Jumpstarter 1 of 10

Direct Answer Based on David Bercot’s teaching, the Anabaptists show that God can raise up Kingdom Christianity even inside a reform movement that is still tied to state power—by pushing some people beyond “reform” into simple, literal obedience to the New Testament.

Support from Transcript:

• Bercot says the Anabaptists were “unique… [because] the Anabaptists sprung out of the soil of the Reformation,” unlike earlier Kingdom groups that came from primitive Christianity or medieval Catholicism.
• He describes Zurich’s Reformation as deeply state-directed: the “civil magistrates… assumed the governing… rights” of bishops and even “confiscated all of the property formerly owned by the Church.”
• The first Anabaptists arose from Zwingli’s circle—men he had “turned… to the Bible”—yet they concluded Scripture demanded a different kind of church.
• Their foundation was “to literally follow what the Scriptures say,” especially regarding discipleship and the church being separate from the world.
• Though the Reformation structures were entangled with the state, God “sent His messengers, Conrad Grebel, and others,” leading to a congregation marked by “repentance… evidenced by newness of life.”