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Luther also was known to engage in hyperbole.
The Anabaptists failed to transform Europe. If the pacifism and utopian radicalism of Anabaptism had been successful, it's likely that Europe would have fallen to the Turks, and chances are you and I would be Muslims.
Was that the goal of Christ to conquer the world or to transform nations? It is so disappointing to hear Protestants express so little faith and trust in the One they claim to follow. The Turks are no threat to true followers of Christ. With all the preaching and writing of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin they have failed to grasp the essence of overcoming evil with good and continue to follow the attitudes of the world rather than Jesus.
The best witness to the Anabaptist was one of their persecutors Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli's successor in Zurich, whose life-span covers the first fifty years of the history of the Swiss Anabaptists and who knew them so well that he published two extensive treatises against them in 1531 and 1561. According to Bullinger, the Swiss Brethren taught that:
"One cannot and should not use force to compel anyone to accept the faith, for faith is a free gift of God. It is wrong to compel anyone by force or coercion to embrace the faith, or to put to death anyone for the sake of his erring faith. It is an error that in the church and sword other than that of the divine Word should be used. The secular kingdom should be separated from the church, and no secular ruler should exercise authority in the church. The Lord has commanded simply to preach the Gospel, not to compel anyone by force to accept it. The true church of Christ has the characteristic that it suffers and endures persecution but does not inflict persecution upon anyone."
All of these thing that were rejected by the Protestants at that time have mostly been accepted now. In the last analysis freedom of religion which the Anabaptist taught and lived is a purely formal concept, barren of real content; it says nothing about the faith or the way of life of those who advocate it, nor does it reveal their goals or program of action. And Anabaptism had not only clearly defined goals but also an action program of definiteness and power. In fact the more intimately one becomes acquainted with this group the more one becomes conscious of the great vision that shaped their course in history and for which they gladly gave their lives.
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