Amish: A Secret Life

1

There is not another

Sister, friend of brother

Loves the way Jesus can

He proved His love for me

when He died on Calvary

He gave His life for fallen man

His love is a boundless love...

In many ways, they were a typical

Old Order Amish family.

His love is an endless love...

They were maintaining traditions

and a way of life

that go back 300 years.

Jesus wants to love you

There is none above you...

A quarter of a million Amish live in

the middle of modern America today.

He won't kill you.

Oink! Oink! Oink!

Just like their forefathers,

they believe in holding on

to the old ways

and leading a plain and simple life.

Moo!

There is Power...

Power? # There is power...

But what made this Amish family

extraordinary

was the fact

they'd agreed to be filmed.

They were prepared to go against

the strict rules of their church,

which forbids photography.

In allowing themselves to be filmed,

they were taking an enormous risk.

There is power, power

Wonder-working power

In the precious blood

of the lamb...

The film was to be about

Amish family life and faith

and a family had been found

to take part.

But by consenting to filming,

they risked excommunication

from the Amish church.

For two weeks,

they'd been praying,

asking God whether or not

they should participate.

Good morning.

Good morning!

How are we?

I'm good, I'm David Lapp.

Say hello to Steve. Hello, Steve.

Good morning, David.

It's a lovely day.

It is. How are you this morning?

Very well! It's a beautiful morning.

Hello! Good morning.

Say hi, Ben. Hi.

How you feeling about filming?

We have peace with it

or we wouldn't be doing it.

You know,

we sought direction from God

and if we wouldn't have got...

Um, if we wouldn't feel

it would be OK with Him,

we would not be doing it.

Shall we go and meet the family?

Ja. Yes. Please come in.

We got visitors.

OK!

Good morning!

Good morning.

How are you?

Fine, how about you?

Good, it's a lovely day out there,

isn't it?

Yes, it is. Yes. Hi, Steve.

This is Katie.

This is our oldest daughter.

Katie, Lynn.

Actually, it's a little bit dark

in here.

Could we possibly pull up

a couple of the blinds?

This is my son, Daniel.

How old are you, Daniel?

Six.

This is Jacob.

How old are you, Jacob?

Nine!

There you go.

You don't have electricity here,

do you? No, we don't.

Why is that? Why do Amish people

not have electricity?

Well, it's because of...

the distraction

that comes with it.

Like, er, rather than

having television and video games

and all kind of gadgets

that run off electricity

we believe that, um...

That's the reason alone,

is because it's to keep out

the distractions

so you can focus on principles of

life, like family time together,

reading the Bible...

The Amish speak a German dialect

as their first language.

They came originally from Europe

in the early 1700s,

settling first here in Pennsylvania.

What do you think people in Britain

will make of you and your lives?

What will they think?

That's a good question.

I have no idea.

Will they think it's real?

I don't know, I don't know.

If they look at our lifestyles,

without electric,

they probably think

we're a little, um...

old-fashioned, maybe,

or too simple, I don't know.

What do you know about

people in Britain?

The only thing I have heard about

Britain is the Prime Minister,

Tony Blair, I believe,

and about the Queen and the King.

But I have no idea how, um...

How they'd compare with

the United States, really.

We've got a new prime minister now,

actually. Tony Blair's gone!

OK! Yeah, I don't keep up

with the facts.

Without radio and television

and the internet,

the Amish exist in a world

quite separate - but alongside...

the rest of America.

A great deal of modern technology

is rejected.

They live by a set of rules

designed to retain their identity.

David and Miriam were breaking

the rules by being filmed.

Amish church forbids people

from posing

or actively giving their consent

to photography or filming.

Is lunch ready, Jacob?

Who's gonna take a nap after lunch?

Not me! Not me!

Heavenly Father...

we come before you

in the name of Jesus Christ,

our King.

We thank you that you have allowed us

to stand up today

for the beautiful day, Father.

Heavenly Father, I ask that

you will bless Jacob and Daniel

and Kate and Benuel James

and my beautiful wife, Miriam.

Father, I ask that you will bless me

as well so I can do your will.

Heavenly Father,

we ask that you would,

in the name of Jesus Christ,

that you would allow the BBC

to bring honour and glory to you,

Jesus.

We ask that it would

soften somebody's heart

and that that result will build

your kingdom, Jesus Christ.

We ask for a blessing and strength

upon the work

that people are doing for it,

Father, and we just ask that we could

be doing your will throughout.

And that all honour and glory

will come to you, Jesus. Amen.

Go, Ben.

Yeah, like soldiers,

because the rooster

is not always nice to 'em.

There is the rooster.

Woo! Kidoo kidoo! Kidoo! Kidoo!

Kidoo! Kidoo!

Was it just five? Seven? Seven?

What is your approach to

the number of children you have?

To me, I don't even have a goal.

I don't...

Are your children planned?

Hmm.

We just rejoice

when God gives us another child.

There is no planning on our part.

I'm not sure what the definition

of "plan" is,

but I think I know

what you're talking about.

Well, contraception?

No. Like, control? Yeah.

No, there is no planning.

Um...

For me, it's...

I think Miriam thinks

about children more than I do.

For me, I'm so busy with the ones

that He has given us

when He gives us another one,

I'm rejoicing,

but I'm not really thinking

we should have another one

because how could I be one-on-one

if we had ten,

instead of five or four?

But God would...

He doesn't make mistakes.

So I'm sure there is a way.

"Happy is a man that has his quiver

full of them."

I think, a quiver of arrows

is 12 arrows.

Is that... Am I right? I think so.

And happy is the man

that has 12 of them.

Is that how many you would like?

Would you like 12 children?

Well, I can't quite see it possible

any more. I'm 32!

And I've had four.

Er, I need a couple of sets of twins

maybe to be able to make 12!

But I've always, I thought

a family of ten would be ideal.

The family were happy

to be filmed shopping.

But it had to be discreet.

Other Amish also shop at the store

and could challenge them

at any time.

Thank you, Lord,

for your blessings on me

Thank you Lord for giving to me

All of my friends and family

Thank you lord

for your blessings on me

All of the days,

the rest of my life

No matter what life holds for me

I could be on my knees

Forever you know

But I never could thank you enough

Everything for your honour and glory,

in Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's get started.

It's about 6:
15.

..Forever you know

But I never could

thank you enough.

And now I lay me down to sleep

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