The Amish Voice 10
communion often, on any day of the
week, and at any time of the day and
night. They sing songs written by one of
their own members. If people present
only understood the English language,
they would refuse to speak German. Any
brother inspired by the Holy Spirit was
permitted to speak in their meetings.
These people would have no problem
with working on Sundays, and they
would hold very little esteem for any
holidays.
Picture a people who send out young
men for weeks and months at a time,
leaving home, a wife, and children, to
preach the gospel to the lost.
These people would have a high re-
gard for inner conviction (Gemuth), and
a low regard for the voice of a church.
They would reject the idea of "group
conviction" and surrender all "personal
conviction" and follow the only thing
that was left, "inner conviction" (the light
and inborn knowledge of truth within
us).
Most of these people would be poor.
If they had been rich with money and
possessions, they would voluntarily be-
come poor. The group would mostly con-
sist of young people ages fifteen to thirty
-
five.
What would we think of such a peo-
ple? I don't mean those who live on the
other side of the globe. I don't mean
those who lived sometime in the past. I
mean if they lived right now, right here
in this land of ours, right in the midst of
our communities. Some of them would
be of "unser Leit" [our people]. What
would we think of them?
I think I know. These people would
be called radical, odd, individualist, Pie-
tists, rebels, heretics, fanatics, stubborn,
disrupters of peace and order. Where did
they get their authority?
But wait a minute. That is exactly
what the Catholics, Lutherans, Zwingli-
ans, and Calvinists called our forefathers
in the 1500's! Every one of the character-
istics I have listed was found among
them. Most of these characteristics
brought fear and alarm to the state
churches. Most of the disputes between
the early Anabaptists and the “children
of the Pharisees” revolved around bap-
tism, sacraments, swearing oaths, holy
oil, etc. But for the most part the Ana-
baptists could have escaped persecution,
and been granted the privilege to keep
their beliefs if only they would have
agreed to remain silent and leave the
preaching and teaching for the clergy of
the state church.
We pray for revival in our land, but
what would revival look like? Are we
sure we would recognize it? It might not
look like we imagine it. It might not
begin with the people we think it would.
For God is able to raise out of these
stones children of the Anabaptists, which
are children of the apostles, which are
children of the prophets, which are chil-
dren of Abel, which are children of God.
As it has always been, they will look
odd, radical, eccentric, disrupting peace
and order to the world and religious lead-
ers who are children of the Catholic
priests, Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin.
These are children of the scribes and
Pharisees, Pilate, and Herod, which are
children of Ahab, Joash, Zedekiah, and
King Manasseh, which are the children
of Cain, which are the children of the
devil.
Why make all this ado over whether
or not we can recognize God's people?
Didn't Jesus simply say,
By their fruits ye
shall know them?
Aren't the fruits of the
spirit love, joy, peace, etc.? Indeed that is
true. But if we lean on our own under-
standing of what God's love, joy, and
peace looks like when it is manifested
through earthen vessels, we will most
likely have another blind spot. Jesus is
our perfect pattern. When He overturned
the tables, called people serpents and a
generation of vipers, and called Herod a
fox, it was the fruits of the spirit in ac-
tion.
Does it all matter whether or not we
can recognize the saints of today? I'll be
the first to admit that we live in perilous
times, and there are many false prophets
and Antichrists. But I submit to you by
the authority of scripture that whoever
rejects, avoids, forsakes, shuns, or ex-
communicates the children of God has
done the same to the Lord Jesus Christ
(
Acts 9:4-5, Matthew 25:40, Proverbs
14:31,
Hebrews 6:10). We also have the
striking account in 3 John 9-11 of Di-
otrephes who loved pre-eminence and
received not the apostle John or the
brethren. John simply calls it evil.
The early Anabaptists saw the Catho-
lics and Reformers as the Babylonian
Whore. For us to look back it is easy to
see that indeed it was. I do not claim to
have perfect knowledge of the book of
Revelations, but here is something to
think about. The Catholics and Reform-
ers in the 1500's were not the Whore of
Babylon because they baptized infants,
swore oaths, and worshipped idols. They
were the Whore of Babylon because they
were drunk with the blood of the saints
and with the blood of the martyrs of Je-
sus. The Babylonian Whore, according to
Revelation 17 is a mother of harlots.
That means she has children.
I believe that from the time of Cain
and Abel to the second coming of Christ,
—
continued on next page—
...
that utterance may be
given unto me, that I may
open my mouth boldly...
(
Ephesians 6:19)
Children of Who?
Continued from previous page
