Born Again and Living in an Amish Church, By Pennsylvania
June 28, 2017
Thank you for all your great articles in The Amish Voice. I am a born-again Christian, living in an Amish church. And I fully agree, it’s time the church understands that we are saved by faith.
— Pennsylvania
Joe Keim responds:
First and foremost, I rejoice with you in that you have experienced the event of the new birth. More and more of our people are having their eyes opened to the gospel and getting born again. Since 2000, our ministry has received several thousand testimonies from people in the Amish culture who have experienced the new birth.
The new birth is explained very clearly in John 3:3: Jesus answered [Nicodemus] and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
The first birth allows one to enter the physical world, but not the spiritual world. To enter the spiritual world, one must be born into it, just like the first one.
John 3:6-7: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Years ago, when I was just a young boy, a neighbor in my community shared how a friend of his got born again, out in the front yard, under the apple tree. When he finished telling the story, he laughed and said there is no such thing as getting born again on the spot and having full assurance of salvation. He further suggested that the new birth is something that happens throughout a person’s lifetime and is based on how well the person followed the church rules and traditions of our Anabaptist forefathers. I remember thinking, “I wonder if he’s right.”
About ten years went by, and on July 28, 1985, I too experienced the new (second) birth. It was so real – so powerful and so overwhelming! I felt the love and forgiveness of God go through every fiber of my body.
This all took place while a friend of mine shared the following Scriptures with me, and I understood: Romans 3:10-12, 6:23, 5:8, and 10:13.
As my friend explained God’s Word, the Holy Spirit opened my eyes, just like it says in Luke 24:45: Then opened He [Jesus] their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I called out loud for God to save me from my sins. For the first time in my life, I realized how lost I was and how desperately I needed a Savior. I also realized my utter helplessness in getting right with God by my own good works – I had nothing to offer God for the sins I had committed against Him. Nothing!
Since that day, I have witnessed hundreds of people repent from dead works and self righteousness and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. I’ve seen it take place at the kitchen table, on the couch, in the backyard and out in public.
In Scripture, we can read where people got born again in the desert (Acts 8:26-39), at prison (Acts 16:30-31), in their own home (Acts 10:34-48), and while traveling on foot (Acts 9:1-17). In Acts 2:41, three thousand people got born again at once. In Acts 4:4, five thousand men got born again.
The new birth is not something you schedule, pay for, inherit or manufacture on your own. The new birth is a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is supernatural, meaning it is purely and entirely a work of God (John 1:13). Mankind has been given a free will and can choose to accept or reject the supernatural miracle of the new birth (Romans 10:13).
John 5:24 says: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
1 John 5:11-13 says: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Are you born again?
— Joe Keim
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