A few thoughts from Haarlem, where on January 5, 1534 an Anabaptist baker named Jan Matthys decided that The Storm had come and it was time to launch the revolution /1

Matthys was red-pilled in the 1520s by charismatic influencer Melchior Hoffman and started baptizing people, but he was a bit of an edgelord: he thought it was time for violent resistance to (Catholic) oppression /2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Matthys

In January 1534 he heard about the Anabaptist uprising in Munster from his disciple Jan of Leiden, and decided it was going down: Munster was the New Jerusalem and it was electric boogaloo time /3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnster_rebellion

Anabaptism was in a sense a pyramid or social-marketing scheme: people were quickly empowered to rebaptize others. Perfect for the new-media printing-press age but also more radical than Lutheranism, really the Q of its day /4 https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-28/1525-anabaptist-movement-begins.html

Anyway the Catholic bishop/ruler of Munster, Franz von Waldeck, attempted to restore the rule of law and besieged the city. /5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Waldeck

Jan Matthys rode out with a dozen proud boys to break the siege, expecting divine intervention. Not clear what gear the baker was carrying, perhaps a rolling pin. /6

They were kiled and dismembered, and Jan Matthys's head was stuck on a pike outside the city gates. /7

This, however, did not dissuade the Anabaptists. Jan of Leiden became their god-emperor, they forced the women into polygamous marriages, and when they ran out of food Jan told them God would transform the paving-stones into breadloaves. /8

It wasn't until 1536 that the besiegers finally entered Munster, rounded up its remaining starving citizens and put Jan of Leiden and the other leaders to death. /9

The moral of the story is that apocalyptic cults are very hard to eradicate, even when their belief systems have turned obviously absurd and even suicidal. 10/10