Why was the Church so brutal in some of its persecutions and executions, such as that of Michael Sattler?
A viewer asks why the Church was so brutal on some of the people it persecuted, giving the example of Michael Sattler, one of the founders of the Anabaptists, who seems to have undergone a cruel execution.
Answer
I do not know anything about Michael Sattler, but I will take your word that he underwent a cruel execution. Look, the heart of man is desperately wicked, as Jeremiah 17:9 says, and you get some of these rascals into the Church who do not love God or man but love the prestige and honor of being a cleric. That happens a lot; look at the Church today, only they are a little more gay than they used to be, but the same thing is behind it. Paul warned the Church in Acts 20 that after he left, enemies would come in and try to run the Church into the ground, and they have for 2,000 years. So you get men whose power goes to their heads, and they used to do torturous, cruel things, like tying a man's limbs to four horses and letting them rip his limbs off. Either the Church condoned it and allowed the government to do it, as with Giordano Bruno, or the Church did it herself; either way there is murder on every side of the issue. This is the history of man, and it boggles my mind how we survive.