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Question 2
Schiemer wrote from prison, “If I did not place all my confidence in the Lord, I would fall…He forsakes no one who trusts him,” while also admitting torture, hunger, and dread of death; how does that combination challenge modern evangelical expectations about assurance, emotional stability, and what “trusting God” should feel like?
Another way to ask: In prison Schiemer said he fully trusted God, but he also felt torture, hunger, and fear of death. How does that challenge the idea that “trusting God” should always feel calm and confident?

Direct Answer The transcript presents trust in God as confidence that can exist alongside fear, misery, and trembling—assurance is anchored in the Lord, not in feeling calm or stable. Schiemer’s dread of death didn’t cancel faith; it drove him to place “all” confidence in God.

Support from Transcript:

  • Dean says Schiemer’s attempted escape led to “torture and hunger,” making him “very miserable” and causing him to “dread…death…It made him shudder.”
  • In that same setting Schiemer wrote: “If I did not place all my confidence in the Lord, I would fall. But the Lord is my comfort and my confidence. He forsakes no one who trusts him.”
  • Dean frames these writings as part of God’s providence: judges gave ink and paper, and Schiemer wrote not only letters but “epistles,” preserved by early Hutterites.
  • Dean’s preaching application implies modern believers are “not…excused in the modern age” from experiencing similar realities of faith tested by suffering.
  • Schiemer’s theology connects salvation to “the press of tribulation” and “the furnace of suffering,” implying hardship is normal in the path of faith.
Discussion Follow-ups How would your view of assurance change if you defined “trusting God” as clinging to God in weakness rather than feeling emotionally strong?

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