Turn Back To Love

Five hundred years ago there was a group of Christians living in Europe known as Anabaptists. These are not to be confused with today’s Baptists, though the groups do share some points of common history. The name Anabaptist was not so much a description as it was a condemnation.

The Anabaptists were “anti-baptizers,” scorning infant baptism and a heap of other cherished church doctrines. Because of this, and their refusal to join their faith to the ruling civil powers, they were violently persecuted by governments, Catholics, and Protestants alike.

One such persecution broke out in Holland, and while there were some genuine fanatics in the Anabaptist tribe, the simple, compassionate, and the innocent were gobbled up as well (as is always the case). One such innocent was a man named Dirk Willems.

On a winter day a bailiff was sent to arrest Dirk on the charge that he had been…