“AMISH GRACE”

vs.
GOD'S GRACE

As I type this, my eyes are still a little puffy and wet after
watching the immensely painful Lifetime movie, “Amish
Grace,” which premiered on Sunday evening, March 28,
2010. There's nothing as devastating as losing a child,
especially due to human evil, as was experienced by the
Amish families portrayed in this movie based on the 2006
shooting tragedy in Nickel Mines, PA.

As in real life, immediately after the shooting deaths of their

daughters, the Amish families in the community expressed
their forgiveness of the murderer who had committed suicide
at the scene of his crime. In the movie, an Amish elder tells
the man's widow that this forgiveness is proscribed by God in
Matthew 6:14: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your
heavenly Father will also forgive you.” This quotation from
our Lord Jesus Christ during his earthly ministry to Israel
goes on to say in v. 15: “But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
The fact that the Amish, as is widely known, live by the
precepts that God gave exclusively to his chosen nation of
Israel at a time in her prophetic calendar in which she was
under the final installment of curses for her disobedience
(Lev. 26), is evidence that the Amish mistakenly believe this
situation is still going on, although that program was
temporarily set aside by God and a new offer of salvation
apart from the law and the curses of Israel is now being made
to individuals who believe the gospel of grace given
exclusively to Paul by the risen Lord Jesus Christ for us.

The Amish “faith” is one in which its members feel it

necessary to obey the commandments that the Lord Jesus
Christ gave to Israel, even though he said, “I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24).
Unless the Amish keep themselves a separate and peculiar
people that follow in the footsteps of the earthly Jesus as he
instructed his covenant people in what they must do in order
to prove their worthiness of their promised earthly kingdom,
they believe they have no right to call themselves saved. In
their zeal to please God by their performance, many go so far
as to eschew nearly all modern conveniences, such as
electricity and owning motor vehicles. This they must do in
addition to trusting that God sent a saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to die for sin.
In the made-for-TV movie, a news reporter asked this elder
how his congregation could forgive the shooter even though
he had shown no remorse for his actions. The elder replies,
“Forgiveness comes from an open heart. It comes without
conditions – or it doesn't come at all.” For those of us who
recognize that we are living in the dispensation of the grace of
God in which he offers salvation as a free gift with no strings
attached to any who will simply trust that his Son has done it
all for us by offering for our sin his shed blood on the cross,
and rising again from the grave, the elder's description of
forgiveness perfectly reflects the attitude of God toward the
world of sinners today. (2 Cor. 5:19).

Curious when you think about it. This elder's description of

“Amish grace” is far more gracious than his religious idea of
God's grace! Does he think the Amish are more gracious than
God? It's my prayer, and I know that it's yours as well, that
Amish people – and unsaved people everywhere – will see
the truth of the mystery revealed to Paul for all of us today,
which is based entirely on the fact that, “by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God; not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2: 8, 9).