Douglas and I had just returned home from North Carolina where we attended Doug’s father’s funeral. Norwood L. Pirkey, Sr. died on October 26th, 2010 and his death had been drawn out and difficult. The night after our return from North Carolina I had a vision. In it Douglas and I were told that a season had passed and a new season was beginning. In the vision we were told to stand firm, to take up the shield of faith, to trust, to fight the enemy because we were being attacked. In the vision I saw a mountain with golden light circling the top.
I had seen these mountains before. The first time was in June of 2004. In a vision, that June night, I was seeing multiple hills, with thousands of people walking about. The Holy Spirit had told me that He wanted our family to join Him in Rwanda in the work that He was doing there. When He told me Rwanda was in Africa all I could do was rattle off a series of reasons why I could never go. The details of that vision appear in the book “My Father Maker of the Trees: How I Survived the Rwandan Genocide” by Eric Irivuzumugabe.
After I had that first Rwanda vision the Lord had told me to go to one of the Elders in my church and tell him about it. The Holy Spirit asked me to show the Elder the puzzle I had purchased of Africa, which I bought for the kids to do with the purpose of opening up some discussion about going there with them. So I toted the glued puzzle over to his house and with great embarrassment told him that God had called me and my family to Rwanda and that one day we would be going there. I was embarrassed because I had a very hard time believing the visions. But I obeyed and the idea of moving there began to solidify in my mind but not yet in my heart.
During our first trip in 2005 Douglas, Darius and I sat at the café La Baguette in down town Kigali. It was a beautiful day and we were relaxing after a series of unbelievable meetings where God was obviously opening doors. As we processed these amazing events Douglas began to talk about the vision and how God had told us that our children would be coming with us one day. He began to verbalize how difficult this would be and wonder how the children would react. In mid-sentence a very distinguished gentleman sitting behind us at a table by himself interrupted. He apologized for over hearing and then began to share how he brought his eight children to Kigali years ago and how they loved Rwanda so much. This man’s name was Omar and he had moved from Canada but was originally from Somalia. Darius and I had appointments to make and Douglas decided to spend the afternoon there talking with Omar. At the end of the day they exchanged cards, talked about keeping in touch and went their separate ways. We had met many new people that first trip and Omar did not stand out, but I recall Douglas saying that he felt the Lord was using Omar to confirm in his heart that the kids would be coming one day.
That first trip to Rwanda was difficult for me. It wasn’t in my make up to be a missionary and I had always struggled with seeing the pain in people’s lives. To be honest the first two days in Kigali were so overwhelming for me that while Darius and Douglas went about our business the following day I had to stay home and try to acclimate. I spent that day crying, praying, begging God to ask someone else. It was the cab driver named Freddie, the next morning, who asked Darius to interpret a word from the Lord which snapped me out of my misery. Freddie looked me straight in the eye and in the Kinyarwanda language spoke directly to my spirit. As Darius interpreted God set me free of myself and explained that it was His strength and His joy and His love that I was to rely on and go forward in, not my own. Freddie told me that God had called me to this work simply because I would obey not because I was perfectly qualified. And so I obeyed. When the taxi stopped I walked into a meeting with over fifty orphans from the genocide, looked them straight into their deeply wounded eyes and began to tell them the story of the loaves and fishes. That story can also be read in detail in “My Father Maker of the Trees”.
A year had passed and we had been to Rwanda another time. Douglas had phoned Omar, the man he spoke to in the café, when he arrived and they met and had coffee. Just after that second trip I had another vision. It was quite short and in it the Holy Spirit talked about how Omar would bring Douglas to Rwanda thinking that he was helping him, but actually it would be Douglas who would help Omar. God gave me a short message for Omar that Douglas emailed to him the next day and he received it very well.
It was during that same time that I began to build a relationship with Alwyn, my Board President. He had asked me to pray for him and in doing so again the Lord spoke about Omar. He explained that somehow Omar and Alwyn would do business together and that Douglas and I would be involved. We marveled at these words because they seemed grandiose and unattainable, but God was very clear in these specifics.
On our third trip to Rwanda, Douglas and I were dropped off in a small village on the road that leads to Rwamagana. I shared my testimony of healing and the vision about Rwanda and then Douglas preached. Before we began, a choir of thirty kids marched into the small over crowded room. They were Sophie’s age, about twelve years old. Those children were so free and happy, singing and dancing all together in worship, it was deeply moving. During their second song the Lord spoke to me and told me that Sophie would flourish here. That she would love to be in a choir like this and that the Rwandan children would accept her and love her. I found myself thinking that their culture for teens was much more amenable to serving Christ and that it would actually be better for her to be in Rwanda in her teen years than in Little Chute. It was in that moment that my heart began to change. I would do anything for my Sophie, even move to this country if it could benefit her. God knew just how to change my heart and I had secretly made my decision in that service to obey in moving to Rwanda.
In the following years Eric’s book was written and published. It sold over 5,000 copies in a few months and is about to go paperback. We continued raising funds: for school fees for a number of kids in Kigali, for food and supplies for the orphans on the land, for promoting and funding Eric’s ministry, and for raising awareness of the genocide in the schools and churches here in the States. Fundraising became painstaking as the economy imploded and even though God began to speak to me about building a coffee bean washing station in Rwanda I couldn’t see how it would be possible as money dried up quickly.
During our last trip to Rwanda, in 2008, Douglas, Alwyn and I had a number of meetings with men involved with the sale of Coffee, the banking system, exports and so on. We also tried to meet with Omar who was interested in bringing us to a coffee washing station just outside of Kigali but we couldn’t manage it. As we sat with the man who sold Rwandan coffee to Starbucks, Alwyn explained that we were seeking to create or own brand of coffee and sell it directly from Rwanda to the States. With a smile on his face he informed this man that the coffee would be named “Pirkey Jo”. One of the men with him asked why we were spelling Pirkey incorrectly, as he wrote ‘perky’ on his napkin. We laughed and explained that “Pirkey” was our last name.
Two years passed. Two years of failed attempts to raise enough money to return but enough to send and
fund all of the kids we were supporting, the Christmas parties, Eric’s conferences and so on thanks to all of those who gave in times of financial difficulties. I was slowly giving up on the idea of the washing station even though in prayer one night in 2008 the Lord had told me to tell Alwyn that in two years we would need to move on our plans. It seems downright stupid to doubt the Lord and our ability to hear from Him in retrospect, but in the moment it’s a struggle, for me anyway.
Then came the death of Doug’s father and the vision I had a few weeks ago: the hill with the golden light around the top. I didn’t know what it meant but I knew the Holy Spirit was alluding to the promises and call to Rwanda. The next morning Douglas received a much unexpected email from Omar. In it he informed Douglas that he was in the United States on business. Days later Douglas received a phone call from Omar in which he offered Douglas a job. He asked to come and speak to us about what the offer entailed. We were amazed. We were encouraged. We were completely freaked out.
Alwyn flew in from Connecticut and he and Omar arrived on November 17th. Omar explained that he wanted Douglas to come and be the General Manager of his security company in Rwanda. The offer included the school fees for the children at the best school in the nation, the school that President Kigame’s wife created, Green Hills Academy. The job benefits will make it possible for us to relocate, get housing, a vehicle, and everything that we will need but it doesn’t end there. Omar is also interested in helping us get the washing station for coffee started. He understands that we desire to go to Rwanda for ministry which includes the washing station business that will assist the orphans who will work there. It will also help fund the ministry that we do with the orphans. The following day Douglas accepted the job.
People keep asking me over and over again how I am feeling about this sudden move. It has taken me the first weeks to get past the thought that the visions have been real, they have miraculously come true. Everything the Holy Spirit has said about Rwanda in the 2004 vision is coming to pass: Zeb, my 19 year old son, is coming; Omar is bringing us over; Alwyn is involved; it is happening now, two years from 2008 and our work there is beginning with business. It’s awesome really and I am humbled and encouraged and emboldened to move in His name as His ambassador to this world. I can feel the Spirit all over us as people come into our house and buy our belongings, as we make preparations and everything falls into place. It actually seems easy and God is dispensing His grace to each of us. We are excited to see what God will do and glad to have it finally upon us. We have been waiting for six years.
So many have asked me about the Fox Valley prophecies and how I can leave at this juncture. But what most people do not know, because I have not posted it publicly, is that I was told in the beginning visions that I would not have to be here as CTR split. I was also told that I would be gone out of the country when it finally happened. We had discussed this prophecy many times at the House of Prayer. So now I will be gone just as the very few words about CTR are left to unfold.
All of the visions have taught me one salient concept, that being that we as His followers must lay down our lives to find it, we must obey and yield our lives to be used according to what He desires to accomplish through us. His headship is what we must yield to as we grow in the full stature that He has designed through Christ Jesus for us. One reason that I believe this testimony is so important is that it speaks to the reality of Christ and His way. It has been a very difficult road that He has called Douglas and me to walk but it has been rewarding all the same because we know that He is pleased and that He is worthy. From heart attacks to public humiliation God has a way of working through the conflicts of men to show His glory and to lift up the name of Jesus. We Pirkey’s are deeply thankful to be able to be a part of that work.
Douglas leaves on December 26th to go ahead of the rest of us and meet up with Alwyn in Kigali to prepare a house for us. The kids and I will follow in the first days of January. Until then we will be selling off our things, renting out our house, packing and buying ridiculous amounts of candy. For the first few months I intend to keep up the newsletters, the blogs and the networking I do for the ministry but mostly focus my attention on helping the kids and Douglas acclimate and to create a new home that feels like home. There have been many expenses in getting everyone ready and time had been very limited. I have completely dropped the ball in raising the annual Christmas Party funds for the orphans that Eric ministers too and I would like to send them something because it is the only Christmas they have. If you would like to donate to for the Christmas Party or for the Washing Stations, or just general funds for the kids we support, you can send a tax deductible check to:
Shouts of Joy Ministries
P.O. Box 41
Little Chute, WI 54140
Or make a secure
PayPal Donation
This address will be available during our duration in Rwanda. Those of you who give every month can send your checks to the P.O. Box above and the funds will be deposited into our account and transferred to our bank in Kigali. For those of you who do not give monthly please pray about supporting us as missionaries on a monthly basis. There are so many things that we would like to do as we prepare for the Washing Station.
Douglas and I had just returned home from North Carolina where we attended Doug’s father’s funeral. Norwood L. Pirkey, Sr. died on October 26th, 2010 and his death had been drawn out and difficult. The night after our return from North Carolina I had a vision. In it Douglas and I were told that a season had passed and a new season was beginning. In the vision we were told to stand firm, to take up the shield of faith, to trust, to fight the enemy because we were being attacked. In the vision I saw a mountain with golden light circling the top. 
I had seen these mountains before. The first time was in June of 2004. In a vision, that June night, I was seeing multiple hills, with thousands of people walking about. The Holy Spirit had told me that He wanted our family to join Him in Rwanda in the work that He was doing there. When He told me Rwanda was in Africa all I could do was rattle off a series of reasons why I could never go. The details of that vision appear in the book “My Father Maker of the Trees: How I Survived the Rwandan Genocide” by Eric Irivuzumugabe.
After I had that first Rwanda vision the Lord had told me to go to one of the Elders in my church and tell him about it. The Holy Spirit asked me to show the Elder the puzzle I had purchased of Africa, which I bought for the kids to do with the purpose of opening up some discussion about going there with them. So I toted the glued puzzle over to his house and with great embarrassment told him that God had called me and my family to Rwanda and that one day we would be going there. I was embarrassed because I had a very hard time believing the visions. But I obeyed and the idea of moving there began to solidify in my mind but not yet in my heart.
During our first trip in 2005 Douglas, Darius and I sat at the café La Baguette in down town Kigali. It was a beautiful day and we were relaxing after a series of unbelievable meetings where God was obviously opening doors. As we processed these amazing events Douglas began to talk about the vision and how God had told us that our children would be coming with us one day. He began to verbalize how difficult this would be and wonder how the children would react. In mid-sentence a very distinguished gentleman sitting behind us at a table by himself interrupted. He apologized for over hearing and then began to share how he brought his eight children to Kigali years ago and how they loved Rwanda so much. This man’s name was Omar and he had moved from Canada but was originally from Somalia. Darius and I had appointments to make and Douglas decided to spend the afternoon there talking with Omar. At the end of the day they exchanged cards, talked about keeping in touch and went their separate ways. We had met many new people that first trip and Omar did not stand out, but I recall Douglas saying that he felt the Lord was using Omar to confirm in his heart that the kids would be coming one day.
That first trip to Rwanda was difficult for me. It wasn’t in my make up to be a missionary and I had always struggled with seeing the pain in people’s lives. To be honest the first two days in Kigali were so overwhelming for me that while Darius and Douglas went about our business the following day I had to stay home and try to acclimate. I spent that day crying, praying, begging God to ask someone else. It was the cab driver named Freddie, the next morning, who asked Darius to interpret a word from the Lord which snapped me out of my misery. Freddie looked me straight in the eye and in the Kinyarwanda language spoke directly to my spirit. As Darius interpreted God set me free of myself and explained that it was His strength and His joy and His love that I was to rely on and go forward in, not my own. Freddie told me that God had called me to this work simply because I would obey not because I was perfectly qualified. And so I obeyed. When the taxi stopped I walked into a meeting with over fifty orphans from the genocide, looked them straight into their deeply wounded eyes and began to tell them the story of the loaves and fishes. That story can also be read in detail in “My Father Maker of the Trees”.
A year had passed and we had been to Rwanda another time. Douglas had phoned Omar, the man he spoke to in the café, when he arrived and they met and had coffee. Just after that second trip I had another vision. It was quite short and in it the Holy Spirit talked about how Omar would bring Douglas to Rwanda thinking that he was helping him, but actually it would be Douglas who would help Omar. God gave me a short message for Omar that Douglas emailed to him the next day and he received it very well.
It was during that same time that I began to build a relationship with Alwyn, my Board President. He had asked me to pray for him and in doing so again the Lord spoke about Omar. He explained that somehow Omar and Alwyn would do business together and that Douglas and I would be involved. We marveled at these words because they seemed grandiose and unattainable, but God was very clear in these specifics.
On our third trip to Rwanda, Douglas and I were dropped off in a small village on the road that leads to Rwamagana. I shared my testimony of healing and the vision about Rwanda and then Douglas preached. Before we began, a choir of thirty kids marched into the small over crowded room. They were Sophie’s age, about twelve years old. Those children were so free and happy, singing and dancing all together in worship, it was deeply moving. During their second song the Lord spoke to me and told me that Sophie would flourish here. That she would love to be in a choir like this and that the Rwandan children would accept her and love her. I found myself thinking that their culture for teens was much more amenable to serving Christ and that it would actually be better for her to be in Rwanda in her teen years than in Little Chute. It was in that moment that my heart began to change. I would do anything for my Sophie, even move to this country if it could benefit her. God knew just how to change my heart and I had secretly made my decision in that service to obey in moving to Rwanda.
In the following years Eric’s book was written and published. It sold over 5,000 copies in a few months and is about to go paperback. We continued raising funds: for school fees for a number of kids in Kigali, for food and supplies for the orphans on the land, for promoting and funding Eric’s ministry, and for raising awareness of the genocide in the schools and churches here in the States. Fundraising became painstaking as the economy imploded and even though God began to speak to me about building a coffee bean washing station in Rwanda I couldn’t see how it would be possible as money dried up quickly.
During our last trip to Rwanda, in 2008, Douglas, Alwyn and I had a number of meetings with men involved with the sale of Coffee, the banking system, exports and so on. We also tried to meet with Omar who was interested in bringing us to a coffee washing station just outside of Kigali but we couldn’t manage it. As we sat with the man who sold Rwandan coffee to Starbucks, Alwyn explained that we were seeking to create or own brand of coffee and sell it directly from Rwanda to the States. With a smile on his face he informed this man that the coffee would be named “Pirkey Jo”. One of the men with him asked why we were spelling Pirkey incorrectly, as he wrote ‘perky’ on his napkin. We laughed and explained that “Pirkey” was our last name.
Two years passed. Two years of failed attempts to raise enough money to return but enough to send and 
fund all of the kids we were supporting, the Christmas parties, Eric’s conferences and so on thanks to all of those who gave in times of financial difficulties. I was slowly giving up on the idea of the washing station even though in prayer one night in 2008 the Lord had told me to tell Alwyn that in two years we would need to move on our plans. It seems downright stupid to doubt the Lord and our ability to hear from Him in retrospect, but in the moment it’s a struggle, for me anyway.
Then came the death of Doug’s father and the vision I had a few weeks ago: the hill with the golden light around the top. I didn’t know what it meant but I knew the Holy Spirit was alluding to the promises and call to Rwanda. The next morning Douglas received a much unexpected email from Omar. In it he informed Douglas that he was in the United States on business. Days later Douglas received a phone call from Omar in which he offered Douglas a job. He asked to come and speak to us about what the offer entailed. We were amazed. We were encouraged. We were completely freaked out.
Alwyn flew in from Connecticut and he and Omar arrived on November 17th. Omar explained that he wanted Douglas to come and be the General Manager of his security company in Rwanda. The offer included the school fees for the children at the best school in the nation, the school that President Kigame’s wife created, Green Hills Academy. The job benefits will make it possible for us to relocate, get housing, a vehicle, and everything that we will need but it doesn’t end there. Omar is also interested in helping us get the washing station for coffee started. He understands that we desire to go to Rwanda for ministry which includes the washing station business that will assist the orphans who will work there. It will also help fund the ministry that we do with the orphans. The following day Douglas accepted the job.
People keep asking me over and over again how I am feeling about this sudden move. It has taken me the first weeks to get past the thought that the visions have been real, they have miraculously come true. Everything the Holy Spirit has said about Rwanda in the 2004 vision is coming to pass: Zeb, my 19 year old son, is coming; Omar is bringing us over; Alwyn is involved; it is happening now, two years from 2008 and our work there is beginning with business. It’s awesome really and I am humbled and encouraged and emboldened to move in His name as His ambassador to this world. I can feel the Spirit all over us as people come into our house and buy our belongings, as we make preparations and everything falls into place. It actually seems easy and God is dispensing His grace to each of us. We are excited to see what God will do and glad to have it finally upon us. We have been waiting for six years.
So many have asked me about the Fox Valley prophecies and how I can leave at this juncture. But what most people do not know, because I have not posted it publicly, is that I was told in the beginning visions that I would not have to be here as CTR split. I was also told that I would be gone out of the country when it finally happened. We had discussed this prophecy many times at the House of Prayer. So now I will be gone just as the very few words about CTR are left to unfold.
All of the visions have taught me one salient concept, that being that we as His followers must lay down our lives to find it, we must obey and yield our lives to be used according to what He desires to accomplish through us. His headship is what we must yield to as we grow in the full stature that He has designed through Christ Jesus for us. One reason that I believe this testimony is so important is that it speaks to the reality of Christ and His way. It has been a very difficult road that He has called Douglas and me to walk but it has been rewarding all the same because we know that He is pleased and that He is worthy. From heart attacks to public humiliation God has a way of working through the conflicts of men to show His glory and to lift up the name of Jesus. We Pirkey’s are deeply thankful to be able to be a part of that work.
Douglas leaves on December 26th to go ahead of the rest of us and meet up with Alwyn in Kigali to prepare a house for us. The kids and I will follow in the first days of January. Until then we will be selling off our things, renting out our house, packing and buying ridiculous amounts of candy. For the first few months I intend to keep up the newsletters, the blogs and the networking I do for the ministry but mostly focus my attention on helping the kids and Douglas acclimate and to create a new home that feels like home. There have been many expenses in getting everyone ready and time had been very limited. I have completely dropped the ball in raising the annual Christmas Party funds for the orphans that Eric ministers too and I would like to send them something because it is the only Christmas they have. If you would like to donate to for the Christmas Party or for the Washing Stations, or just general funds for the kids we support, you can send a tax deductible check to:
Shouts of Joy Ministries
P.O. Box 41
Little Chute, WI 54140
Or make a secure PayPal Donation
This address will be available during our duration in Rwanda. Those of you who give every month can send your checks to the P.O. Box above and the funds will be deposited into our account and transferred to our bank in Kigali. For those of you who do not give monthly please pray about supporting us as missionaries on a monthly basis. There are so many things that we would like to do as we prepare for the Washing Station. 
Man this took a long time to write. I am glad it’s finished. It was a lot to tell. As I wrote it I got this “deep down feelin'” I’ll be having another stab at it in book form. UGH> I am very interested on how your reactions were as you read it????
Reading this made me extremely happy…smiling and almost laughing out loud. Because He meant what He said and you didn’t believe and He made you believe and you then obeyed. I love it. It is grace, it is the gospel. His plans will not be thwarted. He is worthy. He is so glorious and powerful. Thank you for sharing this. It is very encouraging as it displays God’s love, power and grace! But I am at the same time very sad. Though I don’t see you as often as I would like, Africa is just so much further away and it feels like this is it. And now I cry. I love you like a sister Joie and will miss you so very much. I will pray for you and Douglas and the kids. Hope to talk before you go.
This is my favorite part: “It has been a very difficult road that He has called Douglas and me to walk but it has been rewarding all the same because we know that He is pleased and that He is worthy. From heart attacks to public humiliation God has a way of working through the conflicts of men to show His glory and to lift up the name of Jesus.” Amen!
“From heart attacks to public humiliation God has a way of working through the conflicts of men to show His glory and to lift up the name of Jesus.” Amen!
God our Father,
Life pulls us in many directions
and presents many possibilities.
Sometimes we do not know which way to turn.
So many demands for our attention,
that the very range of choices before us drives us to distraction.
It is then that we need you.
Yours is the ultimate claim on our lives;
help us to listen for it in all the other claims that are made of us.
Because we cannot do everything,
help us to get our priorities right,
to know what YOU WANT US TO DO NOW,
and what we have to leave.
May the stress and strain of life not break Pirkey’s family, but make then stronger for JESUS’S SAKE.
AMEN.
Dear Joie, I read this post with great interest…I am so happy and excited for you as you and your family are obedient to the call of God upon your lives…
This is the beginning of a great adventure…one you will always remember….take time to savor and enjoy each and every moment, as you begin this new journey….and if you’ve time, keep a diary of all the answered prayers, and miracles which God creates in your lives….for you and through you to others…May God richly bless you and keep you in the palms of his hands….I will keep you and your family in my prayers…(and that includes your new Rwandan families)
70 weeks
finish the transgression and to bring ever lasting rightousness to seal up vision and prophesy…..I have no idea what this means…all I know is that it is 1:30 in the morning and this is all that has been running through my head since we chatted on FB earlier this evening.
Wow, that is an amazing story. I pray that the Lord would bless your move, your ministry, and everything He has in store for you. Your story gives me hope that the Lord has been speaking to me about the future, even though I doubt it’s him at times.
Thanks guys! I have been selling, packing, cleaning, bagging, packing, buying, and decorating one terrible Christmas tree! LOL. I am so yeah under the mountain wondering if it is possible to move by Christmas day when Douglas and Zeb head out! God is all over every small detail. It’s crazy. Like the kids perspectives, and selling the car and renting the house and on and on… amazing.
Thank you for posting this. As I read this I prayed and cried and smiled and rejoiced…I even repented as I read the word God shared with you in Rwanda about God calling you not because you are perfectly qualified but because you will obey. There are so many things I need to do and have been PETRIFIED to go forward with. Your words have encouraged me as they brought revelation and truth. I simply need to obey and let Him work out the details of my “qualification”. Thanks again. Praying for safe travels for you and your family!
Doug and Joie,wouldn’t it be appropriate if you were to move to Israel and do the evangelisation there.At least it would be according to the commandments of Jesus who said “I came for none but the lost sheep of Israel”.
Merry Christmas, Jack.
Doug and Joie,
You may find it interesting that “muslims follow Jesus more than the christians” an interview with Dr.Brown,a famous opthalologist who converted to Islam on the deen show.This is an educated and interesting discussion.You being clergies may enjoy it.
when you redefine Jesus as simply a prophet in a line of prophets then you have missed the mark. He is the Son of God and if you cannot say that then you do not know Him. That’s what the Bible says.
Joie,with due respect,I don’t redifine Jesus.I follow redletter words.I keep what Jesus said above others esp the one after him.I can’t imagine why the others like Paul who never met Jesus have space in the bible to begin with,let alone they are allowed to annul what Jesus said.Jesus came with a mission,to revive the law,yet after his departure the law was corrupted even more.
Show me in the redletter words where Jesus has said himself in clear and unambigous words”I am God,or Worship me” or “I came to die for the sins of mankind”.On the other hand what Jesus said in clear words is:
1)God your Lord and mine is one.
2)I can do nothing of my own what I do is with the will of my father.
3)No one is responsible for someone else’s sins.
Also muslims don’t call Jesus merely another prophet they call him a mighty prophet of God.
May God guide you and all of us towards following his commandments through his messengers who also came to become role model for us to follow.
John 14:7-10 [7] If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” [8] Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” [9] Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father’? [10] Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one”
John 14:11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
Matthew 27:43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'”
John 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
John 10:31-33 [31] Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, [32] but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” [33] “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Mark 14:61b-62 [61b] Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” [62] “I am,” said Jesus. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Luke 22:66-70 [66] At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and teachers of the law, met together, and Jesus was led before them. [67] “If you are the Christ, ” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, [68] and if I asked you, you would not answer. [69] But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” [70] They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied, “You are right in saying I am.”
Isaiah 9:6-7 [6] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. …
Proverbs 30:4 [NKJV] Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know?
Mr or Ms anonymous.
Few points you should keep in front of you.
1)in middle east even today any old man will call some youth as son and it is the cultrue.That does’t mean though he says my bilogical son.
2)You still couldn’t answer my question”SHow me in unequivocal,or unambigous wrods statement by Jesus himself where he says I am God or worship me”.You showed me all these statements which you have interpretted to mean that Jesus is son of God.
Remeber there is a difference in Proof and explanation.If you see me in front of bar and tell my family that I drink.This is stretch of your imagination and distortion of interpretation.I could be there to drop a friend.I could be there because my car broke down.I could be there because I work as bartender etc.But if you see me drinking or if you check my breath and it is loaded with alcohol then that is proof.
Also you are qouting bible.But do you realise that bible is changed.Every sect has its own bible and every bible has undergone multiple revisions.An article appeared in “Awake” magazine on Sep 1957 which read Bible has 50,000 errors.How do they know that there are not more.?How do you know that when you read a line it is not corrupted?God bless you and leads you to the truth.
It is very important that one should look at important claims very seriously and analyticaly.In US we know that many people who were incarcerated for crimes they didn’t do and even were executed only because on what you can say stretching of imagination,or connecting dots or what ever you say.But later on with DNA evidence some were freed on innocence but those who were executed already were.E.g.A black man who worked to cut grass in a white family’s home was arrested and executed because the white woman alone in the house was found raped and murdered and the man was heard saying that the white woman is so beutiful that he felt jealous of her husband.That’s it this was a big evidence for the police because the murderer didn’t leave any other trace except the semen on her clothes.Few decades later checking the DNA(with techology available) Police found the man who was executed didn’t rape her nor he killed her.But the man still was executed thanks to racist judiciary system of US.
So Mr and Ms anonymous this is the difference between “interpretation,explanation” and “Proof”.It is therefore extrememly important that one should be very careful while judging big claims or making big claims.I believe that Jesus is very important and claims about him by people only on the basis of their emotions are not right.He never said”I am God” or “worship me”.If you are serious about the one creator of this universe then look for him,reach to him,pray to him “Oh creator of this universe I am only human and can err show me the truth,what is the truth and lead me to it.”Read Quran which is the only divine book present in its original language and original text.You can’t even find gospel in Aramaic that Jesus taught from even in the museum.May God lead you to the truth.
Why then are many priests and pastors coming to Islam?They all say Islam is what they believed in their hearts without even realising e,g they didn’t understand the trinity,the divinity of Jesus,or original sin or that Jesus died for the sins of mankind.Can you be punished for the crime of your brother or sister?So how can be it with God who is Just to extreme.
You’re story is unbelievable Joie. Seriously, I don’t believe it. I’ve followed your stories, blog, newspaper articles, and ramblings….
I simply do not see you’re stories of visions and hearing from God continue to develop into new and more far reaching stories. This movement of your ministry is good for the sake of the Rwandan economy, but let’s be honest here: God is not fully behind this. I think it’s time to admit that your ego has surpassed your control.
I have know Joie for 4 years now and it always surprises me the way people attack her. You personally have rejected what she is saying and doing as not of God, but offer no evidence.
I have never heard her preach heresy, and her prophecies always line up with scripture. The fruit of her life includes leading people to Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and discipling others in Christ. I know she has stirred controversy in the body with her gift of prophecy, but isn’t that what every prophet in the bible has done? At least the majority. And not just for controversies sake, but to call the body to repentance, to make Christ the Head.
I hope that this will prompt you to re-examine what you believe about Joie, but my motives for writing this was to stand in agreement and support of my friend Joie.
Also, I would like to thank you Muhammad for pointing out the truth about the red letters of Jesus vs. the disciples interjections about the nature of divinity and holy order.
Muhammad, reread John 10:30 and Mark 14:61b-62. John 10:31-33 and Matthew 27:43 are witnesses accounts of what Jesus has professed.
Somehow, I really don’t think you care to accept that Jesus is exactly who He said He was. If you follow the “red letters” as you say you have, you would have already read His words and found the truth in His testimony.
Luke 22:67-68 is for people like you who try to make excuses not to believe in the true Son of God.
“If you are the Christ,”they said,”tell us”. Jesus answered,”If I tell you, you would not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. Luke 22:67-68
Careful Observer, just to let you know that the prophecies Joie has written about has as of this writing come to pass. The rest are not stories. They are true and factual accounts of what has happened in her life and that of her families.
I don’t believe she is seeking your believe or approval on any of her writings. Your believe or approval will not change the fact that she does hear God. That she only seeks to please Him and do whats right before the Lord! These writings are her testamony and a witness to you. They are to be used as encouragement and warnings. It is so sad you have chosen to not believe the things that God has done and is saying. Maybe you should re-examine these writings and take them to the Lord in prayer and wait on Him. I bet you can hear Him too if you open your heart to Him!
Mary there are people whose eyes are closed,minds not thinking these are about whome bible says they look but see not,they listen but hear not etcetc.Sadly you are one of them.
You qoute me John 10:30 and 31 to 33.In red letter gospel Jesus says My father who has given me miracle is greater than all.,
in 31 he says I have shown you many great miracles from the father.In other place he says I can do nothing on my own ,what I do I do with the permission of father.In other words Jesus says all that he has is due to father or in other words nothing due to himself alone.This is indirectly saying “He is not God”I asked you to show me in redletters statement of Jesus which is clear,unambigous,unequivocal”I am God” or “Worship me”.You can’t show so you accept Jesus was a prophet ,a mighty prophet of God who had miracles and who preached Oneness of God.So being a christian follow what he taught.You are invited to see on google “the deen show “and look their different interview like one with Gerald Dirks.Adding partners to God is very serious sin and unpleasant to God.Don’t do it.
May God guide you to truth.
The precise, numerical prophecies of Revelation have been coming to pass since the time of Christ. Everything is now clear to those who are listening for His voice. The antichrist is very near now.
Pray to God that He allows you to listen without bias. Reach out to Him and ask that if Satan has fooled you, that He lead you to Him. I have been struggling with it all my life and I prayed for this and He revealed it to me.
God’s blessings
Muhammad,
Slandering a person you do not know is not pleasing behavior to Jesus the Son of God. So I will not address the false words you have said about me.
Obviously, you have chosen to take my message out of context. John 10:30 and Mark 14:61-62 are Jesus admitting to being the Son of God. John 10:31-33 and Matthew 27:43 are only two of many eyewitness accouts of who Jesus is.
To address your “red letter” issue John 10:30 is written in red letters. The explanation of why you do not see this is in the previous verses, also in red.
John 10:25-30, Jesus answered,”I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I AND THE FATHER ARE ONE.
Mark 14:62 is also in “red letter”. When asked by the high priest if He was the Christ, the Son of the blessed one, Jesus answered, (Mark 14:62)”I am,” said Jesus.
Seeing in “red letters” Jesus saying He is the Son of the blessed one, that He is the Christ. I will further give you John 3:16,”For God so loved the world that He gave us His one and only Son, that who ever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This also is in “red letters”
What part of the bible should I believe all of it or just the “red letters”? How can one part be right and one be wrong? The bible is one book and verses can be cross referenced to conform the truth of the whole book.
I do not need to watch the deen show, or listen to Gerald Dirks, to know what the bible says. My best source is the bible itself.
I have had to repeat myself to you because you did not reference the verses I quoted. If you had you would have seen they were in “red letter”. You also say give you the direct words of Jesus but you you come back to me with your own man’s interpretation of what the bible says. You talk sbout indirect meanings. I showed you Jesus’s words, now you show me Jesus’s words, where he says he is not the Son of God! Must be in “red letter” and a direct quote. Not someone else’s summary.
I send this with my eyes wide open and my mind on the truth in Christ. I look at the words of the bible and read the truth. I hear Gods meaning in every word I study. I stand free of any sin of adding partners to God. Jesus is the Son of God! Jesus and the Father are one! Written in the “red letters” These are Jesus words not mine. I add nothing.
It is obvious you have no desire to be a Christian. So why do you care what we believe. All you do is reject the truth. You will never be able to claim innocence before God, when you are asked why did you reject my Son.
Either you accept the truth or not but I have given you what you asked for. These are words from the bible. They are pearls before men. If you chose to rejct them I can not change your mind. That’s God’s job. At this point all it is, is “casting pearls before swine”.
My you truly read and hear ALL the words of the bible. I pray for your salvation which is found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mary ,You have written a good reply one that you understand to be according to bible Now let me tell you what the context is.
In middleeast even today teacher is equated with father wordly and in meaning.Teacher is respected like father as well.Even today in middleeast if someone says to his teacher I am grateful to him who was like my father or my father.,it is well understood.Even today in school teachers are respected like father and these incidences that you hear in west ie.fighting against teacher,beating teacher or doing sex with students don’t happen in middleeast.
Jesus was born in middleeast not in UK/US or rural canada so he taught and preached in Aramaic and not in English or French.He was among Arabs and Jews so he wore loose middleeastern dress and not three piece suit.
He equated word “teacher” with “father” but called himself 94 times “Son of Man” while if he really would have meant as son of God he surely would have said 94 times himself son of God.In olden Asyrian church word “son of God” was seen in the context of middleastern values and culture and was never taken as meaning to be in literal sense as “Son of God”.when christainity came to Europe it took its values and culture to mean the terminology to locals differently.Suddenly Europeans start to understand word “Son of God” as meaning biological son of God.The suggestion I gave of Dr.Gerald Dirks is because he is MA in divinity from Harvard he was ordained minister in methodist church,then he became muslim when he realised how christianity changed from the teachings of Jesus into interpretation of church for greed or power.I believe education and knowledge never hurts if he is wrong then people like you should confront him in debate or a lecture for the benefit of everyone.
Now you say you follow every word and line of Bible and specially red letter words. Very Good.Thats the way it should be if it is not like that then it is like grocery shopping pick up what you like and reject what you don’t desire.Sadly many people do this grocery shopping with Bible.
Now look at John16:12.What it says?
It says”I have much more to say to you,more than you can bear now.But when he “the spirit of truth” comes he will guide you into all truth.He will not speak on his own he will speak what he hears,and he will tell you what has yet to come.He will bring glory to me by taking from me what is mine and making it known to you.Now even in this so called red letter ,there are some changes done.(Yes not by God,nor by angels but by a commission which sits every decade and so and decides what should remain in the redletter and what should change).No other divine book undergoes this treatment,thaswhy bible keeps on changing.What is today was not 50 years ago and wouldn’t be 50 years from now.Quran is same as was given to Prophet Muhammad.But sadly this is not true with gospel.For example in above verses in olden editions of bible you will not find the interjection of the phrase”the spirit of truth”.So who was Jesus referring to?Jesus was surely referring to the prophet that had to come after him.i.e.Prophet Muhammad.And why then the phrase”spirit of truth ” is interjected.Because the christiandom didn’t want to give any credit to Prophet Muhammad.But the question is if Jesus talks about the holy spirit to come.Then the holy spirit was already there!SO this means only Prophet that came after Jesus.Therefore it is important to read extensiively and do cross checking.Coming of Prophet Muhammad is predicted in old testament and in divine books of Hinduism,in Budhism,in Parsi faith as well.
Now you have also qouted wrongly phrase”Casting pearls to swine” which is written in Mathew 7:6.When a woman asked Jesus to pray for her son,Jesus said “don’t give what is sacred to dogs,don’t throw pearls to swine”.Because Jesus had one mission very clear.He had come to Jews.He himself said this,I have come to revive the law.He was saying to woman I can’t pray for you.Then the woman said even the dogs get the crumbs from the master’s table.Then he prayed for her.So now you see the context.Jesus meant this for gentiles not for jews.
Well as is the truth most people inherit the faith but if people chose it based on facts and reasoning and logic world would have been a better place.May God guide all humans into truth.
Anonymous,One should pray and also do the homework.If you are really interested in reaching to God and even reaching out to muslims then you should read Quran.To understand their faith and to effectively talk with them.I read Bible.I even read about other faiths.It is only reasonable.Many people follow a faith because they were born in it.What if every one in the world becomes christian,then you will be happy?
No then you will be bent on converting them to your sect,because to you only your sect will be right and every one else wrong.So your interest in christianity is not because you have studied this and other faiths and reached an unbiased conclusion but it is due to arrogance.Christianity has played as a tool for establishing and justifying white superamacy.Jesus is called son of God,and God made human in his mould,so like son like father.Meaning if son is white/blond,then father must be white/blond.This thinking caused so much bloodshed during inquests, crusades and slavery that it shames now everyone who has even a small fraction of decency and humanity in him or her.
Therefore if we say that we are right we should say that after reading other religions’ book.Peace can come through tolerance and understanding.Reaching to God can happen after search and sincere search.
God bless you and helps you to read other’s divine books.In any case the gospel you read is not the same which Jesus taught from.He didn’t teach from this gospel written in english by some anonymous writers like Mathew,Mark,Luke and JOhn.You can’t find the original gospel Jesus taught from written by Jesus in Aramaic even in museum thanks to his opponents of the group of Paul whose real name was Saul and was a jew.
The Bible says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world— our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”(1 John 5.4,5).
But the Qur’an says, “That they said (in boast), ‘We killed
Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’; but they killed
him not, nor crucified him…”(Quran 4.156).
It is clear that the Quran is opposed to the work of Christ on the cross, and it is clear that the Bible says that Jesus is the Son of God.
The attempts to confuse are simply that: ignore the rhetoric and stay in God’s word, the Bible.
Muhammed,
Read Douglas’s reply. I agree whole heartedly and that is also my reply to you.
There is nothing you can say, not even your qouting propaganda, that can convince me the bible is not the true Word of God.
Doug.You are a clergy but you have not read Quran.If you would have read Quran and the gospel(redletter at least) with pen and paper in hand you would have seen that there is no contradiction between the two.As a scholar Yusuf Estes a previous priest who converted to Islam said that bible doesn’t contradict Quran except where it contradicts itself.You can see him on ” the deen show” also.You say “Believe in God’s word, the bible”.But then why God’s word is revised every few decades by humans.Why then God’s word held by different sects is different.Why then the God’s word is nowhere found in its original language or in its original text even in museum(Jesus didn’t teach in English or Greek and wrote himself what he taught).Why God’s word has many errors(Google:”Awake Magazine Sep1957″ says there are 50,000 errors in bible)
Muslims therefore believe in Jesus his sayings and teachings this is where they are criticised by christians because Muslims give more importance to Jesus not to Paul.Jesus was a mighty prophet of God what ever he taught was on the advice and commandments of God which he himself said”I can’t do nothing on my own………).There is controversy now among christian scholars about the so called crucifixion of Jesus.They wonder who was he who was on cross.Church of England has said Jesus was not divine. In Gospel Jesus says nowhere in clear and unequivocal words that” I am God or worship me”.So gradually christianity is coming closer to Islam.Truth has started to unfold.
Islam is the only faith which makes belief in Jesus as an article of faith.We beleive in his miraculous birth i.e without male intervention which even modern day christians don’t bleieve .We believe in his miracles e.g giving sight to blind,curing lepper with God’s permission.We beleive he was Messiah ie.christ.We differ from christianity where chrisitianity starts to put Paul above and over Jesus.And starts to add claims gradually.Jesus himself said “I came to lost sheep of Israel” and “I came to revive the law” and this is exactly what Quran says.You surely can find more on Jesus in Quran and accurate.
Doug,Your reply is nothing more than the acknowledgement of white christian supremacy and reflective of manifest destiny which justified all the mayhem,killing and looting of non whites by whites whether it was by Columbus or White settlers in America.They used bible for support.This mentality is something that needs to be condemned by every educated and logical human.
I see that if convincing answers are not offered to questioning christians they flock out to atheism.It has become an issue of big dimension.I have seen this in my church.Between some who became muslims I saw the new muslims were more of blessing to their old parents and others in household than the atheists .This change can be stopped only with openness and logical replies but people of your old age are so inflexible that they will rather loose everything due to their arrogance.
Christian brothers and sisters, the ones on the blog who are seeking to undermine our faith are like SPIRITUAL TERMITES whose appetite for destruction will become their own. Persevere. Ignore them. Pearls are for those who will at least appreciate them, not trample them under foot.
Spirituality is opposite of materialism.And it can be achieved by sacrifice of human desires that are towards materlism,body comforts and pleasures etc.Thats why a faith must have emphasis on accountability ,self control of desires to attain spirituality.So we see max spiritualty in Budhism and least in christianity.The claims “Jesus died for our sins” without any clear personal statement from Jesus himself is a license to do what one wants to do without any self control and accountabilty and therefore any remorse.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1.12-14).
I have studied many major faiths.Budhism lacks God so it is an ideology but not faith while christianity lacks spirituality and has 3 Gods so it is today anything but a spiritual faith.Hinduism is also like chrisitianity many Gods and no spirituality.Islam is only one God and self control and accountability.One should read the divine book of a faith to understand it rather than to let media and some defunct followers impact you.
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1.12-14).
Relgion is something that should be chosen based on facts,and reasoning and logic.And one should study other faiths as well.
Best source to know about all the faiths on earth is to ggogle PeaceTV.This is 24 hour Islamic TV which invites scholars of other faith for dialogue and discussion.
Very interesting.
Doug may be you can come for an interview.
“Relgion is something that should be chosen…”
The Bible says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1.3,4).
It is the Father’s choice that is the ultimate choice, not ours.
Doug you are then telling that God of christians is unfair and unjust because he choses the people into christianity and those who he doesn’t chose he punishes.How humanly arrogant concept of God you have!
With this mentality you have only sword to convert people to christianity as was done always in history.NO reasoning ,no logic.No facts.
Gee Timothy, I guess I haven’t learned the fine art of reading things that aren’t there. Maybe you could explain to me where in Doug’s bible scripture about God’s blessings and how we should be holy and blameless before him, does it say anything about punishment? God choses all of us. He choose you. All you have to do is repent and believe unto Him and you will be saved. It is His will you be saved. But He will not force you. he asks you to come He has chosen you but it it is your choose to chose and accept Him. Will you choose Him?