The Prophet Thomas Jefferson
by Brian J. Hennessy
Part 2
The Second Great Uprising
Soon after the Reformation stalled under the leadership of Luther and Calvin, a second uprising against the Ecclesiastical Empire erupted in Europe. It is usually referred to as the Radical Reformation. Although less known, it is no less important. It was comprised of scattered groups led by believers who had dug deeper into the Scriptures and discovered an even sweeter freedom than the Reformation had attained. These groups are generally lumped together and referred to by historians as 'Anabaptists,' meaning "ones baptized again."
The main issue that set these Anabaptists apart was their desire to truly live the Christian life, not just talk about it. If Luther put the emphasis on "faith alone" to get into the Kingdom, they took it the next step and realized the importance of "working out your faith with fear and trembling." What became the focal point of this serious commitment to live a Christ-like lifestyle was the rite of baptism. They saw that their infant baptism, although a nice gesture of intent, was not a valid baptism. They understood now that for water baptism to be meaningful it has to follow, not precede, the conversion of heart by faith. Infants were too young to believe anything. Baptizing them did little more than initiate them into a Christian denomination. In truth, infant baptism was just another religious carryover from paganism which had a similar rite, which taught the water, literally cleansed the soul. That teaching led to the belief among Christians that baptism caused you to be "born again."
Having been truly "born again" through faith, however, these Anabaptists now wished to be baptized into Christ as adults. However, by disavowing their infant baptism they came into direct conflict with both the state and the state churches. The state relied on infant baptism as an official act that declared a person to be a "Christian citizen" of that country. At the same time the churches taught that it was infant baptism that made a person a member of Christ's Body, which the Anabaptists of course rejected.
The fruit of their courageous faith, which persevered in the face of vicious persecution from both Roman Catholic and Protestant Reformers (who had now grown cozy with the status quo), ultimately influenced the enactment of the First Amendment to our Constitution. For it was this radical form of Protestantism that was most prominent throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Its adherents, having seen the evils of state-enforced religion before emigrating to our shores, were not shy to voice their opposition to every attempt to marry a particular denomination to the state. Or allow the state any say in the regulation of private religion whatsoever. As a result of their influence and others, for the first time since the Fourth Century when Constantine had paved the way for Christianity to become the official religion of the Empire, a citizen of a predominantly Christian nation did not have to face the civil authorities if he or she disagreed with a particular doctrine or Biblical interpretation.
It was a new and happy day! But even this second shaking of the Empire's rule, which eventually birthed such groups as the Pilgrims, Puritans, Quakers, Swiss Brethren, Mennonites, Moravians, Baptists, etc., did not bring down the empire's ecclesiastical wall.
Nevertheless, their efforts did result in the next best thing: the disarming of the guards who patrolled the wall.
Then Till Now
To review then, the first Reformation restored to the Church the message of salvation by "faith alone." This allowed all those who were truly seeking to know God to enter into the finished work of Jesus and be reconciled with God. And all of this was now possible without the necessary sacramental mediation of the organized church. The arrogant claims of the Empire that they were the sole possessors of the keys to the Kingdom had been debunked. And all men, great and small, rushed to drink freely from the fountain of Living Waters. The words of Isaiah the prophet beckoned them to come: "Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come buy wine and milk without money and without price..." (Isa. 55:1).
The first Reformation also brought about a decentralization of the Catholic Church (as the Christian Church came to be called). But that was a mixed blessing. Yes, the all-powerful Roman monopoly had been broken, but now there were many smaller versions of the same system. Mother had simply given birth to many daughters, each one becoming wedded to a particular nation. Germany tied the knot with Lutheranism. Switzerland fell in love with Calvinism. England eloped with the Anglican Church. And so on. Since the very thought of separating the Church from the powers of the state was still inconceivable at that time, the ability and willingness of each nation to punish unorthodox religious speech was still very much intact. It only awaited the right amount of shove before it would suddenly open wide its maw and clamp down hard on its innocent victim with "iron teeth." (Dan 7:19)
On the other hand, the Radical Reformation that followed, finally precipitated
the separation of the church from the state. The relentless determination of the
simple people involved in that movement, who wanted only to follow Jesus
according to the Scriptures as they understood them, had brought the Body of
Messiah one step closer to complete liberation.
But that wasn't the end of it. Jesus kept knocking. There were other
"rebellious" moves of God's Spirit in the Church after the sixteenth
century, each having it's own liberating effect. Each designed to re-establish
His total Lordship over the church.
In the 1700s, when the Church in England and America began to nod off as it sat in more comfortable church surroundings, God provided The Great Awakening - sparked by the outdoor preaching (as in outside the walls of the institutional church) of Jonathan Edwards, the Wesley brothers, and George Whitfield. When this upheaval subsided and began to harden into Methodism, God sent forth men like Dwight Moody, George Mueller, and Charles Finney. Then at the start of the twentieth century, a Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders restored new power to the Church. As a result, hundreds of thousands of "tongue-speaking, holy-rollers" left, or were forced to leave, their traditional Christian denominations - only to reform as Pentecostal denominations.
Over the last hundred years we've seen other powerful, individual ministries of healing and evangelization, as well as new moves of the Spirit in the Charismatic Movement, the Word of Faith Movement, the Messianic Jewish Movement and Promise Keepers.
But besides birthing folks into the Kingdom and bringing a measure of personal renewal, the clear overriding purpose of ALL these awakening moves of God, I believe, was to rescue His people from the suffocating grip of institutional religion. He was trying to get us back safely into the comforting arms of the Spirit again. Even though the people He was using to bring about the moves may not have been fully aware of what He was doing through them.
But all these waves of revival that swept over the Church have still failed to free us from the tenacious grip of institutional Christianity. Although multitudes of believers were loosed from their traditional moorings and deposited on the shores of freedom, most picked themselves up and foolishly marched right back into the sea to start new churches according to the same pattern. Only this time they were built around the wave they had just experienced. And around the new theology that was soon written to justify it.
It would happen like this. The people who left a particular church or denomination would usually start meeting in someone's house for a Bible study. One person would arise as the "teacher." As the group continued to meet and grow they would start thinking in terms of having their own building, making the "teacher" the pastor, finding a music person, and, innocently enough, stating their beliefs in a written creed. And as night follows day, another steeple would soon arise in the valley. So instead of this free people being added to the unity of the Body, another church bondage and division was formed.
Today we're seeing another new move of the Spirit in Toronto and Florida and other places which is causing pastors and members alike to fall down laughing almost uncontrollably. What better way for the Spirit to set His people free from the humorless solemnity of religion then by sending forth a gush of "holy laughter" in the middle of a church service? What better way to reclaim His Lordship at the same time?
But even more significantly, might not this laughter be the birth announcement of our coming Messiah and His Kingdom reign. Remember what happened when God told Abraham he'd have a son by Sarah and to name him Isaac? Abraham, too, fell down laughing (Gen. 17:17-19). Indeed, Isaac means "laughter." Later, Sarah also laughed at the birth announcement (See Gen. 18:12-15). About 2000 years after that, Paul by the Spirit declared, "Now we, brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise" (Gal 4:28). In other words, we too like Isaac are waiting within the womb of ourselves, as it were, for the promise to be born into the world as sons of God. "For the whole creation groans waiting for the revealing of the sons of God....For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:19-24).
I fully expect the next gust of wind in these revivals sweeping the land to blow the front doors of the churches wide open so that He might gather us together into "one new man" - a corporate Isaac. And hopefully we'll be smart enough not to try and go back and rebuild those earthly sanctuaries again! I hope so - because I don't think we're going to get another shot at it.
But until then, let us press on to see how this Ecclesiastical Empire gained
such mastery over the Church of Jesus Christ in the first place. So when the
time comes the Church can more surely take her leave of absence.