The Signs of the Times – #40
The Catholic Conquest of America (USA) – part 3
Originally Posted, Sept. 1, 2014.
Quotes of the Times:
“The Lutheran state church became a persecuting church.” V. Norskov Olsen, Papal Supremacy and American Doctrine, (Loma Linda University Press, Loma Linda, CA) p. 131.
“He that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, let him be put to death.” Martin Luther, quoted by, Leonard Verduin, The Anatomy of a Hybrid, The Christian Hymnary Publishers, Sarasota, Florida. p. 195.
“We ask for forgiveness — from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers — for the harm that our forebears in the sixteenth century committed to Anabaptists.” Official Statement of the Lutheran World Federation, The Presbyterian Outlook, November 18, 2009.
When historians assemble their ‘mighty river’ – the river that supposedly knocked the monolithic edifice down, and set the captives free, they usually identify the Protestant Reformation as being the main tributary of that river. They point to the heroes of the Reformation; Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Knox etc., as the ‘fathers of religious freedom’ (from which all other freedoms flow). But this is a case of a half-truth telling a lie. It is true that freedom of conscious is a product of the Protestant Reformation, but it is not true that Luther, Calvin, Zwingle Knox, etc. were the ‘heroes’ who fought for it. In fact, they fought against it.
It is not generally recognized that the Protestant Reformation split into two main divisions; one division was the party known as ‘the Magisterial Reformers’ and the other division was the party known as ‘the Radical Reformers.’ The Magisterial Reformers were the party that looked to the magistrate to further their agenda and goals. They wanted to use the power of the state to govern the religious life of society. Therefore, they worked to set up state churches, wherein the church was intimately intertwined with the state and vice versa. This meant that the power of the state could be used to regulate who was a Christian ‘in good and regular standing’ in the community – in other words, the Magisterial Reformers had the same platonic/sacral mind-set as those in the Roman Catholic Church that, they were supposedly reforming. Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Knox and the other ‘heroes’ of the Protestant Reformation, that we hear so much about, all belonged to the Magisterial wing of the Protestant Reformation.
These unions between church and state led all the Magisterial Reformers down a dark path. Ulrich Zwingli was the first of these ‘reformers’ who participated in the execution of ‘heretics’ – (Zurich 1527). In Zwingli’s case the ‘heretics’ were Protestants who did not believe in child baptism. These people were known as ‘Anabaptists’ (which means, ‘again baptisers’ – they were the forerunners of the Baptist Church). All the Magisterial Reformers (and the Catholics) persecuted the Anabaptists. When an Anabaptists was condemned to death, the preferred method of execution was drowning – this was known as ‘the third baptism.’ In addition, John Calvin participated in the burning to death of the ‘heretic’ Michael Servetus (Geneva, 1553). And Martin Luther was not immune from the madness. He advised the Protestant princes of Germany, to punish dissenters and heretics with the ‘sword.’
Religious people tend to be the most dangerous of all people. They want religious freedom for themselves (and their fellow believers), but they will almost always deny the same freedom to others. When such people obtain political power, they always use that power to persecute those who disagree with them. Thus, when the Magisterial Reformers formed alliances with the state, and used that power to further their own agenda, and persecute their opponents, they unwittingly created a replica (or an image, or a copy) of the very system that they were trying to reform/escape from. In so doing, they could never be the origin or the source of the religious and political freedoms that we enjoy today – that honour belongs to the Radical Reformers. It is the Radical Reformers who occupy the high moral ground for any claims or contributions to the freedoms we enjoy today.
Some well worked words from another era, and another conflict, come to mind, when we assess the role of these true heroes of the Protestant Reformation: “Never in the history of mankind, has so much been owed, by so many, to so few.” Winston Churchill.
To be continued…
God bless,
Bruce Telfer.
Extra note: Plato and co have been just as influential, in the foundation of the Moslem Civilization, as in the Western. Therefore, we see the same platonic/secular, murderous mind-set, at work among the Moslems, which is so shockingly evident, prevalent and widespread in this so-called modern age.
