Immigration 3

As I wrote in Immigration 2, the Israelites of yore knew full well the severe challenges of being constantly nomadic.

So did our spiritual ancestors, the Anabaptists. Anabaptist groups emerged in Europe in the early 16th century amidst a hostile world. Because their doctrine differed from that of both Protestant and Catholic state-churches, they were persecuted in practically every locale. For instance, Anabaptists of the 1520’s were relentlessly hunted in their native Austria and mercilessly killed if caught. Many had no choice but to flee to the much safer Moravia and genuinely hope for religious liberty (Dyck 51-2). There they lived as tolerated aliens - at least for a spell.

For the next 200 or so years, Anabaptist groups were on the move. They relocated when the persecution they experienced in a particular setting became too severe to tolerate. This culminated with eventual mass migration from Europe and Russia to North and South America in several waves.

It was a group of Amish-Mennonites worn by petty persecution, the militarism of Europe, and poverty that made the voyage from Switzerland and France to the United States in 1834, eventually settling and subduing the wilds of early Fulton County, Ohio. These German-speakers were welcome to make their way as aliens in a land formerly lightly inhabited by Native Americans. For many Central Mennonites these settlers were direct blood kin.

The relationship between these Mennonites - who eventually dropped the Amish identity - and their neighbors was often uneasy in the past, particularly during war-time. As pacifists, they refused to enter military service for reasons of conscience. As a result, they were at times deemed cowardly and almost always seen as unpatriotic; less than ideal citizens.

This was a reminder to the NW Ohio Mennonites that though their families had lived in this nation for 100 years, they were yet revealed to be theological aliens during times of national conflict.

Next: God teaches Israel about aliens