Would you save someone who is persecuting you?

**Loki** · 01-02-2021, 11:44 AM

Dirk Willems did, in Netherlands in the 16th century. He saved the guy who was pursuing him and fell in icy water, and then afterwards the guy he saved captured him, tortured him and he was burned at the stake near his home town on 16 May 1569. Such was it in those days for those who dared to practice their religion according to their God-given conscience. Those days are returning, I think. I hope we can be as gracious and brave as Dirk Willems when it does.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Willems

Willems was born in Asperen, Gelderland, Netherlands, and was baptized as a young man, thus rejecting the infant baptism practiced at that time by both Catholics and established Protestants in the Netherlands. This action, plus his continued devotion to his new faith and the baptism of several other people in his home, led to his condemnation by the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands and subsequent arrest. Willems was held in a residential palace turned into a prison, from which he escaped using a rope made out of knotted rags. Using this, he was able to climb out of the prison onto the frozen moat. A guard noticed his escape and gave chase. Willems was able to traverse the thin ice of a frozen pond, the Hondegat, because of his lighter weight after subsisting on prison rations. However, the pursuing guard broke through the ice and yelled for help as he struggled in the icy water. Willems turned back to save the life of his pursuer, and thus was recaptured and held until he was burned at the stake near his hometown on 16 May 1569.

Today, he is one of the most celebrated martyrs among Anabaptists, which includes Mennonites and Amish, as well as a folk hero among modern residents of Asperen. A historical drama based on his life—Dirk's Exodus—was written in 1989 by James C. Juhnke. In 2018, a statue of Dirk Willems was unveiled at the Mennonite Heritage Village museum in Steinbach, Manitoba.