Cephas Yoder - an Ex-Amish kid

Cephas Yoder, age 19, of Boonville, Missouri, died on October 17, 2011 on a highway in south Kansas.

His vehicle struck a deer and rolled down an embankment. The vehicle was destroyed totally and Cephas was killed. Cephas is pronounced "SeeFass".

Cephas Yoder was an ex-Amish. He was mentioned numerous times in the National Geographic TV series - Amish: Out of Order. This was a TV program series about Amish kids leaving their faith and finding a new world and adapting to it. 

Mose Gingerich is also heavily featured in this TV series. He is a mentor and guide to those young men and women who leave the Amish faith. His website is: http://amishinthecitymose.com/ 

Mose says in this tribute to Cephas that "Cephas left the Amish faith from a small community in Dixon, Mo. and had been out for about 3 yrs. Cephas has one brother, Gideon Yoder, who is several years older, who left the Amish as well. The first time I met Cephas, I was blown away by his big ideas of how far he was going to go in life and how big his dreams and goals were! I almost felt obligated to try and keep his feet on the ground by telling him how hard it is to do some of these things, but realized soon that he isn’t easily deterred. Over the next several years I watched as Cephas got adjusted into the outside world, and we became good friends. We rode together to Joplin, Mo to survey the damage done by the tornado in the spring of 2011, and then later he went along with us to help rebuild some of it up. I will never forget how I was inside the one house hanging sheetrock and he was working in the back yard cleaning debris and he came inside to get me to come back there to admire what he had done. As a surprise to the home owners, he had dug a hole into the ground, carried many rocks over, and made a really nice little underground yard water fountain. I wasn’t there to see the expression on the home owners faces when they got home, but the excited expression on Cephas’ face was priceless!"

Many people who watched this TV series admired Cephas Yoder because he was soft spoken and kind, serious, hardworking, and determined to succeed in this life. He had the youthful spark of optimism and he looked to the future. He was a warrior for change in his own way and in his own life. 

Angels of God, pray for Cephas. Pray that he is with
the Father, in Heaven. 

When friends of Cephas attended his Amish funeral, held by his family, an Amish minister conducting the service basically said "This is what happens to boys who leave the Amish Faith." 

Of course, this is total bullshit. That statement is a total "control manoeuvre". Boys or girls who leave the Amish Faith or the Catholic Faith or the Moonies or any other faith or cult, are not killed according to a plan of God. If they die before their time, they are killed by tragic accidents or misadventure which leaves us angry and puzzled and at a loss as to why this happens. 

And then we are angry and puzzled and at a loss to explain why their families rejected these boys in the first place.

God save us from all organized religions including my own, and all of the nonsense that comes with it. Amen. 

Jesus, Mary and all saints and all angels pray that we are saved from the Christian hypocrites, including the Catholic and Amish hypocrites. All hypocrites of every faith always cast the first stone against their own kind. Amen

Pray for the 19 year olds who die by misadventure. Yesterday, they were just boys. Amen.

Pray that Cephas Yoder is in heaven. Pray that he is at peace and is with God. Amen