They hope so, but it is impossible to know.  Such Scripture passages as "His Spirit beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs" remained ambiguous for them.  It was said that the Apostles were much better men than we are and they could possibly know, but not us.  We are too sinful.  And it was reasoned that if a man knew he was right with God, there would be no more effort. His eternal destiny was fixed and settled.

The Mennonites were a bit different; they believed that a person could know whether he was right with God now. This doctrine of assurance was strongly adhered to by the Mennonites and they tried to get converts, but the Amish called it dangerous and a doctrine of devils.  They argued that we must just do as good as we know how and obey our spiritual leaders and hope for heaven, hope that the Lord will look at all our honest efforts, and if that did not reach, God would supply the grace to get us into heaven once we die.

The bishop, my father, John B. Renno, although a wise man, was not quite equal to this task, for it was so new he never had to combat it before.  It looked good and sounded scriptural, and he finally said he could not call it a devilish doctrine, but he just did not know.  Those who believed it were obedient to the church rules, although they confessed these rules do not save them, or help them to gain the favor of God.

My father said if it were a case of sin and pronounced wickedness it would be easy to deal with it. The guilty ones would soon be placed in the ban, but here were people who were not troublemakers and did nothing morally wrong.

Their belief just did not measure up to what we were always taught, and he had his office to protect, so he did the best he could, although it did not seem right.  He himself could have borne and tolerated the doctrine, but there were some who were violently opposed to it, insisting that those who believed such heresy must be expelled, and soon, for it was beginning to spread.

So the Ministry counseled together, and earnestly requested that nothing more be spoken about this doctrine by anyone, and that the book of the Revelation should not be read at all for the duration, for some were even believing the doctrine of the thousand-year reign of Christ upon the earth and declared in Revelation.  He said that the best members of the church do not know much Scripture themselves, they just know what they are told, and they are quiet and do not trouble anyone with what they believe.

The new doctrine could be tolerated if the proponents thereof would just be silent, and read the Sermon on the Mount spoken by Jesus, and not concern themselves about the eternal future.  Nobody knows what will be anyway, God will be the final judge and cast to hell or heaven whatever he decided.

But all the admonitions did not help, for the more they were told to be quiet, the more they spoke.  So now they were disobedient to the church authority, and there is only one remedy for that.  If a man will not listen to the church, "let him be to thee as a heathen man and a publican."  So he very reluctantly started putting people in the ban.  I was the first one.

I did not want to leave the Amish, for they were my people.  I loved them, and leaving them was the very last resort, and I took instruction all summer trying to be received back into the fellowship again, only to be left alone concerning what I believe.  I could not gain entrance, and my wife did not believe that she should avoid me; she was expelled, too, for disobedience.  One other family, who were friends of ours, were expelled for associating with us.

Now it was hoped that peace could be obtained, but it did not last long, for the doctrine worked in the minds of people, and those who studied the Scripture knew there was something wrong.  So to avoid being caught, it was best to stop reading the Scripture, and this did not seem right either.

Although I had many good friends, and my father was always friendly and treated me nice, he had his office to protect.  It did not seem right to him to place me with the disobedient and rebels, yet what could he do!  I was sorry for them, for I lived on the homeplace where I was born and raised.  So I sold the place to my oldest brother and moved out of the community.

Source:  Renno [1976]

 John R. Renno, went home to be with his Lord & Savior in 2004. Click here to read his obituary