"The Quiet in the Land" queries

[Valerie]

Denny Kenaston who co-founded Charity Churches, I well remember him admonishing the Anabaptist people for becoming as he put it "The Quiet in the Land" frustrated that they had become known more for their pies, cooking, quiet life then for reaching the lost. I miss his preaching.

[Josh]

Denny Kenaston who co-founded Charity Churches, I well remember him admonishing the Anabaptist people for becoming as he put it "The Quiet in the Land" frustrated that they had become known more for their pies, cooking, quiet life then for reaching the lost. I miss his preaching.

Yet what is his legacy? In the end, he repented of a lot of what he did and said he got basically everything wrong.

[Valerie]

Denny Kenaston who co-founded Charity Churches, I well remember him admonishing the Anabaptist people for becoming as he put it "The Quiet in the Land" frustrated that they had become known more for their pies, cooking, quiet life then for reaching the lost. I miss his preaching.

Yet what is his legacy? In the end, he repented of a lot of what he did and said he got basically everything wrong.

I strongly disagree

[Josh]

Denny Kenaston who co-founded Charity Churches, I well remember him admonishing the Anabaptist people for becoming as he put it "The Quiet in the Land" frustrated that they had become known more for their pies, cooking, quiet life then for reaching the lost. I miss his preaching.

Yet what is his legacy? In the end, he repented of a lot of what he did and said he got basically everything wrong.

I strongly disagree

Valerie, with respect, you go to a Reformed Baptist church and don’t go to a Charity church.

How much time have you spent with people who used to go to Charity churches? Visited with youth who grew up with them? Attended weekend events like Kingdom Fellowship Weekend?

More importantly, Kenaston’s own words near the end of his life were ones of repentance for the many mistakes he admits he made in the Charity movement. Do you disagree with him?

[Valerie]

Yet what is his legacy? In the end, he repented of a lot of what he did and said he got basically everything wrong.

I strongly disagree

Valerie, with respect, you go to a Reformed Baptist church and don’t go to a Charity church.

How much time have you spent with people who used to go to Charity churches? Visited with youth who grew up with them? Attended weekend events like Kingdom Fellowship Weekend?

More importantly, Kenaston’s own words near the end of his life were ones of repentance for the many mistakes he admits he made in the Charity movement. Do you disagree with him?

I had spent time with people from Charity and. We did not live in Leola Pennsylvania so I listened to many many of his messages including his series on Anabaptism and a Godly Family Series. I personally knew people that knew him well. It was an Amish man that recommended I start listening to him actually.

I also heard his last message he spoke at Charity Christian fellowship and he never said everything he did was wrong or even most of what he did was wrong.

Parkside is not a Reformed Baptist Church.by the way.

[Josh]

With respect, you and I both are near the largest concentration of Amish in the world - and also lots and lots of Charity churches. I have 4 Charity-type churches I can choose from a short drive from me.

Yet I haven’t seen much come from that movement except “converting” Amish people and then becoming a worldly church a few short years later. The series on “the godly home” made a lot of unbiblical promises, basically saying if you followed Kenaston’s teachings, you would have conservative, godly children grow up and stay that way (although not TOO conservative - you can drive cars and use electric). His teachings have rather obviously turned out to be false.

Once again, I do not understand your cheerleading for Amish people to stop being Amish and join a generic evangelical church. What denomination is Parkside anyway? What are their doctrines? I know for a fact they teach against non-resistance and practicing the head covering.

[Valerie]

With respect, you and I both are near the largest concentration of Amish in the world - and also lots and lots of Charity churches. I have 4 Charity-type churches I can choose from a short drive from me.

Yet I haven’t seen much come from that movement except “converting” Amish people and then becoming a worldly church a few short years later. The series on “the godly home” made a lot of unbiblical promises, basically saying if you followed Kenaston’s teachings, you would have conservative, godly children grow up and stay that way (although not TOO conservative - you can drive cars and use electric). His teachings have rather obviously turned out to be false.

Once again, I do not understand your cheerleading for Amish people to stop being Amish and join a generic evangelical church. What denomination is Parkside anyway? What are their doctrines? I know for a fact they teach against non-resistance and practicing the head covering.

Non-denomination.
I haven't heard them teach against non-resistance, if so there probably wouldn't be four more Mennonites there and Amish. They don't teach against headcovering but don't preach for it. They do not preach extra biblical rules or that they are the one true church

[Sudsy]

Where did the nomenclature "The Quiet in the Land" originate?

What is its original meaning?

Does it hold the same meaning in the present era?

I cannot fully answer your questions, but I have heard this as referring to my people in both a positive and a negative sense.

Positive: As the apostle Paul says, we are to live quite lives, not 'stirring up trouble'. This was applied in the sense of not meddling in the national affairs of the guest country.

Negative: One of the main stipulations set for the Mennonites coming from Prussia (a German-speaking nation-state which is now a part of Poland) to the Russian Empire's newly acquired lands in what is now Ukraine. (Variously referred to as 'New Russia', or 'South Russia' in both birth, marriage, & death records within my people's usage, and later as "The Ukraine'.)
'Proselytization' was strictly forbidden (especially in reference to the Russian Orthodox), and it was a condition that had to be met in order to be allowed to settle there. So this people who had been evangelistic from their beginnings in Holland, were required to "zip it". So compliance with this law is criticized as having lost spiritual zeal, having become "quiet in the land", thus betraying their Lord and God.

Thanks Neto for sharing this.

I think the positive application is what I take is 'stay out of politics' as it just stirs up trouble and is not our mission here.

The negative is we should not 'zip it' when it comes to the preaching of the Gospel and not let man scare us from doing so.

I thought of Acts 4 when the apostles were told to 'zip it' about Jesus and they replied (paraphrased) - 'sorry we just can't zip it, it is just too good not to share'. Today our lives are not even being threatened to share the Gospel here in North America and yet we are the wrong kind of 'quiet in the land'. Politics and other worldly concerns get the bulk of conversation. Why ?

I believe it is about losing our first love for Christ. I have been in evangelical churches most of my life and when a sinner is born again, more often than not, they can't 'zip it'. That first love gives new converts a holy boldness to want their friends and family to experience what they have found. Fear of how people might respond does not hinder them.

I know for myself that it's what I need is to return to this first love which I have returned to before. In Revelation the church in Ephesus was told this is what they needed to do.

There are things to stay away from and be the 'quiet in the land' about but the Gospel is not one of them and will, at times be unpeaceful to those who do not want it but brings real peace to those who do.

[Chris]

Many early Anabaptists became the quiet in the land because the discovered that if they are quieter, they get less persecution and less hassle. Some even agreed to not proselytize in exchange for no military service and the freedom to worship as they pleased.

Here is a book on the topic. www.amazon.com/Quiet-Peaceable-Life-Peo ... 1561482323

This is interesting. There indeed were those. It's puzzling because in Martyr's Mirror there were Anabaptists that had to have tongue clamps installed before they were executed because they'd be preaching to the public until they could no longer.

I'm curios if this is a "save their life will lose it, lose their life will save it" issue? What do you others think?