Category: Spiritual

Wendell Martin Go Now! From the Innermost Parts of the Heart to the Uttermost Parts of the World plus Forty Stories of Faith

Chapter 01 – Early Years: Part One

I was born near Cleveland Ohio in the middle of July 1953, on a very hot and humid day. And a child could not have been born to more loving and caring parents than the ones I had. God was central in our home, and “spare the rod and spoil the child” was a gentle guide that established safe boundaries and a clear sense of right and wrong at an early age. While there was strict discipline in our home, I, along with my older brother and two younger sisters, learned foundational values that served as a moral and spiritual compass, guiding me through the twists and turns of life.

         At an early age, I learned that life was more than the years I would spend on earth. I discovered the choices I made on earth would determine my eternal destiny. Such a choice was initially an easy decision. At the tender age of six, a firm confidence in God rapidly expanded in my heart. But over time, uncontrollable circumstances, which shape and steer the course of our lives, gradually eroded that confidence. Thankfully, I was about to experience a real-life miracle that would always compellingly argue on behalf of God’s very existence and His love for me. This miracle, which happened very early in my life, stayed in my heart as a constant reminder of the truth through seasons of doubt and drifting.

         In those days, miracles were not common among the Christians I knew. We were taught that they really did happen, just that it was a long, long time ago. But for me, it all started with warts.

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         I stared in dismay at the embarrassing lumpy mass of warts covering my right knee. There were fifty-two of them! “One for every week of the year,” I muttered in disgust.

         Back when I was only eight years old and quite foolish, I had become friends with a toad. I had spent an afternoon studying its grumpy face, delighting in the feeling of its sticky toes as it crouched on my bare knees, in anticipation of a dramatic leap to freedom.

         Now, two years later, I was much wiser, having been informed by more knowledgeable neighborhood kids that – as everyone knows – toads were the cause of the warts! Regardless of whether they were right or wrong, I now knew that this conglomeration on my knee was the terrible debt I had to pay for my ignorance of such matters. Though I didn’t know it then, I had formally been enrolled in the proverbial School of Hard Knocks.

         “We’ll schedule an appointment with the doctor to have them burned off.” My mother announced, which caused me to lay awake at night, my imagination running wild.

         This ungodly solution horrified me. “The doctors might as well amputate my entire leg,” I groaned with a shudder.

         My life was coming to an end, and I was only ten.

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“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life” (John 5:39-40 NLT).

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW….

By Dan Zimmerman July 2025 in The Sword and Trumpet

My Generation and Younger, Birthed & Reared In Anabaptist Communities Too Often Are Clueless of the Role Daniel Kauffman Played Historically… If you’ve not yet read yesterday’s post, Part A, I suggest you do that first...

In addition to doctrines, Daniel also defended Mennonite practices. He vigorously promoted what he called a “separated life,” by which he meant a lifestyle characterized by simplicity, plainness, commitment to church work, and the avoidance of the fashions and amusements of society. Daniel firmly believed that this kind of lifestyle had Scriptural support , and he used Bible verses to demonstrate this. He studded his sermons and books with Scriptural references, although he did little expository preaching or writing. Later generations of Mennonites criticized this, arguing that Daniel sometimes applied verses without due regard for Scriptural content. Certain key aspects of Mennonite thinking such as non-resistance, taught by Christ Himself in the Sermon on the Mount, seemed to be diminished in importance when placed in the company of matters such avoiding life insurance and membership in secret societies. Be that as it may, in his own time Daniel Kauffman gained the respect and approval of the Mennonites for his efforts to promote correct doctrines.

          As soon as he was ordained, Daniel Kauffman started to promote the idea of a General Conference. As a member of the small Missouri-Iowa Mennonite Conference, he saw a clear need for an organization to link the scattered Mennonite Conferences, to provide direction for missions and church organizations, and to provide the Mennonites with a unified voice. This idea gained traction in the midwestern states, and in November 1898, Daniel Kauffman presided at the inaugural Mennonite General Conference, held near Wakarusa, Indiana. He went to serve as conference moderator three more times and never missed a conference until 1941. The Mennonite General Conference soon established boards and committees to oversee missions, Mennonite colleges, and publications. Daniel showed himself a great committee man: he was organized, deliberate, gracious of opponents, and sought consensus. At one point, he sat on  twenty-two committees! Daniel saw the General Conference as a means to unify and equip the Church, and he poured his life into it. Fourteen regional conferences joined as members within ten years, much to Daniel’s satisfaction.       

          He also poured his life into another work: in 1905 he agreed to take the job of editor of a new Mennonite periodical, the Gospel Witness, based in Scottdale Pennsylvania. Three years later, this became part of the Mennonite Publishing House. The periodical was renamed the Gospel Herald after the Mennonite Publishing House bought John F Funk’s periodical, Herald of Truth. A steady stream of editorial articles flowed from Daniel Kaufman’s typewriter, shaping Mennonite thought and opinion for decades. In addition, he continued to write books, some of which grew out of his articles, about doctrinal matters, the Christian life, contemporary challenges, and Mennonite history. Daniel was undoubtedly the most prolific Mennonite writer of his time.

          In the midst of all these time-consuming but rewarding labors, Daniel found time to begin family life again. On February 6, 1902, he married Mary (“Mollie”) Shank, a young lady from Missouri. Fourteen years younger than Daniel, Mollie had once been his student in school. Six children arrived between 1903 and 1917: Homer, Eunice, Paul, Alice, Fannie, and John Mark. In 1909, Daniel and Mollie moved their family to Scottdale, PA, so Daniel could more easily oversee the Gospel Herald. They lived in Scottdale until 1942.

          Tragedies and trials continued to mark Daniel’s personal life. In 1905, his daughter Eunice died suddenly when eight months old. In 1917, his son John Mark died when less than three months old. In December 1922, his son Paul died just days after turning sixteen, when he fell through the ice while skating near Goshen, Indiana. And in 1933, his eldest son James died unexpectedly at the age of forty-five from a rare form of blood poisoning. Daniel also suffered debilitating illnesses repeatedly. His back was severely injured in an automobile accident in 1941. Despite these trials, he continued to work for his Lord and the church.

          In 1943, he finally retired from his responsibilities as editor of the Gospel Herald, and he and Mollie moved to Parnell, Iowa, to live with their daughter Alice Gingerich and her family. During the fall, he began to feel weak and ill. On Sunday, January 2, 1944, he preached the morning sermon at West Union Mennonite Church, where Alice and her husband were members. That afternoon he felt very unwell, and his health declined rapidly. On January 6, 1944, he died at the age of seventy-eight. His wife Mollie, their son Homer, and their daughter Alice and Fannie survived him, as well as ten grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held in both Parnell, Iowa and Scottdale, Pennsylvania.

          Daniel Kauffman’s influence on the Mennonite church from 1896 to 1944 was immense. His work in building up the church through the General Conference made a lasting impact on the Mennonite church. His efforts to clarify and promote correct Biblical doctrines in word and print shaped and molded the thinking of the entire Mennonite church. His conservative approach to beliefs and practices, codified in Doctrines of the Bible, though abandoned by mainstream Mennonites, continues to guide many conservative Mennonites today.   

NEXT UP:

By Dan Zimmerman July 2025 in The Sword and Trumpet

My Generation and Younger, Birthed & Reared In Anabaptist Communities Too Often Are Clueless of the Role Daniel Kauffman Played Historically…

Daniel Kauffman was without question the most prominent Mennonite church leader during the first three decades of the twentieth century. His efforts to define biblical doctrines, both in word and print, and his work to organize a General Conference for the Mennonite Church had immense consequences that remain to this day.

          Daniel Kauffman was born to David and Elizabeth (Winey) Kauffman on June 20, 1865,in Richfield, Juniata County, Pennsylvania, their seventh child. Daniel was born into a family living under a load of grief. In the late fall of 1862, four out of five children in the family caught diptheria, and three of them died within a month: John (age eleven), Susannah (age ten) and Hannah (age five). Daniel’s sister Mary Ann, then age eight, survived her illness, and her brother Jacob, then age two, did not get sick. Elizabeth gave birth to another son, Samuel, about a month after the third funeral. Thus Daniel had three living siblings when he arrived in 1865. Three younger siblings came over the next decade.

          When Daniel was nine months old, in March 1866, his family moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, seeking better farmland. In April 1869, the family moved again, this time to Morgan County Missouri. Daniel grew up near Versailles, Missouri, where the local Mennonite congregation called his father David to be a minister in 1871, then to be a bishop in 1875. David wanted Daniel to become a farmer, but Daniel was interested in education. After sustaining a broken leg in a riding accident 1879, which healed poorly, Daniel was permitted to pursue his interest.

          In 1883, after gaining his certificate, he served as superintendent of the Morgan County public schools from 1887 to 1890. He also married Ota Bowlin, a local Baptist girl, in 1887, and they had a son James, born in1888. Tragedy struck in early 1890, when Ota sickened and died after giving birth to a daughter, (who also died). Later in the year, John S. Coffman arrived to preach for three weeks of evangelistic meetings. Daniel attended, and on the last evening, surrendered his life to Christ. He was baptized several weeks later. The Mt Zion Mennonite congregation recognized his abilities and called him to the ministry in October 1892. Dan preached like he taught school: he organized his thoughts carefully and spoke clearly and plainly. In August 1896, David Kauffman died and Daniel replaced him as a bishop the following month, at the age of thirty-one.

          As a preacher, Daniel traveled widely. He aligned himself with the “Quickening” movement among the Mennonites, advocating for what he called “aggressive Christian work”: evangelistic meetings, Sunday Schools, and missions. Although he spoke Pennsylvania German from childhood, he preached in English. As a young bishop, he keenly felt the need for sound books explaining the doctrines of the Bible. Unfortunately, he found nothing in that line written by Mennonites. He decided to write one himself. He stopped teaching school in 1897 and went to live with his mother on the family farm. The following year, he published A Manuel of Bible Doctrine, the first in a series of versions which culminated in Doctrines of the Bible in 1928.

          Daniel wanted to shore up the doctrinal foundations of the Mennonite Church. At this time, controversies raged among many Protestant churches over doctrinal matters. The liberals or modernists denied the accuracy and inspiration of the Bible, while the conservatives (many of whom were later called fundamentalists ) defended both. Daniel identified himself as a conservative in these matters, taking historic Christian positions that the Bible is inspired by God and trustworthy in its accounts. He preached about doctrines, which was unusual among Mennonites at the time, demonstrating the Scriptural basis for the teachings of the church. He spoke at Bible conferences.

To Be Continued Tomorrow:

Menno had faults like any man, but he deserves his place in history with the other Reformers of that age, maybe even deserving a higher ranking than the others. Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli accomplished their roles in conjunction with the state’s political power. In contrast, Menno Simons played his part by obeying the Scriptures, bearing the cross of Christ, and enduring the shame of persecution. He traveled, he preached, debated, and wrote many treatises and letters, many of which are available today. A volume of The Complete Writings of Menno Simons has 1092 pages. His influence on the Mennonite church, which bears his name, is incalculable.

What message did Menno preach in his day that we need to be reminded of today? The following quotes are all from his own writings:

True religion must bear sanctified and holy fruit. The state churches did not call their members to be born again as a prerequisite for membership. You were basically born into the church by being baptized into it as an infant. The Anabaptists insisted on membership by choice, and the standard was the New Birth. This made their way of life straight and narrow. The state churches left it broad and open.

Such a repentance we teach and no other, namely, that no one can or piously glory in the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, the merit of Christ, unless he has truly repented.

It is not enough that in appearance a man speaks much of the Word of the Lord. It must also be verified by devout and unblameable conduct as the Scriptures teach.

For true evangelical faith is of such a nature that it cannot lay dormant; but manifests itself in all righteousness and works of love; it dies unto flesh and blood; destroys all forbidden lusts and desires; cordially seeks, serves and fears God; clothes the naked; feeds the hungry; consoles the afflicted, shelters the miserable, aids and consoles all the oppressed; returns good for evil; serves those that injure it; prays for those that persecute it; teaches, admonishes and reproves with the Word of the Lord; seeks that which is lost, binds up that is wounded; and heals that which is diseased and saves that which is sound.

The Church is a Brotherhood. The state churches who persecuted the Anabaptists were made up of citizens of their local city/state. They were there by birth, not by choice. Mennonites are members of a Brotherhood because they willingly submit their lives to the body and care for one another.

Menno Simons had much to say about the life of preachers. This may be because of his own experience in the priesthood, and also because the loose living and depravity of church leaders was rampant. Speaking of the state churches he says:

“Under these splendid trappings (crosses, belts, organs, masses) may plainly be seen the slily, crouching wolf, the earthly, sensual mind, the antichristian seductions and bloody abominations; for they seek nothing but the favor of men, honor, splendor, venery, idleness, self, gold, silver, gluttony, and suffer themselves to be called spiritual doctors, teachers, lords, abbots, guardians, fathers and priors.”

Speaking of true preachers, he says,

These are they who gather with Christ what has been scattered, bind up the wounded, and heal the sick, for they are influenced by the Spirit of the Lord and urged by unfeigned love. They are vigilant and assiduous in the discharge of entrusted duties. They fight daily with the weapon of obedience. They tear down, break, and destroy all that which is against the word of God, not by external power, with sword and spear, but by the preaching of the holy word, in power and spirit, with the word of the Lord. They till, sow, water, and plant. They cut down what is ripe. They gather their grain and sheaves, and carry them into the Lord’s barn and their fruits will abide unto eternal life.

Shunning Babylon (the world) 

We further teach and admonish from the word of God, that all true children of God, who are regenerated from the incorruptible living seed of the divine word, who have separated themselves, according to the Scriptures, from the idolatrous generation, and yielded to the yoke and cross of Christ, and who are able to judge between true and false doctrines, between Christ and antichrist, must shun according to scripture, all seducing and idolatrous preachers and their doctrines, sacraments and worship. They must avoid all, of every doctrine, faith, sect, creed and name, who are not found in the pure doctrine of Christ, and in the scripture usage of his sacraments, because they have neither calling, doctrine, nor life, according to the word of of God, but are sent by antichrist, and ordained in his employment and service.

Menno was a voluminous writer. Only small samples can be given here. One thing that shines through and through was his “divine enthusiasm” for the work of Christ in the heart of the true believer. Here is a quote from him:

“Behold, worthy reader, all those who sincerely believe in this glorious love of God , this abundant great blessing of grace in Christ Jesus, manifested toward us, are more and more renewed through such a faith; their hearts overflow with joy and peace; they break forth with joyful hearts, in all manner of thanksgiving, they praise and glorify God with all their hearts, because they, with a good conscience have received the Spirit; they believe and know that the Father loved us, so that he gave us poor, wretched sinners, his own and Eternal Son, with his merits, as a gift and an eternal ransom, as Paul says, “The grace and love of God, our Savior, appeared not on account of the works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

After a busy and fruitful life, Menno Simons died of natural causes on January 31, 1561. God used him mightily to stabilize and bless the Anabaptist movement. God is calling men and women to Kingdom work today. May we be faithful and take courage to step forward in faith and answer His call.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2)

Originally published in the March 2025 issue of Pilgrim Witness. More recently published in July 2025 The Sword and the Trumpet.

NEXT UP:

FINALLY! How to Counsel A Conspiracy Theorist!

PILGRIM WITNESS / 500 YEAR ANABAPTIST ANNIVERSARY SERIES David Sweigart

Good Week Morning Readers!

I came across a historical sketch of Menno Simons which I’m including strictly FYI. Those Protestant swaths forthcoming from their Reformation & Anabaptist roots are wide when you include all the Baptist and similar offshoots, whereas the Menno Simon’s variety would be declining worldwide if it were not for the conservative Mennonite & Amish higher birthrates and their stand against doctrinal error which compromises faith and leads to apostasy. merlin

It is important to understand that the Anabaptist movement began in two separate areas in Western Europe – Switzerland and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, they were known as the Swiss Brethren. Several years after the beginnings of the Anabaptist movement in Switzerland, the movement reached the Netherlands through the influence of a wandering preacher with a Lutheran background named Melchior Hoffman. Hoffman had fanatical notions about the earthly kingdom of God, which bore fruit and culminated in what became known as the Munster tragedy. Two men influenced by Hoffman, John of Leiden and John Matthys, established their “kingdom” in the city of Munster. They instituted a reign of terror for about a year until the opposing forces annihilated them and the few holdouts with them. While they could be called Anabaptists because they were re-baptized at the beginning of this saga, they obviously did not stay true to other Anabaptist principles.

Among the many baptized by Hoffman or his followers, a pair of brothers became very significant: Obbe and Dirk Phillips. These two brothers and their followers, who opposed the violence and fanaticism of the Munsterites, became known as the Obbenites, who are rightfully considered the founders of the Dutch Mennonite movement.

Even today, any new movement must come to terms with its fringe elements and tendencies. The aforementioned Munster incident was one of those divisive elements. Some held to hyper-literal interpretations of the Gospel. The fledgling Anabaptist movement needed a leader to stabilize and unify the cause.

In 1536, it had been traditionally accepted that Obbe Phillips baptized a former Roman Catholic priest named Menno Simons, who was born in 1496 in the Dutch town of Witmarsun. Menno was ordained a priest in 1524 but was not serious about life. He involved himself in partying, cards, drinking, etc. However, events in his life led him to begin to question the Catholic practices of transubstantiation. “… during the first year (as priest) he was suddenly frightened. While he was administering the Mass he began to doubt whether the bread and the wine were actually being changed into the flesh and blood of Christ. First he considered these thoughts the whisperings of Satan; but he was unable to free himself through ‘sighings, prayers, and confessings.’”

He struggled with his doubts for two years. Finally, picking up a Bible and beginning to read, he discovered that the teachings of the Catholic church were incorrect. Several events also were instrumental in bringing him to a crossroads of faith. News of a public beheading reached him and disturbed him because the reason fro the beheading was rebaptism. A second baptism seemed a strange doctrine to him. He had never doubted infant baptism. In his hometown of Witmarsum about 300 Muensterites took over a monastery and tried to defend themselves against the governor, but all were killed, probably including his own brother. The news of Muenster and the Hoffman/Muensterite prophets’ influence prompted him to speak out publicly against these fanatical excesses.

Finally, in January of 1536, he made the break – closing the door to a priestly career and a life of ease and pleasure and instead embracing the cross of Christ, a wanderer with a price on his head. “I voluntarily renounced all my worldly honor and reputation, my unchristian conduct, masses, infant baptisms, and my unprofitable life, and at once willingly submitted to distress and poverty, and the cross of Christ.” He spent a year in seclusion studying Scripture, and around 1537, Obbe Phillips ordained him.

He was a hunted man with enemies everywhere – Roman Catholic traditionalists and other Reformers on one side and fanatics on the other. But he had a burden for the souls of men, the common people who found themselves caught in the middle of the swirling winds of change. “Thus reflecting upon these things my soul was so grieved that I could no longer endure it. I thought to myself – I, miserable man, what shall I do? If I continue in this way , and live not agreeably to the word of the Lord, according to the knowledge of truth which I have obtained; if I do not rebuke to the best of limited ability the hypocrisy, the impenitent, carnal life, the perverted baptism, the Lord’s supper and the false worship of God, which the learned teach; if I , through bodily fear, do not show them the true foundation of the truth, neither use all my powers to direct the wandering flock, who would gladly do their duty if they knew it, to the true pastures of Christ – Oh, how shall their shed blood, though shed in error, rise against me at the judgment of the Almighty, and pronounce sentence against my poor miserable soul.”

BOTTOM LINE:

Menno Simons was a humble servant of the Lord, willing to serve but painfully aware of his inadequacies. As he reflected on the needs of the poor, straying flock who as a sheep without a shepherd, he wrote, “My heart trembled in my body. I prayed to God with sighs and tears, that He would give to me, a troubled sinner, the gift of his grace, and create a clean heart within me, that through the merits of the crimson blood of Christ, He would graciously forgive my unclean walk and unprofitable life, and bestow upon me, wisdom, Spirit, candor and fortitude, that I might preach his exalted and adorable name and holy word un-perverted, and make manifest his truth to his praise.”

TO BE CONTINUED IN Part B