By: Jerry D, Plain Values
This Month’s Question:
What does restoration look like in your community?
Answered by: Jerry D Miller, a minister in his local Amish church
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The existing infrastructure and cultural norms in the West are increasingly hostile or incompatible with Christian values. In response to this reality many of us are turning towards the idea of building our own parallel infrastructure and communities, not unlike the pilgrims who were seeking new land and religious freedom during the early days of America. Unfortunately there is nowhere left to run to. Every country on earth is subjected to the globalist regime in one form or another and so we can’t just physically pack up our things, move to new lands, and form our own nation–at least not yet.
Thankfully with the power of technology we might not have to.
Christians are often confronted with challenges that test their faith and convictions. In the face of today’s moral ambiguity and cultural relativism it is essential for believers to stand firm in their understanding of the Truth and take bold action. Christians need to shed their fears, refuse to tolerate evil, and remember to operate within the moral framework of the Creator God.
by ThinkingWest The most challenging period in which to select the great books of Christianity is the modern era. The sheer volume of Christian literature…
by Shawn & Beth Dougherty, Plain Values
A Child comes in the back door with a full milk can; the screen door slaps shut behind him. There is the sound of a bucket being set on the bench, the clang of a bail handle against the side of the milk can. In the kitchen someone is frying bacon; the smell reaches into the basement, where at a simple counter and sink we process raw milk twice daily.
Sometimes we wonder how we got here! When we first thought we might keep a dairy cow, we worried that the chores would be too much work and that we would not be able to maintain a rigid schedule. Not only were we taking on twice-daily milking, but we would be moving our intensively grazed dairy cows onto fresh grass each time we milked. With all the other farm chores and homeschooling our eight children, were we going to have time for the added work? But while milking a cow does require commitment, it turned out to be not nearly as much work as we expected.
by J.Pilgrim
I finally sorta-finished my greenhouse. It took eight trips to the homestead, spread over ten months, and cost roughly $4,000 out of the budgeted $3,000, without calculating fuel, food, and beer.
I say “sorta”, because I still need to reinforce the roof by turning beams into trusses, then level out the floor and put down plastic and gravel. While I’d made a note of the need for trusses on what passes for building plans, I had forgotten to have an offline version of those plans for the trip. I also need to double the number of roof purlins under the Lexan panels, according to those notes.
by Joel Salatin, Plain Values
In animal husbandry and livestock production, probably the most common violation of God’s design is failure to mimic animal movement.
Whether it’s a horse paddock, dog run, or a 1,000 cow herd, keeping animals requires intentional and managed movement. Studying God’s design in nature reveals a remarkably sophisticated animal choreography. In the wild, animals don’t stay in the same place; they move—dramatically.
by ThinkingWest
In our third installment of the Great Books of Christianity, we explore the works hailing from one of the most tumultuous times in Christian history: the Reformation. As new forms of Christianity spread throughout the West, theologians on all sides sharpened their pens and duked it out on parchment. The theological battles that raged forever changed the way the West would worship.
So let’s take a look at the most important Christian works of the Reformation and Enlightenment, covering the years 1500-1800.
by Nic Stoltzfus, Plain Values
I first moved to Pennsylvania in the fall of 2018 to become caretaker of the Nicholas Stoltzfus Homestead in Reading. I was also nearing completion of a coffee-table book I was working on: German Lutherans to Pennsylvania Amish: The Stoltzfus Family Story. I was unsure about how it would go—although my father Elam was born Amish in Lancaster County and grew up there, I was a stranger to this region. I had never spent more than two weeks in Pennsylvania my whole life and didn’t know much about Amish culture and way of life. After all, I was a Floridian who was raised on grits and sunshine, not snow and scrapple.
I made it my mission to learn as much as I could about my Amish and Stoltzfus heritage, and this past year I learned a great deal.
by Jerry D, Plain Values
This Month’s Question:
The balance between the blessings and pit-falls of modern-day technology can be hard to find. How do we balance using technology with staying connected to our community?
Answered by: Jerry D Miller, a minister in his local Amish church
In today’s clown world people are seeking effective means to express their beliefs and fight for causes they hold dear. While protests, social media activism, and political engagement are common approaches, a lesser-known yet powerful weapon in the culture war lies in our purchasing power. The ability to shape corporate behavior and culture through our consumer choices can have a profound impact on the direction society takes. Our purchasing power has a profound impact and we need to start using it more. We can no longer support brands that promote worldviews that are diametrically opposed to Truth. We need to continue making examples of brands who do these things by refusing to purchase their products and services.
We live in a planetary Art War. Want proof? Look at what is paraded in front of children in the name of Art in 2023. I am talking of course about the Drag Queens that have invaded public libraries across the Western Hemisphere. Why is this concept of drag queen “story time” so important to sexual revolutionaries? They seem to want to turn public spaces into the kindergartens of an androgynous cult. And it is a cult, as Russell Kirk would have defined it. Kirk outlined that the central cult practice of any group creates its culture, as worship informs the destiny of culture and civilization. For Apostolic Catholics, the central cult practice is the eucharistic liturgy as given by Saint Mark the Levite. We face the altar as Israelites and receive the story of our salvation in Christ, otherwise known as the Gospel. Yet the West has abandoned this Storytime for another cult promising its own good news of absolute freedom of expression.