2-23-2017
LINKS
None are more devout than the Amish.  People passing by must think God really loves such devout people.  Just think about it, the more a person or people are given the more they are responsible for.  You would think the Amish would be so close to God that nothing evil could touch them.  There's a much darker truth you should become aware of.

I would like to say there's no sin in living a primitive life as long as no one suffers because of it.  There's nothing wrong with having a high regard for God, the bible, or life itself, as long as no one suffers because of it.

I've been doing research and think it's time for me to say something about this particular type of life style and comment on some of the flaws to their philosophy.

There's a TV series about the haunted Amish that gives inside details to their way of life and thinking.  Some of them have literally decided to tell their haunted stories and about being attacked by the devil.  Their teaching tells them the devil is always lurking and seeking some way to enter their lives and homes.  The show reveals inside secrets into their lives; how they are literally taught that anything can open a door to evil.  They have these concepts drilled into their minds from a very early age.  They spend so much time focused upon the devil and evil they literally don't stand a chance.  The cards are stacked against them from the start.

For those who use no modern conveniences, including the use of electricity, life is almost as primitive as it was in the 1600's.  While they hold the bible to be the most sacred, book they often teach things that aren't validated by the bible.  Some of those teachings become laws the same as if God had spoken it Himself.

I have mentioned before the Catholic church is based not completely upon the teachings of Jesus or God but rather a mix.  Some of their errors come from blatant disregard of things Jesus taught.  Their key errors however are mostly based upon the teachings of Paul.  Paul however knew well the existence of demons as well as the fact that, when allowed to, people would find demons in every tree.  They find evil where there is no evil and therefore create a doorway that evil might actually attack them.

The majority of the Amish do not have pictures or paintings of family or friends because they are taught these things are evil and believe such things are "graven images to foreign gods."  We know well that pictures and images of friends and family have nothing to do with items to be worshipped and therefore God wasn't speaking of these things when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses.  We must understand the day and time Moses lived in to understand the context of that commandment.  What did Moses see when he came down from the mountain?  He saw the people worshipping a golden calf.   He was so infuriated he threw the stone commandments upon the ground and ordered several thousand people to be put to death, essentially breaking the 6th commandment "Though shall not kill."

Just as the anti-instrument churches believe that having an instrument inside the church building is adding to the scriptures, the Amish have not only misunderstood the meaning of the commandment but have misunderstood a multitude of other things.

The scripture that tells us not to give the devil a foothold applies to the things I'm speaking about here.  Eph 4:27 (NIV) ... Do not give the devil a foothold.

I admit sometimes people need to have things explained to them.  The Catholic church forbids their priests and nuns to marry and this is based on the teachings of Paul.  Jesus said it is better to marry than to burn with lust.  Think about that a moment and you should understand how this works.

Jesus basically taught that no one could be saved by the laws, though that doesn't mean we go out and break the laws.  We understand from this that while even the best of us may try to keep all the laws, no one actually can.  Through this we understand that even the best of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  (Salvation.)

Based upon this fact we should also understand that with religions come laws.  We also understand that with every branch or denomination of a particular religion we find variations in their understanding and interpretation of those laws.  Let's face it, not everyone understands every single thing the same way.  Is there a right way to understand?  Of course there is.  Since King Solomon isn't available, I'll do my best to explain how some of these things actually work.

The Catholic church created a doorway to sin among their priests and nuns by forbidding them to marry.  Therefore their animal instincts are pent up and eventually overcome at least some of them.  The thing that presents the doorway to evil is the restrictions incorrectly placed upon them by the Catholic church.  God did not give them that directive or law; they took it from Paul.  While Paul may very well have been able to live without a sexual relationship not everyone can.  If we knew the truth about Paul, we might very well discover he was a eunuch .  He learned his contempt toward women and sexual relationships early on.  At that time some men actually castrated themselves so they wouldn't fall into sin with a woman.

The same concepts apply to the Amish.  They literally create the doorways to allow evil into their lives through their many rules and laws.  Rules God and the bible did not give them.  Rules based upon their own misunderstandings of what is written and what was brought forward to them through their religious elders.  We "English" living outside of these colonies could not possibly understand how these people's lives are completely and totally controlled by their concepts of evil and what God would have them do.

Among an Amish family a baby was born blind.  As he grew they discovered he had the gift of seeing future events.  This is frowned upon and considered witchcraft by their elders.  The young blind boy was declared a witch and shunned by his people.  When shunned they can't have any contact with their own people until a point when the Elder decides they have been punished enough.  So the young boy, kicked out of his own home, was left to wander the forest and fields.  Trying to find something to eat, the boy fell into a pond and drown.  When the body was found the Elder said God had removed him punishing him in death.  Yes he was saying the boy drowning was God's doing.  He should have taken responsibility and realized it was his own doing and not God's.  One day he will learn the truth and I hope it's not too late for him.

The parents of the boy buried him in secret hoping for the boy's salvation but when the elder learned of it he had a tree planted upon the boy's grave to prevent his spirit from escaping and wreaking havoc upon the community.  Once again the elder established a non-biblical fallacy based upon their own dogma and created a new doorway to evil for their entire community.  As long as the tree stands no evil shall come out of that grave.  Sick and twisted thinking I know and, yes, it's a pagan belief.

So one day a big storm comes through and the mighty oak falls.  One of the men, a woodworker, helps clean up the mess and was told to burn the tree but instead he took the tree to his wood shop and began making beautiful furniture out of it which he sold.  He understood it was just a tree and there was nothing evil in it.  When strange things began happening and people using the wood from that tree began falling into strange trances the elder confronted the woodworker and discovered he had in fact used that tree.  Let's face it; this couldn't have happened to anyone else but only to the Amish because of their strict rules.  So the woodworker was also shunned and he departed the community and no one ever saw him again.

Many years ago I pointed out that certain Prophets of God also had special abilities and if these abilities were observed today they would be branded as witches.  The gift of seeing into the future came to them not from the devil but from God.  Jesus himself was accused of consorting with demons when he performed healings and cast out demons.

Another young lady was branded a witch based on the accusation of an Amish acquaintance.  When confronted by the elder she said it was not so.  She was banished and shunned by the elder and kicked out of the community.  No one saw her for some time.  Then one winter day one of the farmers walking through his field saw what he thought was a pile of rags.  When he pulled them up he found the dead frozen body of that same young girl.  Once again the elder laid the blame at God's feet saying it was God's justice.  Once again the elder had a tree planted upon her grave to keep the evil bound up.  Many years later lighting hit that tree and it split open and died.  Once again a series of possessions sprang up among the community even though that tree had been burned and not used as furniture.

Are you starting to see the pattern?  It's a perpetual process of confine and control being used by the Amish elders to control their people.  So where is the devil in these details?  If you said a person would have to be completely blind not to see the truth you are correct.  You can also be sure that if anyone presented the truth to these people the elder would cry "Evil!"  He would lay the blame right back on the one trying to show them where the real evil exists among them.

A neighbor lady living near an Amish family gave a doll to a little Amish girl one day as a birthday present.  The girl brought the doll home.  Instantly the father saw the doll, threw it in the stove, and burned it while his daughter screamed and cried.  You see the Amish believe that any doll that has a face is a doorway to evil and this child had brought that evil thing into their home literally cursing that family.  The young girl was furious not understanding why her dad had destroyed her new doll.  She became withdrawn and was proclaimed to be possessed by an evil spirit.  She was sent away to a special home where she could be exorcised of that evil spirit.  Weeks passed.  The mother was distraught because she had not prevented the girl from entering the home with that 'evil' doll.  Several weeks passed and the girl was returned to her family completely cured of the evil that had possessed her.  They no longer have any contact with the 'English' woman who gave the girl the doll.

While it is possible for an evil spirit to inhabit something like a doll it is extremely rare.  The evil wasn't in the doll; it was in the people.  Yes now you are beginning to see how these things work and how it is possible for evil to exist within people who are being controlled by lies in the name of God and their religious beliefs.

The face on the doll has little to do with evil possessing the doll because I've dealt with cases where evil will attach itself to things that people frequently use such as a comb or hairbrush.  The Amish children do have dolls but they do not have faces.  So, yes, if an evil spirit wanted to it could still inhabit one of their dolls.  Why do that when evil spirits can inhabit the people instead?

See the connection between this type of thinking and the Salem Witch Trials?  Innocent people were murdered based on the lies of a few children.  Others were murdered because of moldy rye bread and paranoid people proclaiming it must be witchcraft.  Some of those innocent people were tortured and forced to confess they were witches before they were put to death.  Maybe a few of them were witches but that's beside the point.  We who call ourselves Christian today do not live under the Old Testament.  We live under the New Testament where we do our best to abide by the laws of our land and it's not a crime to practice witchcraft as long as no one is harmed in the process.  Murder is still murder any way you look at it and that goes against the 6th commandment.

Over the years how many children have received a doll and nothing bad happened?  So why are the Amish the exception to that rule?  The reason is the devil loves to use politics and religion to control and manipulate people.  I've yet to find any references to these people and the passing along of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands or through any other method.  I have however seen entire churches filled with highly devout people who weren't saved and don't know it.  What will they think on judgment day when they realize their mistake?

Sometime back I was asked to look in on an on-line group called "Dangers of the Paranormal."  The leader of this group keeps his flock terrified that demons were coming after them from all directions.  He even taught that demons come out of the TV sets after people.  You might say "that's ridiculous" and you would be right.  You might say "No one would fall for that."  You might be surprised.  So I posted three times in that group that demons do not come through a TV set after people.  They come after paranoid, fearful people because often fear and ignorance is what they feed upon.  The leader of that group sent me a very stern message telling me the demons I sent after them would not succeed!  Then he signed his message "The Godman!"   Let's face it, you can't be in this business as long as I have without catching flak from the practitioners of foolishness who prey upon the ignorance of people.  People like these do not teach truth.  They do not teach people how to actually protect themselves from the forces of evil.  They make them dependent upon their shepherd and yes some of them actually pay them.  The method being used by the Amish is the same as used by 'Ronny D.', "The Godman", and people like him.

The real lesson in all this is that sometimes bad things happen to good people and not every bad thing is caused by a demon or the devil.  So if you don't want to give the devil a foothold it's wise not to build him a door or window he can enter through.

The other lesson is that yes evil does exist and when it does present itself we need to know why and how to deal with it.  Shunning and abandoning our children isn't the solution.  If those parents had been held accountable by the law they would have been charged with negligent homicide. 

If we understand correctly how spiritual things really work we may avoid the snares, pitfalls, and mistakes that others make.