the Book of Ephesians 4:4-6 (page 1158), there are powerful Verses that Pastor Jesse read. “There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” What is the emphasis there? What is the key word in that Passage? One. There may be many denominations, but there is only one church. There may be many different splits of churches, offshoots, and factions, but there is only one faith, one universal faith. What we have in common is greater than our differences. As I look out over this sanctuary, I see all different kinds of people. There are people who are young, and there are people who are not so young. Some of us are thin; some of us are not so thin. Some of us are introverts; some of us are extroverts. Some of us are musical; some of us are mechanical. Some of us are athletic; some of us are creative, administrative. There are just all kinds of temperaments, all kinds of talents, all kinds of different passions; yet at the core of our very being, what are we? [We are] human beings made in the image of God and unique expressions of the living God. The same is true in the church. Each denomination or each group has a different expression of what the church is supposed to be. This group over here teaches us the value of reaching lost people. Every time they go in there, it's an evangelistic kind of message, and altar call. This group over here teaches us about the importance of reaching out to the poor and ministering to those who are victims of society. Then there is another group that teaches us the importance of holiness and quiet reverence and worship. There is another group that teaches us to celebrate and have joy. There is another group over here that teaches us the importance of rightly dividing the Word of Truth. There is another group over here that teaches us about the power of the Spirit. This group over here teaches us that we need to minister to the homeless and reach out to the sick. This group over here emphasizes community and loving one another. Friends, they are all unique expressions of the Body of Christ, and they're all important; but those differences we have should not divide us. It's okay to say, “This is my style preference, and I have this set of belief on this secondary doctrine.” But to say, “I will not fellowship with you,” or “our church will not work with you,” or “we don't see you as Christians even though you believe 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 with all of your heart and you're sincerely seeking to follow Christ, because I differ with you on this peripheral doctrine and this secondary doctrine; because you dress this way and worship this way, I must disassociate with you” is wrong and unbiblical. What you are doing is you are taking secondary doctrine and you are placing it over primary doctrine. You and I are saying what is different is greater than what unites us. What is different is greater than what we have in common is our belief in who Jesus is, what He accomplished, and the importance of Scripture. When we do that, friends, division, destruction, and ineffectiveness happen. We could do so much more together. The Day of Compassion is just one example of that. Could this church- 650 or 700 people-have fed that many thousands of people, shared the Gospel with that many thousands of people? We would have had to be in 100 percent, and I still don't think we could have done that. In fact, I know we couldn't have. It took all of those churches pooling their resources together. Love in the Name of Christ is an ongoing ministry that came forth from that. Still today, all these churches in the community are working together to accomplish the same objectives. We can do so much more together than we can apart. When we take that which is secondary and we elevate it above that which is primary, we are saying, “These things down here are more important than the things that God has said are the most important.” That's wrong, and that's unbiblical. That's not the kind of church we are. Let's listen now to the second part of this media as he wraps this illustration up and just ties this message together for us. Let's watch the conclusion now (here's the link to the second part of the video: http://www.sermonspice.com/bundle/27225/the-source-one-bundle.) Father, this message is something vitally important to the Body of Christ. Your prayer is that we are one. Lord, many times we are divided over things that should not divide us. We must focus on that which unites us, that which we have in common, that which is the greatest; that is our faith in who You are, what You did, and the fact that You are Lord. Father, I pray that we as a church would continue to form bonds with other believers to mend fences with believers where there has been division and shouldn't have been. I pray that we will make things right and be able to have unity in the midst of our diversity. Father, we thank You for the unique gift to the Body of Christ, what each group brings to the table, what they all teach us and how together we are unique expressions of a whole. For Christ cannot be separated; His body is One. Help us now to apply what we have learned and live it. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. (This is a link to the video played at the end of the service today: http://www.strengthteam.com/outreach/content/development).

This episode is titled, Taking It Further.History, or I should say, the reporting of it, shows a penchant for identifying one person, a singular standout as the locus of change. This despite the recurring fact there were others who participated in or paralleled that change. Such is the case with Martin Luther and the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli. While Luther is the “historic bookmark” for the genesis of the Reformation, in some ways, Zwingli was ahead of him.Born in Switzerland in 1484, Ulrich Zwingli was educated in the best universities and  ordained a priest.  Possessing a keen mind, intense theological inquiry coupled to a keen spiritual struggle brought him to a genuine faith in 1516, a year before Luther tacked his 95 thesis to Wittenberg's door.  Two yrs later, Zwingli arrived in Zurich where he spent the rest of his life. By 1523, he was leading the Reformation in Switzerland.Zwingli's preaching convinced Zurich's city council to permit the clergy to marry. They abolished the Mass and banned images and statues in public worship. They dissolved the monasteries and severed ties with Rome. Recognizing the central place the Bible was to have in the Christian life, the Zurich reformers published the NT in their own vernacular in 1524 and the entire Bible 6 yrs later; 4 yrs before Luther's German translation was available.Zwingli didn't just preach a Reformation message, he lived it. He married Anna Reinhart in 1522.In one important respect, Zwingli followed the Bible more specifically than Luther. Martin allowed whatever the Bible did not prohibit. Zwingli rejected whatever the Bible did not prescribe. So the Reformation in Zurich tended to strip away more traditional symbols of the Roman church: the efficacy of lighting candles, the use of statues and pictures as objects of devotion, even church music was ended. Later, in England, these reforms would come to be called “Puritanism.”But more than the application of Reformation principles, Zwingli's bookmark in history is pegged to the Eucharistic controversy his teaching stirred. He was at the center of a major theological debate concerning the Lord's Table. Between 1525 and 8, a bitter war of words was waged between Zwingli and Luther. During this debate, Luther would write a tract and Zwingli would reply. Then Zwingli would pen a treatise and Luther would reply. This went back and forth for 3 yrs. It was a war fought with pamphlets as the ammunition.Both sides rejected the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation—that the prayer of a duly authorized priest transformed the elements into the literal body and blood of Christ. Their disagreement centered on Jesus' words, “This is My body.” Luther and his followers adopted the position known consubstantiation, which says Jesus is present “in, with, and under” the elements and taking Communion spiritually strengthens the believer.Zwingli and his supporters regarded this as an unnecessary compromise with the doctrine of transubstantiation. They said Jesus' words had to be understood symbolically. The elements represented Jesus' blood and body, and Communion was merely a memorial.  An important memorial to be sure, but the bread and wine were just symbols.The debate remains to this day.It should be noted that during his last years, Zwingli seems to have moved to a new position in regard to Communion. He came to recognize a spiritual presence of Christ in the elements, though reducing the idea to words is a proposition   far beyond the capacity of this podcast to do. This later position of Zwingli was the position of Philip Melanchthon, Luther's assistant and spiritual heir.Following hundreds of years of tradition, Zwingli, along with many other Reformers, believed the State and Church should reinforce one another in the work of God; there should be no separation. That's why the Reformation became increasingly political and split Switzerland into Catholic and Protestant cantons, and eventually saw all of Europe carved up into differing religious regions. The terrible Wars of Religion were the result.Switzerland at that time was a network of 13 counties called cantons. These were loosely federated and basically democratic. Culturally, the north and east were German, while the west was French, and the south was Italian. The Reformation spread from Zurich, chief city of the capital canton, to the rest of German Switzerland, who were nevertheless reluctant to come under the politic al control of Zurich. Several cantons remained militantly Roman Catholic and resisted Zwingli's influence for largely economic reasons.As political tensions grew, several Protestant cantons formed the Christian Civic League. Feeling pressed and threatened, the Catholic cantons also organized and allied themselves with the king of Austria. A desire to avoid war led to the First Peace of Kappel in 1529. But as often happens, once a treaty was hammered out, the only option left was war. Sure enough, two yrs later, five Roman Catholic cantons attacked Zurich, which was unprepared.  Zwingli fought as a common soldier in the Battle of Kappel in 1531 and died in the field.The Second Peace of Kappel hammered out at the end of the year prohibited further spread of the Reformation in Switzerland. Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli's son-in-law, took over leadership of the Protestant cause in Zurich and enjoyed great influence across Europe.An important aspect of Zwingli's impact on the Reformation was that he cast it along civic lines, with a view to establishing a model Christian community. He persuaded the city council to legislate various details of the Reformation. He aimed at political reform as well as spiritual regeneration.The inter-canton struggles of this period led to the growing independence of the city of Geneva, which became the home of John Calvin, the other great Reformation luminary. The Swiss Reformation and Zwinglian movement ended up merging with Calvinism later in the 16th C.Often overlooked in a review of the Reformation are those we might call the REAL reformers – better known as the radical reformers.Not all those who broke with Rome agreed with Zwingli, Luther, or Calvin. As early as 1523 in Zurich, there were those whose vision of Reform outstripped Zwingli's. This movement coalesced around 2 leaders: Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz.On the 21st of Jan, 1525, a little group met in the home of Felix Manz. The Zurich City Council had just ordered Grebel and Manz to stop teaching the Bible. Four days earlier the Council ordered parents to baptize their babies within eight days of birth or face exile. But a group of Zurich's citizens questioned the practice of infant baptism. They met in Manz's home to decide what to do. After a time of prayer, they agreed they'd obey what their conscience told them God's Word said and trust Him to work things out. In an immediate application of that decision, a former priest named George Blaurock asked Conrad Grebel to baptism him in the fashion modeled in the Book of Acts. So, upon confession of His faith in Christ, Grebel baptized him, then Blaurock and Grebel together baptized the others.Anabaptism, another important expression of the Protestant Reformation, was born.As a term, anabaptist means “to baptize again.” The Anabaptists stressed believer's baptism, as opposed to infant baptism. But the term “Anabaptist” refers to diverse groups of Reformers, many of whom embraced radical social, political, economic, and religious views. Some Anabaptist groups are known as the Swiss Brethren, the Mennonites, Hutterites, and the Amish. While those names may conjure up images of buggies, overalls, bonnets and long beards, it's important to recognize that the Anabaptist tradition lies at the heart of a far larger slice of the Christian and Protestant world. Many modern groups and independent local churches could rightly be called Anabaptist in the bulk of their theology, though ignorant of their spiritual heritage.While the theology of the Anabaptist groups ended up being widely spread across the doctrinal spectrum, their main stream adhered to the sound, expository teaching of the Scriptures, the Trinity, justification by faith, and the atonement of Christ. What got them in trouble with some of their Reformation brethren was their rejection of infant baptism, which both Catholic and most other Protestant groups affirmed. They argued for a gathered, voluntary church concept as opposed to a State church.  They advocated a separation of church and state and adopted pacifism and nonviolent resistance. They said Christians should live communally and share their material possessions. Counter-intuitively to all this, they preached and practiced a strict form of church discipline. Any one of these would mark them as distinct from other Reformation groups; but taken together, the Anabaptists were destined to run into trouble with Lutherans and Calvin's followers.That's what happened in Zurich. Zwingli's reforming zeal produced an intolerance of his disciples Grebel and Manz who simply wanted to take the reforms further. They tried to convince Zwingli to follow thru into a genuine NT pattern, but all they did was provoke him to urge the City Council to fine, imprisoned, and eventually martyr them and their followers.The rise of Anabaptism ought to have been no surprise. Revolutions nearly always spin off a radical fringe that feels its destiny is to reform the reformation. Really, that's what Anabaptism was; a voice calling moderate reformers to take it further; to go all the way into a genuine NT model.Like most such movements, the Anabaptists lacked cohesion. By lifting up the Bible as their sole authority, they resisted framing a cogent set of doctrinal distinctives. That meant the movement fragmented into several theological streams with no single body of doctrine and no unifying organization prevailing among them. Even the name “Anabaptist” was pinned on them by their enemies and was meant to class them as radicals at best and at worst, dangerous heretics. The campaign to slander them worked well.In reality, the Radical Reformers rejected the idea of “rebaptism” they were accused of because they never considered the ceremonial sprinkling of infants as valid. They preferred to be called simply “Baptists.” But the fundamental issue wasn't baptism. It was the nature of the Church and its relation to civil government.The Radical Reformers came to their convictions as other Protestants had; by reading the Bible. Luther taught that common people had a right to read, understand and apply the Scriptures for themselves, they didn't need some specially-trained church hierarchy to do all that for them. So, little groups of Anabaptists gathered around their Bibles.Picture a home Bible study. They discover in the pages of Scripture a very different world from the one the official church had concocted in their day. There was no state-church alliance in the Bible, no so-called “Christendom.” Rather, the Church was comprised of local, autonomous communities of believers drawn together by their faith in Jesus and nurtured by local pastors. And while that seems like a massive “Duh!” to many non-denominational Evangelicals today, it was a revolutionary idea in the 16th C.You see, though Luther stressed a personal faith for each believer, Lutheran churches were understood as linked together to form THE Church of Germany. Clergy were ordained by a spiritual hierarchy and the entire population of a region were de-facto members of that region's church. The Church looked to the State for salary and support. In those years, Protestantism differed little from Catholicism in terms of its relationship to the civil authority. If the State was society's arm with the strength to enforce, the Church was its heart and mind with the insight to inspire and inform.Or, think of it this way, for 16th C Catholicism, Lutheranism and Calvinism, in society, the State was the body, the Church was the soul. They saw the Radical Reformers insistence that the Church and State were separate as creating a headless monster destined to do great harm.The Radical Reformers, as we'd suspect, responded with Scripture. Hadn't Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world? Hadn't he told Peter to put away his sword? And besides, hadn't history amply proven that secular, civil power corrupts the Church? All true, but it seems reason and evidence didn't endear the Radical Reformers to their opponents.The Anabaptists wanted to reinstall “apostolic Christianity” by which they meant, the Faith as practiced in the NT, where the only members of the Church were those who were genuinely born again, not everyone who happened to be born in a province with a Christian prince.The True Church, they insisted, is always and only a community of dedicated disciples seeking to live faithfully in the midst of a wicked world.So that little group that gathered in Manz's home in January 1525 knew what they were doing was a violation of Zurich's city council. Persecution was sure to follow. Shortly after the baptism they withdrew from Zurich to the nearby village of Zollikon. There, late in January, the first Anabaptist congregation, the first free church in modern times, was born.The authorities in Zurich couldn't overlook what they deemed blatant rebellion. They sent police to Zollikon and arrested the newly baptized and imprisoned them for a time. But as soon as they were released the Anabaptists went to neighboring towns where they made more converts.Time and warnings passed and the Zurich council ran out of patience. A little over a year later they declared anyone found re-baptizing would be put to death by drowning. “If the heretics want water, they can have it.” Another year went by when the council followed thru on their threat and in Jan, 1527, Felix Manz was the 1st Anabaptist martyr. The authorities drowned him in the Limmat. Just 4 yrs later, the Anabaptists in and around Zurich were virtually wiped out.Many fled to Germany and Austria where their prospects weren't any better. In 1529, the Imperial Diet of Speyer declared Anabaptism a heresy and every region of Christendom was obliged to condemn them to death. Between 4 and 5 thousand were executed over the next several years.The Anabaptists had a simple demand: That a person have a right to his/her own beliefs. What we may not realize is that while that seems an imminently reasonable and assumed axiom for us—it was an idea bequeathed TO US by them! It's not at all what MOST people thought in the 16th C. No way! No how! The Radical Reformers seemed to Moderate Reformers like Luther and Zwingli to be destroying the very fabric of society. There was simply little conception of a society that wasn't shaped by the Church's influence on the State with the State's enforcement of Church policy.We hear the Anabaptist voice in a letter written by a young mother, to her daughter only a few days old. è It's 1573, and the father has already been executed. The mother, in jail, was reprieved long enough to give birth to her child. She writes to urge her daughter not to grow up ashamed of her parents: “My dearest child, the true love of God strengthen you in virtue, you who are yet so young, and whom I must leave in this wicked, evil, perverse world. à Oh, that it had pleased the Lord that I might have brought you up, but it seems that it is not the Lord's will.… Be not ashamed of us; it is the way which the prophets and the apostles went. Your dear father demonstrated with his blood that it is the genuine faith, and I also hope to attest the same with my blood, though flesh and blood must remain on the posts and on the stake, well knowing that we shall meet hereafter.”Persecution forced the Anabaptists north. Many of them found refuge on the lands of a tolerant prince in Moravia. There they founded a Christian commune called the Bruderhof which lasted for many years.A tragic event happened among the Anabaptists in the mid-1530's that's another frequent historical trait. The very thing the Lutherans feared, happened.In 1532, the Reformation spread rapidly throughout the city of Munster. A conservative Lutheran group was the first form of the Reformation to take root there. Then immigrants arrived who were Anabaptist apostles of a shadowy figure named Jan Matthis. What we know about him was written by his critics so he's cast as a fanatic who whipped the Munster officials into a fury of excitement that God was going to set up his kingdom on earth with Munster as the capital.The bishop of the region massed his troops to besiege the city and the Anabaptists uncharacteristically defended themselves. During the siege, the more extreme leaders gained control of the city. Then in the Summer of 1534 Jan of Leiden, seized control and declared himself sole ruler. He claimed to receive revelations from God for the city's victory. He instituted the OT practice of polygamy and took the title “King David.”With his harem “King David” lived in splendor, but was able to maintain morale in the city in spite of massive hunger due to the siege. He kept the bishop's army at bay until the end of June, 1535. The fall of the city brought an end to his and the Anabaptist's rule. But for centuries after, many Europeans equated the word “Anabaptist” with the debacle of the Munster Rebellion. It stood for wild-eyed, religious fanaticism.Munster was to the Anabaptists what the televangelist scandals of the 80's were to Evangelicalism; a serious black eye, that in no way reflected their real beliefs. In the aftermath of Munster, the dispirited Anabaptists of Western Germany were encouraged by the work of Menno Simons. A former priest, Menno visited the scattered Anabaptist groups of northern Europe, inspiring them with his preaching. He was unswerving in commanding pacifism. His name in time came to stand for the Mennonite repudiation of violence.As we end this episode, I want to recommend if anyone wants a much fuller treatment of the Munster Rebellion, let me suggest you visit the Hardcore History podcast titled Prophets of Doom. This podcast by Dan Carlin is an in-depth 4½ hr long investigation of this chapter of Munster's story.