The Amish Voice 7
most desire and passion to be as close to right
on everything as I possibly can be. So help
me God!
I would at this tme like to ask some of the
same questons I asked each one of you in the
January issue:
1. What gives a church leader the right or
power to cast one of their members over
to Satan if they choose NOT to follow a
man-made standard?
2. Is a man-made standard, such as “thou
shalt NOT own or drive a car” the same
as a God-made standard, “thou shalt
NOT commit fornicaton”?
3. Does the church have the right to excom-
municate and shun a church member for
six weeks, even if or afer that person
has clearly repented of their sin and been
forgiven of God?
4. Do the plain churches believe that in
order for God to completely forgive the
sinner, the church must, on top of the
sinner’s sincere repentance, also excom-
municate and shun him/her for a sea-
son—sort of help God in His process to
completely fnish forgiving the repentant
sinner?
Or is it possible (please, I beg you to hear my
heart), that as the non-Amish community has,
in the past 75 years, made some radical
changes in how they live and survive on earth,
such as drive cars, own phones, use electrici-
ty, computers, radios, etc. that the leadership
of the Amish community has decided that in
order for them to keep their members from
going that route, they are going to keep them
fenced up by using the same level of disci-
pline that God uses for fornicators, drunkards
and murderers—in hopes that it will keep
them living in the horse and buggy days?
These are questons that we must be just as
honest with. As I mentoned in the January
issue of the Amish Voice, this kind of thinking
and acton will one day have to be answered
to, when they as leaders appear before God.
IF they are right, they have nothing to worry
about, however, IF they are wrong, they have
everything to worry about.
Here is why (please hang with me, because in
the end, I want to make a fnishing point):
1. There is ONLY ONE rule book.
2. There is ONLY ONE standard.
3. There is ONLY ONE measuring stck.
No, it is NOT the Martyr’s Mirror, alt-
hough we can read many stories of our
forefathers and how they died horrifc
deaths for taking a Christ honoring stand.
No, it is NOT the Artcles of Faith, alt-
hough, if understood correctly, have a lot
of Biblical truth in it.
No, it is NOT the Amish Voice, for as it
has already been pointed out by
Deacon
of the Plain Churches
, it contains misun-
derstandings of the Scriptures.
It is the ONE and ONLY Book
we call the Bible!
Every Word in the Bible is inspired (God
breathed), and very capable of instructng and
developing God’s person into a mature Chris-
tan man or woman.
All Scripture is given by inspiraton of
God, and is proftable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correcton, for instructon in
righteousness: That the man of God may
be perfect, throughly furnished unto all
good works. —
2 Timothy 3:16-17
Every Word in the Bible is as powerful as any
two edged sword and will cut and pierce all
the way to the heart of hearts.
For the Word of God is quick, and power-
ful, and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asun-
der of soul and spirit, and of the joints
and marrow, and is a discerner of the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
—
Hebrews 4:12
Every word in the Bible, when read or shared,
will make a diference. Yes, even when it
does not seem that way!
For as the rain cometh down, and the
snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and
maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
give seed to the sower, and bread to the
eater: So shall my Word be that goeth
forth out of My mouth: it shall not return
unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that
which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it. —
Isaiah 55:10-11
By now, you are probably wondering, what
does all this have to do with what we were
talking about earlier. With God’s help, I will
try to connect the dots for you.
1. Man’s standards must never take the
place of or replace God’s standards. We
dare not, as leaders, force our followers
to go by two measuring stcks; two stand-
ards; two rule books. Only God’s stand-
ards can change the inner heart of man!
A religious leader might use his own
force and scare tactcs to make his fol-
lowers submit to his standards and tradi-
tons but that can NEVER change the
inner heart of man or woman. In other
words, a church member can have all his
ducks in a row, so far as outward appear-
ance is concerned, however, that does
not mean that his ducks are lined up on
the inside.
2. God’s Word must be studied, discussed
and talked about wherever we go. We
must NOT limit it to the following tmes
and places:
Only when we sit in church on Sun-
days
Only when the preacher thinks it is
the right tme to talk about it
Only when the family is gathered
around in their own home
In conclusion, I have an ever so important
queston. Why is it that I hear so many of my
people making statements like…
1. Some of us were getng together secret-
ly to study God’s Word, but then it came
out in the community and our church
leaders threatened to use church disci-
pline on us if we didn't stop immediate-
ly?
2. You have to be careful that you don't get
too caught up in God’s Word, because in
the past, it has led some of our members
away from the Amish community.
3. The Word of God was writen long ago,
therefore, if it contradicts with the Amish
standards and traditons, you must
choose to go with the Amish standards.
Hundreds, possibly thousands of our people
have in the past 10 years been turned over to
Satan and shunned as unbelievers for study-
ing and standing on the Word of God rather
than following the standards and traditons of
our forefathers. Some day, my dear friend,
even the sincerest of people will have to an-
swer to God for making decisions like that.
In Acts 17:11-12, we are told,
These
were more noble than those in Thes-
salonica, in that they received the
Word with all readiness of mind, and
searched the Scriptures daily, wheth-
er those things were so. Therefore
many of them believed; also of hon-
orable women which were Greeks,
and of men, not a few.
—End of artcle—