from Issue #1, April 2016, page # 6
by James G. Landis
In 1927, the M.B. Bergey Company in Souderton, Pennsylvania, owned a hosiery mill that manufactured stockings for women. According to my father, the Bergey company bought the name “Granite Hosiery” from a New York company for $10,000. Think of it—$10,000 redeemable in one-ounce gold coins worth $20 each. Those 500 gold coins today are worth $1200 each or $600,000 – for just a name!
Maybe the name “Granite Hosiery” was worth $600,000 because of what it represented. Maybe not. But our interest here is: What is a good name to describe a Bible-believing, Bible-practicing follower of Jesus in today’s world? Is “Anabaptist” a good name to describe such a believer?
So what does the name “Anabaptist” mean to us? Who is an Anabaptist? First, I shall define who an Anabaptist is by looking at what the historic Anabaptists believed and practiced in the sixteenth century. Then I will discuss what it means to be an Anabaptist today.
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