Blood is the color of band!

Anthoni Erfordter of Klagenfurt, Karnten, Austria, was converted by two Anabaptist messengers. He suffered much from local authorities and family, and eventually fled to Moravia, leaving his wife and children behind, never to see them again. He wrote the following song in 1541.

 

Oh God, to whom shall I tell the story of my great misery? Whoever honors your name must be flogged, tormented, tortured, and put to shame as a dangerous heretic. Men desire to kill him and give him the sword and fire for his reward.

 

With this good news his disciples go out, preaching the gospel to every creature and baptizing those that believe. For this they suffer great opposition from the Antichrist. They have to leave their wives and children. Men take their possessions, and all their friends forsake them. Wherever they flee, their persecutors discover them to torture them on the rack, behead them, or burn them alive.

Read more ...

Augustine the Baker (1556)

From The Martyrs Mirror
Around 1556, there was in Beverwijk, a brother named Augustine, a baker by trade, who had forsaken the world, and been baptized upon his faith. At this same time there was a burgomaster who was very bitter, and was filled with perverted zeal. He would go about telling people that he would be glad to furnish the peat and wood out of his own money to burn Augustine the baker.

Read more ...

The Church Fire

Dear reader: Please consider this parable. Jesus spoke in His day with parables to bring forth a truth, and I have attempted to do the same. Remember, though, to take these earthly symbols and compare them to heavenly or spiritual things. May God enlighten your heart with this story.

Somewhere, in a sleepy vale that lies betwixt Israel and Shinar, was a church. Things were going along quite smoothly and the day was progressing rather normally when the cry arose.

“FIRE!”

“The church is on fire!”

Read more ...