The Amish Northkill Massacre — Dean Taylor

All right, hello, I'm Dean Taylor. And before we get started with this little teaching video, I just wanted to say a few words about what you can expect to see. Mike Atnip and I made this video to try to talk about a couple of things.

The Teachings of Jesus and Radical Discipleship

First of all, we wanted to talk about the teachings of Jesus Christ. We're gonna be asking you throughout the movie, and particularly at the end of the movie, do you really think that Jesus meant every word he said?

And if he did, some of the teachings that he gave us come out in situations like what you're about to see. Another thing we'd like to do in the midst of that teaching is show a radical example of someone that actually kept the words of Jesus.

Just north of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where Mike and I both live, there was an early Amish settlement in the 1700s that went through a situation where some Indians had attacked the house. The old example, what happens if somebody comes into your house and is gonna attack your family?

Well, it happened right up here, north of Lancaster County in this early Amish settlement. Jacob Hostetler, who was the man there, did beautiful in this, and he left a legacy of people who radically believed the words of Jesus Christ.

So, that's what you can expect to see in this video. What you cannot expect to see in this video is high quality. We're two guys with a couple of videos, cameras, and some cheap computer software, so if you cut us a little slack with the quality of the video, Mike did some really good research on the Hostetler Massacre, and it's the message we hope that you enjoy and get something out of, and not the quality of our video.

So, okay, well, let's see what you think.

For the, when the conflict fared

The Amish Settlement and the Coming Conflict

In about the year 1740, peaceful members of the Amish faith settled in the North Cape Creek in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania. They had fled persecution and sought religious liberty in William Penn's colony.

William Penn had treated the Indian nations with respect, and for about 15 years, the North Kill settlers lived in harmony with their Indian neighbors just over the nearby Blue Mountain. The troubles between England and France for control of North America and unprincipled settlers from other communities who settled on Indian lands without paying for it drew the Indian nations into conflict with the Europeans.

Many of them sided with the French, and the French urged the Indians to attack the English. This escalated into the French and Indian Wars. Raids were carried out on the seaboard settlements, in which the French and Indians killed and took captive frontier settlers.

As they took seriously the words of Jesus concerning war, the Amish settlers on the North Kill did not take part in the hostilities. On September 19th, 1757, the Jacob Hostetler family had an apple snitzing in which the youth of the community gathered to their home to cut up apples for drying.

Jesus' Teaching on Nonresistance in the Hostetler Home

Late in the day, the helpers all left, and Jacob and his family settled into bed for a peaceful night's rest until the dog began to bark, and young Jacob Hostetler, Jr. rose to see what the fuss was all about.

No, son, Jesus said to love our enemies and to not resist evil. Did Jesus really mean it when he said in Matthew 5, 39, but I say unto you that you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

That question may have run through Jacob's mind. One of the French or Indians had just shot Jacob, Jr. in the leg. The two older boys still at home, Joseph and Christian, went for the two hunting rifles the family had.

According to tradition, the boys begged to use them, but Jacob, Sr. stood firm in his conviction that Jesus really did mean what he said. Logistically, the family had the advantage over the attackers, being in a log house, with the attackers having little cover close by.

They could see out the windows, but the French and Indians could not see in. They saw a couple French and about 10 Indians. The attackers held a short consultation behind the nearby outdoor bake oven, then taking embers from the oven, they set the house on fire.

It would have taken time for the house to become fully engulfed in the flames, but eventually the family was forced to take refuge in the cellar. When the fire started burning through the floor above them, they doused it with the cider stored in the cellar.

It was getting daylight, and the attackers were getting nervous and started to leave. It was also getting too hot for the family. Hoping that all the attackers had left, they began to escape out a small basement window, seen in the picture here.

This might be the very window which they escaped out of. But it took a while for the family to get out. Jacob, Jr. was wounded, and Mrs. Hostetler was a large lady, and she had a hard time getting through the small window.

Unfortunately, a young brave had stayed behind and was eating ripe peaches from a tree. He noticed the family crawling out and alerted the other attackers, and they quickly captured them. However, Joseph escaped running and outran a couple of his pursuers.

But being scared and not knowing if there were other attackers in the area, he eventually circled back and dropped down behind a log to watch the proceedings. Unbeknownst to Jacob, his oldest son, John, who lived on a nearby farm, had heard noises and wondering what was going on.

He saw what was happening. He took and hid his family about a quarter mile south in the woods and then returned to watch what was happening, but felt helpless to do anything. Another neighboring family, the Jacob Krutzer family, had also crept up to the scene, but also felt unable to do anything.

The attackers killed and scalped Mrs. Hostetler, a daughter whose name is not known, and Jacob, Jr. But one Indian had noticed where Joseph had hidden himself behind the log, so they quickly circled him and captured him too.

Jacob Hostetler's Captivity and the Test of Faith

So with Jacob, Sr., Joseph, and Christian, the attackers left, heading over the nearby Blue Mountain. Up here today on the Blue Mountain, about 10 miles from where Jacob Hostetler and the boys were massacred at.

Jacob and his boys would have walked along in this area somewhere in here as they were taken captive. I'm a Christian, and as I ponder the idea of faith, I think this day, the morning after Jacob's massacre, I can imagine it was probably one of the lowest days of his life.

Jacob chose to believe the words of Jesus when his family was being attacked, but that's pretty easy to do when as long as you're still inside of a safe little house and you think, well, maybe these French and Indians will just leave.

But now he's here, it's in the afternoon perhaps, like it is now, a sunny afternoon. He's walking along the ridge here, and his wife and his little son and his daughter's scalps are probably hanging there on the sides of one of his Indians.

I can imagine it would have been a real good time for Jacob to just say, did Jesus really mean that? Or in situations like mine, should have we used the guns? But Jacob Hostetler chose to believe in Jesus and active faith.

And to believe in Jesus means to take his words and swallow them hook, line, and sinker, even when your house is being burned down. God save. Before heading over the mountain, Jacob had filled his pocket with the peaches and advised his sons to gather some too and to submit gracefully to their fate.

For three days, they walked over the mountains on the Tupelhauken Trail, which is now Route 501 north of Bethel, Pennsylvania. Jacob knew that sometimes prisoners were made to run the gauntlet. A gauntlet was two rows of Indians lined up profile facing each other with switches, clubs, and tomahawks.

The prisoners then had to run between the two lines while the captain was receiving blows. Some never made it to the end of the line. But even without running the gauntlet, prisoners were often mistreated when they entered an Indian village.

They were hit and switched and beaten by the squalls and even the young Indians. But Jacob and his two sons approached the chief and offered him some of the peaches. The chief was so pleased with this that he ordered the beatings to stop and the captains never were forced to run the gauntlet.

Here we see an example of Jacob returning good for the evil doing to him.

I guess what really struck me about the story is apparently it was recorded that, I don't know if it was a couple of years before, sometime before, apparently a band of tired Indians, I guess they'd been out hunting or something, and apparently approached the Hochstetler farm requesting food and the legend has it that Mrs. Hochstetler denied them and sent them away hungry.

And I guess I kind of had to wonder what would it have been like? How would the story have been written different or the history if she would have done what Jesus says to do? And when your enemy is hungry, feed him.

I don't know, I had to wonder, could it have prevented the whole tragedy?

The Journey to Captivity and the Lord's Prayer

Tradition has it that while they were going over the mountains, they passed a clearing in which another Amish man was chopping with his ax. The Indians shot at Mr. Miller, hitting him in the hand while he was raising his ax.

Mr. Miller then fled, but the Indians did not chase him. In three days, they reached the Susquehanna River and forded it about 20 miles below what is now Sunbury, Pennsylvania. For the next 14 days, they traveled up the west bank of the Susquehanna over the snowshoe path to Venongo, present-day Franklin, Pennsylvania.

Then they went by canoe up French Creek for three days and finally one more day walk brought them to Presque Isle, which is present-day Erie, Pennsylvania. Here's where Jacob was probably separated from his two boys by the French, and the French sent him to three different Indian villages to be held captive.

Before parting, Jacob advised his boys, if you are ever taken so far away and are kept so long that you forget your German language, do not forget the Lord's Prayer. You're about the age of Joseph when Joseph was taken captive.

What do you think it would have felt like to be going up on the Blue Mountain there, perhaps and a man walking in front of you as your mother's scalp flapping on his belt? What do you think that would have felt like?

Your life is before you and all of a sudden here this calamity had happened. What kind of feelings do you think would go through a young man's mind like yours?

Well, probably bitterness at times. You probably would get pretty angry at the Indians and also probably just shocked how it could happen like that so quickly. And yeah, there's probably a lot of just mixed feelings.

There's a lot of emotions that would have gone into all of that.

You know, you've been taught maybe all your life like Joseph had been by his father to forgive people. You think it would have been very hard to forgive those people seeing your sister and your mother's and your brother's scalp hanging there?

I would imagine it would have been pretty hard to forgive them. After the separation, Jacob was sent to Buckaloons near present day Irvine, Pennsylvania. The Indian life didn't appeal to him and he looked for his chance to escape.

Jacob's Escape Across the Wilderness

When all the men of the village left to make more raids, Jacob was given a gun and a few bullets each day with a measured amount of powder and told that his job was to provide meat for the camp. He was made accountable to tell where each bullet had gone and where all the powder had been used and explained why he missed if there was no meat brought in for each bullet.

He planned his escape and was able to hide a little powder in a hollow tree as well as a few bullets day by day. But the question was, where was home? One day, Jacob noticed an older man drawing in the ashes.

He drew nearer and realized that they were drawing a map. He passed back and forth, trying not to act too interested, but soon he formed an idea in his mind exactly where he was on the map. And with this in mind, he began to plan his escape.

John Specht was another captive German in Buckaloons and the night before he left, Jacob let him in on the escape plan. The next day, Jacob was sent out to hunt again. John left in the opposite direction and then the two of them met at an appointed place.

They went to the hollow tree for the powder and bullets and made fast tracks for home. Evening came and they decided to camp at a lone spot under an overhanging cliff where they could build a fire unnoticed.

To their surprise and embarrassment, a lone Indian showed up. Jacob and John quickly made another quick escape plan, in German, of course. They both acted as if they were gathering sticks for the fire and slowly went farther and farther out.

They were to meet at a determined place on a little creek and from there they would flee together. Jacob did his part and he waited until dark for John, but John never showed up. Jacob then sneaked back to peek at the campsite.

The fire was dying down and by its light, Jacob thought he saw blood and meat. Thinking John had been killed by the Indian, Jacob fled alone, going all night without any sleep. John Specht was never heard of again.

You know, as we start to think about this situation, here was two men, they had a gun and one Indian. And Jacob kept on believing in Jesus. I don't know if the Indian had a gun or had a weapon or no details are given, but you would think two men against one, they could have done the Indian in and took off.

But they just decided, or at least Jacob did, to keep on believing in Jesus, keep on doing what Jesus said. It was another one of those situations where real faith had to kick into gear. Jacob headed east over mountains, streams, and through the beautiful forest.

He avoided paths, often traveling at night for six days. He soon reached what he thought might be the headwaters of the Susquehanna River. He followed it for four days. And when the creek became larger and seemed to be headed in the right direction, he decided it was time to build a raft.

But he had no ax to cut up the logs. So he found a dry log, built several fires on the log at the right lengths and tended the fires all night long. By morning, the fires had burned the log through into several pieces, which he tied together with vines and saplings and made a raft.

He hopped on and began his journey. But after some time, Jacob noticed that the river seemed to be heading southwest in the wrong direction. Thinking he was perhaps on the Ohio and not the Susquehanna, he became discouraged and pulled ashore.

Jacob had been living on grass and whatever he could scrounge from the forest. At this point, tradition says that Jacob found a dead possum full of maggots, which he ate to his fill. That night, he had a dream in which his murdered wife appeared and told him he was on the right way and to keep going.

The next morning, he got on his raft again, determined to stay there until he reached white civilization. He floated for five days until he arrived back at Shamokin. Here, the soldiers at the fort rescued him.

Tradition says he was so weak that he could only raise one arm to signal that he wanted help. Since he had been behind enemy lines, Jacob was then sent to Carlisle, Pennsylvania to be debriefed. It is from the record of this debriefing that some of the details of this story have been taken.

There are various written and oral accounts of Jacob's story in which the details sometimes contradict each other, but the main points of the story agree. Jacob then returned home to be reunited with his son, John, and daughter, Barbara, who was out of the home when the family had been attacked nine months earlier.

The Return of Jacob's Sons

What a joyful day that must have been. Jacob bought land about 10 miles south of his old place. Then later on, he eventually moved to what is now Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. He remarried to a lady named Anna and died there in Lebanon County.

Of the boys' captivity, details are very sparse. They had been treated very well while in captivity and were most likely fully adopted into the Indian culture. Christian was about 11 years old and Joseph 15 when they were captured.

At the end of the French and Indian War, the English demanded the release of all the white captives to which the Indians agreed, but several years passed before it was fully carried out. In August of 1762, Jacob attended a council at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a group of captives were being returned, but he looked in vain for his sons.

Jacob then had an official petition written to Governor Hamilton, the original copy which still survives to this day. In this petition, Jacob states that he knows exactly where one of the boys is. King Custaloga has one of them, and Custaloga was president of the council.

At a later time, Jacob wrote another petition to Sir William Johnson, the British superintendent of Indian affairs. In this petition, of which only portions remain, it appears as if Jacob is willing to travel to New York to bring Christian back.

The details are sparse and sometimes conflicting, but by 1765, almost eight years later, it is almost certain that both boys were back home. One story states that on returning home, Christian approached his father's house during mealtime.

The visitor was given some food and he sat on a stump to eat it. When Jacob finished his meal, he went out to see what this Indian man wanted. To his surprise, the Indian said in broken German, my name is Christian Hostetler.

Tradition has it that Christian had a hard time transitioning back to European culture, and that he remained on friendly terms with the Indians, going on hunts with them. Christian eventually married a girl named Barbara.

Joseph married a girl named Anna. Interestingly, both sons, who had earlier begged to use the rifles in the attack, joined non-resistant churches after their return. Joseph joined the Amish, while Christian became a preacher in the Dunkard Brother Church, sometimes called the German Baptist.

Today, there are an estimated one half to one million descendants of Jacob Hostetler scattered all over the U .S. and into other parts of the world. In the late 1990s, descendants of Jacob Hostetler's family took the stones from the old bake oven that was falling apart and built this memorial.

It was from behind the bake oven that the Indians and the French had attacked the house. Thus ends the story of Jacob Hostetler. Of the personal lives of the French and Indians who attacked Jacob Hostetler's home, very little is known, except for one man, Tom Lyons.

Tom Lyons and the Legacy of Vengeance

His story comes from his own mouth, which, as we shall see, has reason to be doubted, but we shall tell it. Tom Lyons was a young brave of about 18 years old who stopped to eat before leaving the attack.

He was the one who noticed that the family was crawling out of the window and called the others to come back. Tom said in his later life that he was the one that scalped Jacob Hostetler's wife. After the attack, Tom Lyons fought in many wars, including Pontiac's War.

When the rest of the Lenni-Lenape moved west, Tom Lyons stayed back. It seems he couldn't get along with his own people, neither with the Europeans. The interesting aspect of Tom Lyons' life is that in his old age, Tom moved to what is now Holmes County, Ohio.

This is the very community where some of the grandchildren of Jacob Hostetler moved. So Tom Lyons and some of Jacob Hostetler's grandchildren were neighbors. Tom bragged about his cruelty. He never seemed to get past his contempt for the Europeans.

He had a string of 99 tongues, which he claimed were the tongues of 99 white Europeans that he had murdered. He always bragged that if someone bothered him, he would put number 100 on the string. One day, Tom disappeared.

No one knows where he ended his life. Some have surprised that a white man got tired of his bragging and did him in privately. But Tom's problems were not unique to him nor to his race. We could mention names like Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, men who seemed to never get past their pride, contempt, and revenge and bitterness.

If Tom had any descendants, they are not known. He was a lonely old man who died, one of the last of his race to live in Holmes County, Ohio. Thus ends the story, Tom Lyons. That was the story of the Jacob Hostetler family.

Whether Jesus Really Meant “Love Your Enemies”

Very interesting history. I have today with me here with Brother Dean Taylor, the author of a very interesting and thorough book called A Change of Allegiance. And so we want to ask a few of these hard questions, Dean.

The question, what if? As I pick this book up, what should a Christian do with Jesus' words, love your enemies? Did Jesus really mean that?

Yes, amen. You know, I think that I love this story about the Hostetler family and the massacre there because it really puts into a more real, maybe more modern day, even though that was a few hundred years ago, but a more modern day example of someone just taking the words of Jesus Christ and putting them into practice and willing to die over it.

I mean, when you think in that story, how the boys were, in their zeal, were wanting to say, hey, dad, we have enough gunpowder. We have enough bullets to be able to do this. Why don't we just do something about this?

And the father said, no, we're gonna lay down and we're gonna die. And I think this is a beautiful story about someone putting these things into practice. But I do think, I think that one of the things that constantly challenged me in my life is that in my testimony, my whole life was changed when I believe that Jesus Christ put his hand to these words of his and just simply said, I mean it.

And my life has been changed ever since. And it continues to be changed because it's an ongoing thing of trying to follow that. But I really think that he means every word that he says. And this is one of those hard ones.

What do you do in a terrible crisis like this? And yes, I do think that he meant it when he told us to love our enemies.

Even in something like this. That's easy for Dean Taylor to say sitting here. Nice little table, comfortable. But put yourself there in Jacob's shoes. The Indians are here at your door. They've shot your son.

He's bleeding.

The guns are there. Is it viable? Great question. And you're exactly right. I mean, it's so easy. These things can be just a theology. And where I think that Jacob really had this indwelling of Jesus Christ within him.

You know, the scripture says that we are transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And here's a beautiful example that faced in a situation where he pretty much could figure out, we're all gonna die.

But somehow he knew that through this death, God would be glorified. And the only way that I think that a lot of the teachings of the New Testament, particularly the teachings of Christ make any sense, is that I believe in them has, there comes out this theology of martyrdom.

Where if we see this idea that our life is not to be lived out to the fullest, to have all the great things we want out of life, but to be poured out as a sacrifice, sometimes a literal sacrifice, then those are the things that I think that he's talking about.

And that's when these things make more sense. Otherwise, if you're just trying to have a happy, great life and trying to apply the words of Jesus, I don't think it works that well.

So you're saying that Jacob Hostetler had to die before the bullets ever started flying.

Yeah, amen, well said. Jacob Hostetler had died the day he gave his life to Christ. And that was way before the bullets started flying. Yes, amen.

Allegiance to Christ's Kingdom Over Earthly Powers

So we're seeing a battle here, not between French and Indians and English. We're seeing a battle against, we've looked at the life of Jacob and we saw how his life went. We've looked at the life of Tom Lyons, we saw his life.

We're not seeing Indian against white, we're seeing light against darkness.

Amen, amen, that's right. And I think that's the continual battle that has gone through every age. And the thing about we have to realize that Jacob Hostetler is a war hero. You know, we have, if we go down to Arlington there in Washington, D .C., you see a lot of things, some tragic things happen when you see Pearl Harbor and men that gave their lives for a cause.

And, you know, it can't help but anybody who looks at those things just feel a warmth in their heart about what people sacrificed for a cause. And it makes you very thankful for what they did for America in that way.

But, you know, here we have an idea that Jesus is taking us to a different kingdom. And he wants and expects the same kind, perhaps even more, of the allegiance to that kingdom that we would have for American heroes and war heroes as well.

And so here is a man who died a war hero. And the thing to keep in mind is that is, some people think, well, it's terrible. I mean, somebody comes into your home and somebody does this kind of a thing.

And I agree, it is terrible, it is tragic. But in this warfare, in this warfare that you spoke of, there are some things that are tragic. There are some things. But I would argue the point, though, is it not a bit ironic, though, to when people try to use these sort of scenarios while somebody breaks into your house and they try to make the, to call on the sympathies for this as a defense or as a reason to go and make nuclear warheads and to make bombs and to have all these sorts of armories and things to go out to war?

Because isn't it in wartime people die as well? I mean, people die and tragic and terrible things do happen. And so here we hear a story of a terrible, terrible thing that happened. The difference, though, is that Jacob Hostetler had Jesus Christ and his teachings alive in him.

And now that permeated the whole situation. And I think as you have demonstrated, it shows fruit even to this day.

So we're seeing a battle of light against darkness. We're seeing a battle of vengeance against forgiveness. And they meet each other here in the life of Tom Lyons who seems to, you know, he bragged about later about killing Hostetler's wife.

Right, right. And yet, as we look at that from man's eyes, we say, well, Jacob Hostetler lost the battle because he lost his wife. But the reality is Jacob Hostetler won. Right, right. Amen, that's right.

Martyrdom, Resurrection, and Bearing Fruit

You know, you think of how many, how many massacre sites could we find around here? I mean, as we were there, you know, doing, even talking to the man there at the house, we found out that there's other little places and little houses.

Why does this one stand out? Why does this one, somebody put up a plaque still to the day, a historic marker? It's because somebody laid down their life. And it was different. And Jesus says, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and die, it cannot bear fruit.

But I believe that what they did and what these Amish men did there in that massacre has borne fruit. And a perfect example, and maybe we could talk about this at a different time, is the whole nickel mines right a few miles down from here.

Still to this day, a testimony goes out to the whole world that when these terrible things do happen, they still take the words of Jesus Christ and say, he means it, and I'm gonna live it.

So this memorial that we looked at is really a memorial to the resurrection. Hallelujah, amen.

The seeds of the resurrection, amen. One of the verses that I like to look at, you know, this obviously gets, this type of thing, it gets us deep, it gets us in our emotions. I mean, somebody coming into your home and killing your wife.

That's the classic non-resistance. That's the classic non, and it gets us so deep because that's where our emotions are there, the deepest for our family. But Jesus Christ has promised us that when we give our lives to him, we are to not worry about the things that happened to us, that he will completely take care of us.

But sometimes, you see the people that even Jesus loved the most, sometimes he asked us to go through something very, very hard. Let me just give you one quick thing here from Romans chapter eight, verse 35.

Romans 8 and the Christian's Confidence in Christ's Love

I like to call this when I preach sometimes the Christian atomic weapon. It's Romans chapter eight, beginning at verse 35. And before we do, I want you to imagine any kind of what if. What if Hitler wouldn't have been stopped?

What if Islam gets out of control? What if somebody breaks into your home? What if capitalism falls? What if, you know, all these different what ifs that could happen? And put them and listen to what Paul tells us here in this Christian nuclear weapon.

He says, verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, any of those things, the sword, even being in a famine, persecution, distress in your life, tribulation.

He says, as it is written, and don't miss this point, for thy sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. If you get there, that's where Jacob Hostetler was before.

He would consider himself sheep for the slaughter.

So the question is not what if someone breaks into your home, but the question really should be what if Jesus really meant every word he said? And what if there is a resurrection after the cross? Amen, what if there's a resurrection?

You're exactly right, because he goes on to say, nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Well, what things? You know, famine, nakedness, peril, sword. Somebody shooting your wife.

Somebody shooting your wife, amen. For I am persuaded, Paul said, and I think Jacob Hostetler was persuaded too. I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor things, excuse me, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

That is the Christian nuclear weapon.

From his throne, the Father speaks, angels sing

Following Christ When Family Protection Is at Stake

Thank you for watching this story of the Hostetler Massacre. In closing, I would like to bring this message down to you and me. What would I do? What would you do if someone came into your house like they did in the Hostetler family?

Now, I don't believe that Jacob Hostetler made his decision on the spur of the moment. Jacob made his decision when he gave his life to Christ. And when Jacob gave his life to Christ, I believe that Jacob thought that being a Christian meant being an actual follower of Christ.

That's amazing. You know, the thought of someone coming in and harming our family is unthinkable to us. As a matter of fact, that very question, that is, what would you do if someone comes into your house and to harm your family, is the classic stopping point in the non-resistance debates.

You see, we all know what Jesus said, but we think, come on, he can't be serious. He can't expect me to actually to do these things. But you know what, I think that Jesus was serious. I think that he did mean what he said.

And I think that Jacob Hostetler was right. So what about you? At the end of this documentary of the Hostetler family and this massacre, allow us to bring this down to asking a very personal question.

We want you to think about it. What would you do? You know, thinking about that whole idea of Jesus Christ has said these words and I have this terrible situation happening, it leaves us with, I admit, a very difficult situation.

Now, for those of you out there who would quickly say, oh, there's no doubt about it, I would quickly pick up a gun and kill to protect my family, allow me, if you would, to be able to turn this a little bit the other way.

I was reading a book David Berceau wrote called The Kingdom That Turned the World Upside Down. And in this book, he turns the question in an interesting way. He says it this way. He said, what if a foreign government or a terrorist group or something ordered you to drop a bomb on a United States city or to assassinate the American president or else they would harm your wife and children?

What would you do? In other words, you know, like, let's say you're a pilot and a terrorist group came in, they said, okay, you've gotta go and bomb this city in America or we're gonna harm or maybe even kill your family.

What would you do? You know, I think that most Americans would allow their wives and their children to be harmed, maybe even killed, before betraying their country. So how is this situation any different when it concerns loyalty to Jesus?

And Jesus' teachings on non-resistance are quite clear. It's a matter of either denying him or denying my family. To be sure, that's a very difficult choice, but you see, I have already made that choice when I gave my life to Christ.

Entrusting the Family to Christ's Protection

Does that mean I would do nothing to protect my family? Of course not. I have already done the best thing that I could possibly do to ensure their safety. I have entrusted my home and my family to the care and protection of Jesus Christ.

Jacob Hostetler chose the way of Christ to be sure he suffered great personal loss because of it, as we've seen. But like always, all throughout history, the blood of the martyr, the blood of the one who was able to be sacrificed for Christ's sake, the blood of the martyr becomes the seed of the church.

From Jacob's faithfulness, thousands have been inspired, and still today hold firmly to faith in Christ, believing that Jesus actually meant every word that he said. Well, here's the good news. Today, if you believe, if you believe Jesus and you believe that he meant what he said, he has promised us that he will give us the grace to be able to stand.