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Heresy in Wisconsin.
Very eager to hear your thoughts. Below I am posting what Christ the Rock leadership handed out to their congregation the following Sunday and Pastor Tim’s analysis of it. I have received numerous emails from the Biblical Missiology Society all strongly in favor of Pastor Tim’s video and analysis. What do you think?
A Look at Christ the Rock’s Statement on C5 Contextualization:
A Denunciation or an Affirmation?
By Pastor Tim Snell
In light of my recent release of the video, “Teaching Another Gospel”, Christ the Rock Community Church’s (CTR) Statement on Contextualization – which their leadership is handing out – bears further analysis. What are they actually saying and what does it mean? Is it a denunciation of C5 contextualization, or is it an endorsement?
As we will see, an analysis of their words in this statement – in light of the words of the conference, and in light of John Travis’ contextualization scale – lead to one clear and inescapable conclusion: This statement, while well word-smithed to appear as if there should be no cause for concern, is actually a resounding affirmation of their embrace of the C5 contextualization method.
Let’s begin with the statement itself. I’ve included it here:
Christ the Rock’s Statement on Contextualization
WHAT WE DO BELIEVE
- We believe in the authority of the Bible.
- We believe in the person and lordship of Jesus Christ, who is the Son of Man and the Son of God; the only mediator between God and man and the only way to salvation.
Is the Allah of the Qur’an and the God of the Bible the same?
No. We do not believe that the nature and character of Allah of the Qur’an is the same as the nature and character of the God of the Bible.
That is why we strongly desire to introduce Muslims to the Risen Christ, because Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form (Colossians 1:13-20).
The word Allah is simply the Arabic word for the English word God. Every Arabic speaking Jew, Christian or Muslim uses Allah for God. There is no other word. There are 15 million Arab Christians that use this word for the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Arabic translation of the Bible that has ever been, uses Allah for God in both the New Testament and Old Testament.
Is the Qur’an a holy book, the inspired word of God?
No. We do not believe that the Qur’an is the inspired word of God.
Is Muhammad a prophet of God?
No. We do not believe that Muhammad was a prophet of the God of the Bible.
Can Muslims become Christ followers and remain Muslims?
Spiritually, no. Culturally, yes, as long as the customs or traditions do not contradict the Word of God.
Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical. Example – a Native American can become a Christ follower and remain a Native American culturally, but not spiritually.
Do you believe in the Trinity?
Yes! We believe there is only one God expressed in three divine persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Is Jesus the Son of God?
Yes! He is the Son of the Living God of the Bible.
So, where shall we begin?
Well, first let’s begin where we find agreement. There is much in this statement to affirm. Their affirmation of the authority of scripture, their affirmation of the person and work of Jesus, their rejection of Allah (as understood within a Muslim context) as being the same God as the God of the Bible, their rejection of Muhammad as a prophet of YHWY, their rejection of the Quran as being inspired, and their affirmation of the triune nature of God – these we all stand in agreement on. I am pleased to see CTR clearly take a Biblical stance on each of these important issues. None of these are trivial matters to our faith.
With that being said, such affirmations and denunciations (while important) really don’t cut to the heart and soul of what C5 Contextualization is, nor do they speak to the primary concerns Pastors such as myself have which lead us to call the C5 teaching heretical. While it is true that many C5 proponents would hold to perspectives other than what CTR has outlined here, it is also true that many C5 proponents would be in agreement with every statement on this page. Why? Because such statements really are only somewhat relevant to the entire C5 Contextualization issue.
As I mentioned in the video, C5 proponents will often trot out an evangelical statement of faith as if to say, “What is the problem?” But the issue is not their statement of faith (at least not when it truly is evangelical). The issue is they think that they can take such a statement of faith, and make it compatible with people coming to faith who would hold a very different statement of faith (i.e. Muslims), in the hopes that “after coming to Jesus” some of these unbiblical beliefs will fall to the side. Note a phrase in CTR’s statement we will come back to in a bit: “Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical.” [Emphasis mine] That, church of God, is C5 in a nutshell.
However, we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s back up a bit and note the obvious.
My first observation when I read this statement was that there was no explicit denunciation of C5 Contextualization, nor what was taught at the JIQ conference, as heresy. An oversight? Maybe… but highly unlikely. Given CTR’s leadership brought the JIQ Conference in, given its heretical nature, and given that Pastor Bill and Janet have endorsed the teaching publicly, it seems as if – if the church leadership really believed it to be heretical – they would have clearly denounced it and apologized so as to leave their people no doubt as to where they stood.
But they didn’t.
Instead we get some statement that is word-smithed so as to brush aside the concerns being raised without having to deal with them. It all sounds good. But in the end, the concerns are not just still present, they are resoundingly confirmed as being valid. We just have to take a closer look.
The real meat of the matter is found in the section where they actually deal with the issue of contextualization itself. Let’s take a look at it.
“Can Muslims become Christ followers and remain Muslims?
Spiritually, no. Culturally, yes, as long as the customs or traditions do not contradict the Word of God.
Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical. Example – a Native American can become a Christ follower and remain a Native American culturally, but not spiritually.”
As I stated earlier, what this paragraph states is C5 Contextualization in a nutshell. It just dresses it up nice and pretty and tries to hide its deeply unbiblical flaws.
How do I know it is C5? Several ways.
First, compare the wording of CTR’s Statement on Contextualization to John Travis’s description of C5 contextualization (Travis developed the C1 – C6 Contextualization Scale) and see if the language sounds similar.
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CTR’s Statement on Contextualization |
John Travis’ Description of C5 Contextualization (Travis is the one who developed the contextualization scale) |
| “Can Muslims become Christ followers and remain Muslims?
Spiritually, no. Culturally, yes, as long as the customs or traditions do not contradict the Word of God. Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical. Example – a Native American can become a Christ follower and remain a Native American culturally, but not spiritually.” |
C5 Model: Christ-centered communities of “Messianic Muslims” who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Description: Believers remain legally and socially within Islamic community. Aspects of Islam incompatible with the Bible are rejected or if possible, reinterpreted. Believers may remain active in the mosque. Unsaved Muslims may view C5 believers as deviant and may expel them from the Islamic community. If sufficient numbers permit, a C5 “Messianic mosque” may be established. |
It is pretty obvious. C5 Contextualization as Travis defines it is where one keeps their Muslim identity but seeks to take out those things that are “unbiblical.” In fact, C5 and C6 are the first levels on contextualization scale where we talk about people retaining their identity as Muslims! Never before. This, in the end, is not only how Travis defines C5, it is exactly what we find referenced in CTR’s Statement on Contextualization, the concept of Muslims who remain Muslims as they follow Christ. That only happens in C5 Contextualization and above. The truth is, it is eerie how strikingly similar some of the language is between the two.
This is then reaffirmed again when one considers what CTR has written and compares it to what was presented at the end of the JIQ conference as one of the presenters was summarizing the entire teaching of C5 (that one can and should follow Christ while they remain Muslim):
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CTR’s Statement on Contextualization |
From the JIQ Conference |
| “Can Muslims become Christ followers and remain Muslims?
Spiritually, no. Culturally, yes, as long as the customs or traditions do not contradict the Word of God. Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical. Example – a Native American can become a Christ follower and remain a Native American culturally, but not spiritually.” |
Conference Participant: “That heritage, while strong in the Islamic faith, is not a literal heritage [as in a nationality]. When they come to faith as a believer in Jesus, why don’t they say, ‘I’m a follower of Jesus and I’m an Arab?” Why do they say, ‘I’m a follower of Jesus and I’m in Islam?’ …
Conference Presenter: …”But Muslim is their culture. I understand what you are saying, that it is not their nationality necessarily. Like in Indonesia a family’s an Indonesian Muslim. Right? So He is a follower of Jesus – he would call himself an Indonesian Muslim still. Okay? Because that is their identity inside of their culture and their country. … So their Muslim identity to them is really important for separation of who they really are. When they come to Christ they still refer to themselves as Muslim – not Arab but Muslim followers of Jesus.” |
Again, we find that CTR’s language fits like a hand in a glove with both Travis’ description of C5, and with JIQ’s description of C5. “Muslim followers of Jesus.” “Muslim [who ] become Christ followers and remain Muslim.” Humm. Once again, eerily similar.
Someone might say, “Okay, so they are similar. But I don’t see the problem Biblically. What’s wrong with that?”
Well, essentially it is a bait and switch. Catch this, because what I’m about to tell you is what explains everything you heard in the “Teaching Another Gospel”[1] video and from the teaching which came out of the JIQ conference.
C5 proponents claim that being Muslim is not a religious identity for most Muslims, just a cultural one. That is right. (You’ll note a nod to this C5 concept in the very first sentence of CTR’s statement as well). If that were true, we all might say, “No problem.” The issue is, not even C5 proponents really believe that.
For example, if “Muslim” is just a cultural identity and not a religious one, then why do C5 proponents go to such great lengths to not present Jesus as the “Son of God.” You see, that is a religious issue, not a cultural one. Or why tell Muslims it is okay to look to the Quran as a holy book. (Oh no, the presenter may not think it is inspired … as in CTR’s case … but they nevertheless think it is okay if this “Muslim believer” does …so as to “bridge the gap” between them being Muslim and following Christ.) Again, that is a religious issue, not a cultural one.
Again and again, while saying “Muslim” is just a cultural identity that is fine for believers to keep, C5 proponents show by how they carry this forward that they know this isn’t true. They know it is a religious identity. Again and again they seek to minimize Biblical truth to make the gospel palatable … entirely on RELIGIOUS grounds. That isn’t cultural contextualization. That is the blending of religions, which is syncretism. That is why C5 is heresy. That is why again and again in the JIQ conference you heard the presenter cave on doctrines that are absolutely at the core of our faith. While claiming “it is just about a cultural identity, not a religious one,” they do a bait and switch as seen in the fact that their entire approach consists of trying to repackage religious concerns to make them compatible with Islam. “Yes, we hold an evangelical statement of faith, but we won’t push that on you. You can remain a Muslim (not just culturally …but obviously spiritually as well). Perhaps you’ll grow out of some of the unbiblical things you believe later.”
My friends, this is a gospel without repentance. It is a watering down of the faith to make it palatable. It is syncretism. And as heartbreaking as it is, it is right there in CTR’s statement on Contextualization. They do this exact bait and switch. Notice their wording again.
“Can Muslims become Christ followers and remain Muslims?
Spiritually, no. Culturally, yes, as long as the customs or traditions do not contradict the Word of God.
Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical. …
Did you catch it? The first line of their answer says that it is fine as long as it is “cultural” not “spiritual.” Yet their very next line affirms that it really will be about the Muslim’s religious beliefs.
“Gradually, as Muslims learn the Word of God, we believe the Holy Spirit will lead them to discontinue beliefs/actions that they previously held that are not biblical.”
So, they really were religious Muslims after all.
Interestingly, CTR’s Statement on Contextualization immediately tries to then switch it back to being just “cultural.”
“… Example – a Native American can become a Christ follower and remain a Native American culturally, but not spiritually.”
My friend let’s be clear. C5 proponents will pull this bait and switch again and again. They will trot out an evangelical statement of faith, claim that all we are dealing with is a “cultural” Muslim, and yet again and again minimize key concepts and doctrines that are vital to our faith so as to not offend the Muslim who has that identity based on religious factors, not cultural ones:
- The Deity of Christ is not presented.
- It is okay if they continue to say the Shahada (The Muslim profession of faith which says: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is His prophet.)
- That it is fine for these “Muslim followers of Christ” to say the Salaat (The ritual Islamic prayer by which they believe they will merit salvation.)
- That they continue to view the Quran as a holy book.
Indeed, studies show that C5, because of this bait and switch does indeed produce a syncretistic blend of faiths. A study done in 1995 of 72 key indigenous influence Muslim people “converted” through the C5 approach found that:
- 50% continue to attend mosque on Friday
- 31% attend mosque more than once per day, uttering standard Islamic prayers affirming Muhammad as God’s prophet
- 96% say there are 4 heavenly books (standard Muslim belief)
- 66% say the Koran is the greatest of the 4 heavenly books
- 45% do not affirm God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- 45% feel peace or close to Allah when listening to the reading of the Koran (even though they do not know Arabic)
The question we must ask is, “Are these Muslim followers of Jesus genuine believers in the biblical sense, or are they syncretists not unlike the substantial number of Christo-pagans of Latin and South America? What do results like this tell us?”
In the end, I don’t think we can escape the conclusion that, not only is the paradigm of C5 an unbiblical compromise of the core truths which undergird our faith, the fruit it produces is a fruit which blends and pigeonholes Islam and Christianity together in a way that is not Biblical faith at all.
Sadly, the CTR leadership’s Statement on Contextualization only reaffirms what Pastor Bill has already endorsed. CTR believes and practices C5. For all of the things that can be affirm as good in their Statement on Contextualization, in the end their very words mirror those of all proponents of C5. Let’s be clear here, C5 Contextualization, because it promotes a blending of Islam with Christianity in evangelistic contexts, is heresy, plain and simple. As such, my prayer and hope continue to be for CTR to repent and denounce this teaching clearly and publicly – as heresy – so that God’s people are not led into error. It is my further prayer that they break off all ties to C5 groups and quit practicing C5 in any way in their ministry. This can be the only way forward if we as leaders are to be faithful to our Biblical mandate to “guard the flock of God.”
This Statement on Contextualization given by CTR’s leadership certainly does not point us in the right direction.
Methodist Trial of Pastor Amy DeLong next door.
Okay so here’s the scoop: On Wisconsin Avenue in Kaukauna, right next door to where I am staying while in the U.S. (which I do not see as a coincidence), they are holding a trial of Pastor Amy DeLong who is a practicing homosexual and in 2009 married a gay couple in her church in Polk County. Someone came to the door two days ago handing out a blue pamphlet saying that “love was on trial”. I spoke to the elderly gentleman and the middle aged woman who was with him about what the Methodist Church believed. ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’ is what they said. However, I believe that what they actually teach is that a person who has homosexual ideations is no different in the eyes of God than a person who desires to have heterosexual sex outside of the context of marriage meaning sin is sin. If they abstain from acting out on those temptations they can remain in the ministry. So when Pastor Amy married the gay couple, also against the Methodist beliefs, she was in effect thrusting herself into the spot light and taking her gay agenda into this trial. As the two who came to the house stood talking to me on the front porch I saw a demon approach and rest on the head of the women. This isn’t as unusual as many might think but when hundreds followed they distracted me so much so that I had to apologize by saying I was distracted and then looked back at them wondering if they were for or against homosexuality in the Church. It wasn’t aware until I read the flyer that they were out taking this opportunity to promote the gay agenda, web site and all.
When I went back in the house my niece asked me what they wanted and I handed her the flier and said “Randi I don’t think is a coincidence that that trial is next door and we are here with this big yard facing them. Let’s make a sign.” “Saying what!” she responded with so much enthusiasm I laughed. “When that many demons show up Sug’ you fight fire with fire.” I told her as I headed for the garage. “What is that supposed to mean?” She asked as she followed me. “We fight the devil with the word of God!” So I pulled out a big long white box and printed “Timothy 1:10″ on it and then added a heart that says “Freedom for Everyone”.
Shortly after we placed the sign on the front porch hundreds of cars began to pull up and fill the large parking lot and then 
spill out onto the street, both sides and both ways. I watched as maybe a 100 or so people gathered just feet from our house and began to sing hymns. As I listened closely things were being said and sung like “we are gay and straight together, we are loving and peaceful…” and so on. I walked over to talk to them and they told me that the entire crowed was for the Pastor and the gay movement. I heard little boys on bikes stop and say, “I would let her stay being a Pastor!” I spoke to neighbors walking by asking what the sign meant almost all voicing the same sentiments or asking questions and not letting me know what they felt. One older gentleman said “the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, I hope everything works out, I think I’ll go home and pray about this a little”. I find that perspective is in the elderly but it is passing and the Church itself is at fault.
I am sitting out front in the yard because we always sit out front and it’s beautiful outside. But I am also sitting out here being available to anyone walking by. A number of media trucks are here. Channel 11, Channel 26, Channel 5, a Post Crescent Reporter to name a few. It’s a hot topic and people have strong feelings both ways. The very sad thing is I am the only person here, outside making any kind of stand for the Word of the God and it brings me to tears really. Where are the people who have God’s heart on this matter? Loving these people enough to speak the truth in love as Ephesians 4 calls us to do? Oop here come NBC.
Timothy 1:10 is crystal clear listing homosexuality as a sin. Here let me quote it, “8 But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers 10 and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, 11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted.” The Greek word Paul uses to literally explain sex between two men is “arsenokoites (pl. arsenokoitai)”. For anyone doing honest exegesis there is only one loud and clear meaning for this word, ‘sex between two men’.
It is 3:00 and all the people outside signing and supporting this gay agenda rushed inside because they were told the verdict was about to be read. 13 clergy men from the Methodist Church are sitting in judgement over this situation and their choice today has huge ramifications. I am sitting here writing but I think I will take a moment to pray and seek God and ask Him to intervene and speak to these men on the jury and strengthen them and help them make the tough choice to choose God and His headship. Will you please agree with me as I pray?
Todd Bentley Coming to the Valley.
This week, on June 8-12th Valley Harvest Church in Neenah will be hosting two speakers named Todd Bentley and Jeff Jansen at a conference they are calling the Midwest Outpouring. For those of you who do not know who Todd Bentley is the Nightline segment that aired in July of 2008 gives you a good synopsis of his past and what moved him to the global stage.
Todd Bentley is a Canadian “minister” who is known for the Lakeland Florida “revival” that hit the global scene in 2008. As his meetings in Florida began the Lord spoke to me about what was going to happen with Todd and the men who surrounded and supported him. The Shouts of Joy newsletter article and the comments written during that time address the focus the Lord was having me attend to and prophecy about: http://www.shoutsofjoyministries.com/articles/SpeakTheTruth.shtml
The “revival” in Lakeland ended when the revelation of Todd’s affair with his children’s nanny hit the news. The Nightline segment posted above, exposing Todd and his inability to produce even one legitimate, verifiable healing and his inability to produce any paper work that accounted for the money pouring in at Lakeland is said to be the impetuous for the closing of the event. Shortly after he left Florida he divorced his wife and married the woman he was having the affair with that had begun before the “revival”. A few months later Rick Joyner of Morning Star Ministries claimed Bentley was being restored and he had him back in the ministry in seven short months from the time Bentley’s affair was exposed.
In December of last year I had two meetings with the leadership of my church and in those meetings I prophesied to them that the Lord wanted me to warn them that Todd Bentley would be coming to the Fox Valley with Jeff Jansen through Vidal Torres’ church, Valley Harvest. The Lord told me that Todd would be carrying a powerful demon with him. I was told to tell the leadership of the churches in the Valley to take a stand against these meetings and rebuke the demonic spirit coming in with Todd. Here is a link to the sermon that Pastor Tim Snell preached about these meetings http://www.ccvappleton.com/content.cfm?id=332
This is another sermon preached by Pastor Kathi Rose from Evangel in Neenah on May 29, 2011 about the same issue: “Pastor Prophets, Prophecies & The New Prophetic Movement” http://www.evangelworshipcenter.com/sermon_audio.htm
These Pastors do a great job exposing what is wrong with the movement that Todd belongs to and the unethical nature of his ministry, however, what the Lord is calling me to do is to expose the demonic influence on Todd and how he carries this demon into a region and releases it there. Then those worshipping this demon through the attending to it that goes on in the meetings give it a strong hold in the area. The most recent vision that I have had about Todd was in Rwanda on March 9, 2011:
Todd is not an idol, he worships an idol. We are not to name this demon but it is a demon and it is powerful and it is in the church.
Their time is short. But God wants to teach the church how to expose it.
The Holy Spirit said, when you draw a line in the sand you don’t discuss it because then you haven’t drawn the line. When you prophecy you draw the line. Now you draw the line.
Tell them that I will not engage with them.
Call the people back – call the sheep back. It’s not about them (Todd Bentley and the men standing with him) it’s about my sheep – call the sheep back – wall them off.
Then I was given the scripture Zech. 10.1-5
1Ask rain from the LORD
in the season of the spring rain,
from the LORD who makes the storm clouds,
and he will give them showers of rain,
to everyone the vegetation in the field.
2For the household gods utter nonsense,
and the diviners see lies;
they tell false dreams
and give empty consolation.
Therefore the people wander like sheep;
they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.
3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds,
and I will punish the leaders;
for the LORD of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
4From him shall come the cornerstone,
from him the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
from him every ruler— all of them together.
5They shall be like mighty men in battle,
trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the LORD is with them,
and they shall put to shame the riders on horses.
There has been a group of us in the Valley praying about Todd coming this June. We have been asking the Lord what we need to do to get the word out and warn the people. Please join us in prayer about this issue. I will be posting on my Facebook wall when and where we will be meeting to pray again before the conference begins if you want to join us. Please pass this on to everyone that you know who may be attending this event. If you have any comments or questions I will post this message to my blog as well and will answer any questions there in the comment section. May God have mercy on the Church for what we have allowed to be called anointed and holy.
Insider Movement: The Tide is Turning
In the youtube video below, a number of Christian ministers are interviewed who came out of the religion of Islam. In this video they are asked about the Insider Movement (IM) and how it is affecting their Muslim communities. The Insider Movement is a missionary approach that uses a syncretistic method of sharing the gospel with Muslims. “Syncretism… is an invalid procedure by which the content of the Gospel is changed or partially assimilated by a hostile world view found in another culture” (Mickelsen, 172). Some of the most controversial aspects of this movement are as follows:
*Teaching new believers to remain inside of Islam.
*Engaging in and modeling the Salat in the mosques.
*Reciting the Muslim creed (Shahada): “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger“.
*Producing and using Muslim Friendly Bible translations that actually take out the words ‘Son of God’.
The majority of the financing for the Insider Movement comes from well meaning Western Christians ignorant of the unbiblical approach that they are funding. The truth about the Insider Movement has intentionally been disguised. IM presenters are trained to “spin” to the Western Church this deception. Even when questioned about the controversial nature of this approach, the presenters skillfully avoid speaking to biblical concerns. The following video is a sampling of the typical perspective of Christians from a Muslim background who engage these practices.
Since the prophecy given to me in 2007, when the Lord told me that He hates the pigeonholing of Christianity with Islam, Shouts of Joy Ministries has attempted to raise the awareness of the Church in hopes that she would cease funding and perpetuating this travesty. We have also been involved with a group of ministers, the Biblical Missiology Society, which has been commenting on articles of this topic.
The exposure of IM has caused a flood of articles both for and against the Movement. Many Churches and Organizations have been confronted both privately and publically about their adherence to C5 and C6 Contextualization in missions. There are a few organizations being proactive and forming policies for their missions departments that give clear guidelines that forbid C5 and C6 practices. One such organization is the Presbyterian Church. This June at their Thirty-Ninth General Assembly they will be debating the Insider Movement and its use of “Muslim Friendly” translations of the Bible. Here is the link to Overture #9 “A Call To Faithful Witness”.
Also Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis MN, whose Senior Pastor is John Piper, is in the proposal stage of establishing guidelines for their missionaries as well. Taken from the 2006 statement from Arab World Ministries they have included:
“We do not think it is biblically justified for Christ- followers to teach or model:
1. Reciting of the Shahada
2. Continued participation in ritual prayers (Salah) in the mosque
3. Continuing to call oneself a Muslim”
Erik Hyatt
GO Pastor
Bethlehem Baptist Church
Minneapolis, MN
Included in their proposal is a Biblical Rationale:
“Acts 15:19-20 Gentile Background Believers were given four restrictions to show clear separation from previous religious practices; Rom. 10:9-17 One must confess Jesus as Lord to be saved; John 5:23 Whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him; 1 Cor. 10:23-33 All things lawful but not all helpful; 2 Corinthians 4:2 We refuse to practice cunning; 2 Cor. 6:14-17 Believers not to participate in worship of other Christ-denying gods.”
This is a great beginning and the tide is turning in exposing and rejecting the IM, yet so much more needs to be done. One thing that you personally can do is to ask the missions organization that you support what method they use in witnessing to Muslims. In a previous Shouts of Joy Ministries newsletter, Pastor Tim Snell provides a list of specific questions to take to leadership titled: “Questions to Ask Leaders Who Advocate or Practice “Common Ground” Teaching”.
In confronting those who teach the IM method, we often encountered this response, “We use a Pauline method of missions.” They often then explain that they believe in being all things to all men and speak about Paul quoting the pagan literature in Acts. Those things can be accepted by every Bible believing Christian however, what exactly that means practically is another matter altogether. Proponents of the IM craft these phrases in such a way that nullifies questions and renders a belief that they are in fact doing missions as the Bible directs. They avoid the plane truth; excusing themselves by saying that people are not educated enough to understand what is required of them to do what they are doing. They believe that this justifies the crafting of very specific answers that foster a naivety and ignorance of what is in fact a distortion of the truth. What we also have found is that when the more direct questions are asked, they put off answering them, most often indefinitely. When asked, “Why the secrecy?” they answer by saying that people’s lives could be endangered if they speak plainly. This response is well refuted on the www.biblicalmissiology.org web site and stands against what is clearly written in Matthew 5:14-16 (New American Standard Bible)”You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. “
The question that I am asking you today is are you personally funding the Insider Movement?
Dirty Kitchen, whose watchin’ the Kids?
Dream last night: April 22, 2011
I was in the kitchen of my childhood home. There were so many dirty dishes stacked everywhere that no counter top could be seen and I noticed that the dishes themselves were very beautiful, like gold cups and plates and very nice china. The mess was terrible like a huge party had taken place the night before and everything was simply stacked about in this kitchen. I was feeling quite overwhelmed as I began to clean. As the process began I was giving instructions to the kids that were milling about the kitchen. There were many. My children were there but they were very young. My younger brother Kenny’s children were all there too. I kept trying to clean and keep them safe at the same time. Kenny’s kids got bored of me doing this and walked out of the house through the back door. I wiped my hands and dashed out the back door to find them. They were too young to leave with no supervision. I caught up to them at their house which is just three houses down the street and a crossed one street. As I ran a crossed that street I thought, now my kids are alone at the house and how am I supposed to take care of all these children with no help and clean this kitchen at the same time? As I ran up the front walk of Kenny’s house I notice a number of kids that I didn’t know playing something very dangerous on a loose swing set in the front yard.
“This swing set is not stable!” I yelled and the kids on it all fell backward. Each hurt their head and some their arms and two were crying. Somehow Sophie had gotten down here onto that swing set. I ran up into the house to be sure that Kenny’s kids were okay and saw that they were sitting on the couch looking very bored. So I ran back to my house and found Elias, who looked to be two years old, holding some kind of high tech ice cube. This thing was used to put into drinks and it would freeze up the liquid into an instant slush. It had frozen his pinky and he was slipping the cube into his mouth. He had picked it up from a glass in the dirty dishes. I got down by him and was trying not to panic, “Elias spit the cube out.” But he didn’t know how. So I made the motion with my mouth like it was so fun to do and he mimicked me and it popped out. I grabbed it, looked at it and thought; ‘these do not exist yet’ and at that moment I knew I was in a dream from the Lord.
I went back into the kitchen and started cleaning again when my eldest brother Ron came in. He was scurrying around looking for something.
“What are you looking for?” He laughed and said, “The good scotch”. Just then he found a really golden bottle that I assumed was it. He dashed out carrying the bottle. As he left I asked, “Where is everyone?” He did not answer.
A few seconds later my brother in law Mike entered. He was drunk and smiling. They must all still be at the party I thought. He asked me if I knew where the good alcohol was and I thought ‘why are they drinking the good alcohol in the morning and why won’t they help me even a little.’ When I thought this Mike turned and said, “If I begin to help just for a second you will expect me to help until you are finished.” And he left.
Then my youngest sister Annie came in. She also was looking about. “Help me!” I said to her and she rolled her eyes and walked out. I became angry and called for Sophie who I knew had been hurt on the swing set and also for Elias. I yelled at them and said mean things and told them to help me but they just did not know how. I shook my head and walked out to the back yard.
There I found a large structure. It was very strange. Low to the ground and wide, made out of some sort of high tech material that was a light bluish white. It sprawled over the entire yard. I ducked down and went inside. Inside were large covered tanks of water. In these tanks I saw a young teenage girl climb out and she was wet and had been under water for quite some time. I was amazed and horrified. “What are you doing?” I yelled and tore off the top of the next tank. Inside was another small teenager and I pulled this kid out of the water. This kid was nearly drowned. The man working there said, “We are testing.”
“Testing what?” I demanded. “Too see how much they can take before they are really in danger. We are creating a number of high end tests to build stamina and see what these young ones can endure on their own”. I was a bit confused but as he spoke I realized he was testing to find ways to leave the children alone, and yet make sure they could either endure what could happen to them, or learn how to deal with it through as little attention from adults as possible.
“For Pete’s sake!” I yelled as I destroyed the remaining structures, thinking how very expensive they were to create, “just sit with them! Teach them. They will be safe doing what we have always done!” And I took the three kids back to the kitchen with me. I began to cry as I walked them up the steps and thought, ‘what is happening? Everyone wants to be at the party and no one wants to tend to the children and here they all are…’ and then I woke up.
I was so deeply disturbed and angry that I had to take a few minutes to get my composure. Then I thought about the ice cube. It was a really amazing little thing. It was black with tiny holes all over one side and it had a gold band and small writing on one side. It was made with high quality parts. It also had a little switch that you pushed to turn it on, then you drop it into your drink and bam, your drink is frozen; not solid, but just to the place where you stir and have a slushy.
I could feel that aftermath kind of sick feeling where I know God is waiting for me to ask, so I did.
He told me that my family in the dream was the Family of God. My sisters and brothers were the mature Christians and the kids were the new babes in the Lord. The difficult work not being done was the everyday mechanics of Christian life that need to be done in order to function properly, (my examples here for the impression I got but not given as a list by the Lord) prayer and fasting, learning the Bible, discipleing, hands on work like cleaning the church building, setting up chairs and so on.
The party was symbolic of all the fun benefits of Church life, the fellowship, the worship, hearing from God, and so on. He was showing me that almost every mature believer was very given to the benefits of the Body and was engaged to the point of being excessive. And yet they were grossly neglecting their children; the new believers. They had put a large amount of money into the testing tanks which represented the new programs that are developed to minister to new believer’s void of personal one on one interaction with mature believers. They were willing to give money but not their time and attentions.
I found it very interesting that the mature believers represented by my siblings had to come into that dirty kitchen to get the alcohol. I believe that alcohol represented the Holy Spirit, the new wine.
The unstable swing set represented the efforts of the Babes to create a structure on which they also could find joy but they were not mature enough to build it and when it fell it hurt them all. This is like the new upshot ministries the immature believers create because they see such an enormous need. But no one was taking the time to instruct them or better yet build it for them.
I don’t know why God keeps showing me the Church in these ways. It is my tendency to see the glass half full and enjoy whatever we can but God keeps wanting me/us to take a mature and serious look at where we really are. What are we actually doing with our time? Are we living the full Christian life where we are doing the tedious work, tending to the children, and fellowshipping in joy; all of it so as to be healthy and multiply? Well, no we are not. Take a look at the numbers. The Church is declining all over the country. And here God is asking me to warn you. Stop. Take stock. Grow up. Be responsible. Work hard. Live well. And for the Love of God tend to His children.
WEMI going Seeker Sensitive?
Hey guys~
I got a chat yesterday from a local pastor informing me that WEMI radio station in the Fox Valley in Wisconsin, USA was saying on the air that they were changing their logo of the cross and taking the word Christian out of their name. I only had a second and wanted to see if anyone else had heard the news so I quickly posted: “WEMI goes Emergent? Seeker Sensitive? Washing the cross off their logo? For real? Wanting to know what’s up with that…” and then in the comment section I wrote:
what I heard and could not confirm was that on the radio today they (WEMI) announced that they were taking the word Christian out of their name and going with Family Radio and taking the cross out of their logo. But again, I couldn’t confirm on their web site. Did anyone else hear this? And why? It feels like denying Christ. Hmmm I need to think about this one and also hear their side.
Wednesday at 3:07pm · Like
A bunch of folks posted and then today I recieved this mass message from Paul Cameron, the GM of WEMI:
Paul Cameron April 15 at 12:03pm Report
Dear Face book Friends;
I’m writing in response to recent postings concerning Christian Family Radio.
The post read: “WEMI goes Emergent? Seeker Sensitive? Washing the cross off their logo? For real? Wanting to know what’s up with that…”
First, we ABSOLUTELY have not backed away from our Christian beliefs or mission. We are not emergent or seeker sensitive. We’ve changed our name, but not our mission. Our vision, mission and foundational principles as approved by our board of directors remains the same.
Vision-Evangel Ministries Inc. serves to educate, encourage and preserve the family through a contemporary and versatile communications platform.
Our Mission: Helping families build healthy relationships.
Foundational Principles:
1. We will advocate and protect the ideals of the traditional family as it is defined and established in the Holy Bible.
2. We believe that truly healthy relationships can only be attained through a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ.
3. We will feed the souls of individual family members by offering a daily diet of the Gospel in a variety of compelling ways.
4. The context and content of all our offerings will intentionally and unapologetically be presented from a Christian world view.
Our desire is to do more than ever before in these last days to help lead more souls to Christ. That’s why we became so excited when, after two years of research and survey results from seven hundred listeners and seven hundred non-listeners, we saw that there were so many people within our broadcast areas who are searching for the very thing Christ offers, we just needed to give them a reason to see what we have by focusing on what they are most focused on — family. In much the same way that Focus on the Family uses the family as a platform and Family Life Today uses family and marriage as a platform, though the word “Christian” isn’t in their names and the cross isn’t located anywhere in their logo or marketing materials, they clearly are Christian organizations intent on sharing biblical principles for living life today. As are we.
I want to make it perfectly clear, the cross is still in our logo. In fact, we’re highlighting it in just about every piece we have going out in ways we never did before — again, we are in no way ashamed of Jesus Christ, we’re ready to shout it from the hilltops. We absolutely are in no way, shape or form embracing the emergent church or other movements out there pretending to be Christian and hiding behind a “tolerance” label. Please review our foundational principles again—the context and content of ALL our offerings will UNAPOLOGETICLLY be presented from a Christian world view.
While some have raised the issue of Jim Wallis and Lifest, let me assure you that we did not “support” Jim Wallis by any stretch, but rather chose not to boycott Lifest when that whole issue arose. We did meet with the Lifest organizers prior to the event to express our concerns and we joined with several organizations to work to alleviate future issues along these lines. Following the event I met with Bob Lenz one-on-one and know that he, too, fully understands the position of our ministry. Believe me, we will be very caution about researching future keynote speakers, something we shared with Bob. As Christians, we are called to sharpen each other and help keep each other on the narrow path. That was the direction we chose to walk with Lifest during the Wallis controversy. Please do not interpret that to mean we “supported” Jim Wallis.
There have been some on air staff changes, but no staff member left as a result of this change. Patty Ulrich has been looking to retire from full time work and continue just as Aunt Patty and our Interview Coordinator. Scott Juve, who had hosted the Going Home show for seventeen years, asked for a change and is now on air from 10a to 3p. Plus, Duane Matz moves from evening host to the 3p-6p Going Home show. These changes would have been made regardless of our name change. We are united and excited as a staff to begin this new ministry emphasis, knowing without a shadow of a doubt that it is God-led. Our board, our leadership team and our staff have prayed extensively, seeking God’s wisdom and direction. It’s true, any change is a bit scary, but knowing God is in control has been incredibly heartening and empowering as we implement these changes and see what God will do with it. We are likewise encouraged by the passion and commitment of our listeners and supporters and invite you to join us in this journey.
WE WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE the opportunity to come out and speak to groups who have expressed concern to share with them the long, prayer filled journey we took to get to this place. We welcome your questions, as we are not backing away from anything or hiding anything. Give us a time, location and group and we’ll be there. We are convinced this has been God led, God ordained and God focused, as we took so much time and so much prayer and sought so much clarification throughout the whole 3 year process to get to this point.
Again, thank you for your questions—keep them coming! We welcome your involvement, after all, it’s as much your ministry as ours!
Yours in Christ
Paul Cameron and the Christian Family Radio team.
__________________________________________________
I found this to be odd being that Mr. Cameron is not my friend on facebook, but my wall is open to the public so I am cool with his response. Back to his message I wrote this:
Paul~
Joie Pirkey April 15 at 1:17pm
In your post above you write:
“First, we ABSOLUTELY have not backed away from our Christian beliefs or mission.” But can you see how people will think when they see you backing away from the name of “Christian”?
Then you write:
“That’s why we became so excited when, after two years of research and survey results from seven hundred listeners and seven hundred non-listeners, we saw that there were so many people within our broadcast areas who are searching for the very thing Christ offers, we just needed to give them a reason to see what we have by focusing on what they are most focused on — family.”
On family and not on Jesus? You say they are searching for the very thing Christ offers? Surely you can see they need Christ himself not the things He offers? And you are saying that God led you to this new focus? Away from Christ onto Family?
“Please review our foundational principles again—the context and content of ALL our offerings will UNAPOLOGETICLLY be presented from a Christian world view. ” and yet you are removing the title Christian from your name, why is that then? Because you haven’t said in your post here. And I find it to be very important.
Regarding the Wallis issue that you also brought up, I find it odd that you would not take a stand when Wallis was well exposed before Lifest occurred last year and also that you say you did not support him and yet you ran adds for his event. You say in your post, “While some have raised the issue of Jim Wallis and Lifest, let me assure you that we did not “support” Jim Wallis by any stretch, but rather chose not to boycott Lifest when that whole issue arose. ” and yet in your official letter in response to the Wallis issued at the time you wrote: “At this meeting I saw firsthand the passion Bob has for reaching out with the love of Christ to all ages and the conversation about the situation was very candid. Bob had spent 3 days with Jim Wallis before ever even considering inviting him to speak. He saw firsthand his passion for the lost and the hurting. I can also say that we all agreed that the message that Jim Wallis is bringing is one the church needs to hear and to respond to and that is the churches responsibility for the poor. Like others at the meeting, I do not agree with all of his politics, or even some of his non-essential theology, but his message is one that the church desperately needs to hear. ” Just seems that you are walking a very fine line and because of this careful footing I am asking why? What is motivating your choices?
I ask if you are going Seeker Sensitive because by the definition in the Christian Examiner, “A “seeker-sensitive” church (or ministry) is a church whose main purpose is to try to make the church look more attractive to unbelievers.” and then goes on to state, “In a seeker-sensitive church the influence that is brought in is about meeting one’s emotional or “felt” needs rather than preaching the gospel. In fact, the gospel is often paraphrased as an answer for those relational or marital problems, for the angry or the depressed. It is used as a cure for the basic physiological distress rather than teaching the good news of salvation and God’s forgiveness of our sins.” I would say that would be very similar to your assertion of, “…who are searching for the very thing Christ offers, we just needed to give them a reason to see what we have by focusing on what they are most focused on — family”
The problem here is not simply in the logo and the name change but is in the thinking that seems to be driving your direction. I am deeply concerned that it is not God directing these changes but Post Modern Thinking; the same ideology that moves Wallis into his Social Justice or Christ the Rock into the Insider Movement.
Here is a quote from Ross Rohde’s publication, Practical Considerations for Postmodern Sensitive Churches–A follow up to “The Gospel and Postmodernism”, he lists what he believes are the behavioral characteristics of the Postmodern person. These are the top three:
1.) I’m looking for a truth that works for me.
2.) I can only try to see life from my own perspective; reality is too complex to understand it all.
3.) I’m interested in the values of my group and my community.
So many people seeking God with out the cross are engulfed in this kind of thinking. The majority of educated people especially. Those with the most money. To get at some of that wealth churches and ministries need to scrub off the true cross bearing Christianity that offends those who think in Post Modern philosophies. What you are doing Paul, and what you are saying seem so much like this movement and I am concerned. Concerned enough to make a post like I did, concerned enough to research and pray and educate the Body about this dangerous thinking. So I ask you in all love and humility, are you being moved by the Holy Spirit in these changes or are you being driven by a marketing ploy that can easily see where the money lies?
What the world really needs is undaunted evangelists sharing the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ, proud to wear His name,His marks, and His cross while making Him disciples. Let us all strive to obey so well…
I will be praying for your ministry and for the Valley,
Joie Pirkey
Shouts of Joy Ministries
Here is the logo change. The GM of WEMI has written to me, via an email out to supporters, and corrected me in saying that WEMI had kept the cross in the logo. He was referring to the “t” in the word the. Being that the t is the same font and size of the t in the text used for the rest of the wording I am simply not seeing it as a cross. But if you switch up your perspective it could be seen as a cross. However, just not feeling the “light on a hill” here.
Dream about Homosexuality
I had a dream last night from the Lord. I have no clue who it is for but as I have spent the day praying about it I feel that there are many.
I was sitting in the center of a large Church. I was not familiar with it nor the speaker. A man doing announcements went up to the mic and he had a sort of sarcastic, condescending look on his face. Something in me cringed. Just then I noticed a woman, maybe 28 years old, reach over and take the young woman sitting next to her under her arm and wisped something. When they did this they kept their heads resting on each other’s and I thought,
“Oh no, they don’t know that this church believes homosexuality is a sin.”
Just then the speaker began to make this very crude comment about being gay, like a saying we have all have heard that disses homosexuals and makes fun of them. As he was sharing this he also noticed the girls and gave a bit of a mean twist to his disdain of them. I was thinking, “No! No! NO!” The girls were obviously offended and stood up to leave. I stood up right behind them hoping to catch them and apologize for the speaker and see if God would open a door for me to sincerely minister to them. But as we three got up and headed for the door, two other couples of women were also getting up and leaving. One of them was very angry. She was young, with short hair and a grey sweater. The entire congregation stopped and watched us leave.
As I approached the six women, an older lady with grey hair and glasses came up pushing past me and began to address the women who had gathered behind the staircase outside that were talking about what happened. The little old lady began by saying something like,
“Surely you knew that homosexuality was a sin,” and I reached my arm out in front of her to stop her. She became very offended and said;
“Well someone has to tell them that it’s a sin” she was disgusted with them but wanted to get things straight. I looked her in the eye and said,
“Let me handle this”. I was turning back to the women and the old lady said,
“well who do you think you are?” I turned back to look at her, and whispered,
“I am anointed for this; I know that I am anointed and that you are not, because I love these girls and want them to know that freedom exists for them. You are disgusted by them and want them to know that they are in the prison of their sin.” The woman was silent and walked away and I was thinking wow where did that come from? As I was thinking about my own words I realized that I was in a dream from the Lord and these words were not mine but the Holy Spirits to teach us.
The girls were sitting, some were standing and they were saying,
“Man I have been going to church for 6 years and not one time did anyone ever do anything like that. Maybe this church is like a cult or something telling people they are sinners”. The next girl in the grey sweater with short hair said,
“Screw them those bigoted bastards; they don’t have a clue what they are even talking about!” She was pacing. Then a girl with black hair to her shoulders and a tattoo on her neck walked up closer to me and said in tears,
“why would he do that? Why would he make fun of us like that in front of everyone?” and she was struggling to hold back tears, I could tell that she had had a very hard life and was seeking love wherever she could find it. So I reached out and took hold of her shoulder and squeezed it and said,
“That man is ignorant. He’s just not aware of what he is doing standing up there in his pride. All people are sinners Sug’. Everyone. Even him. He just feels better about himself when he disses someone else’s sin. She looked up into my eyes pleading,
“but no one ever told me being gay was a sin, we are made that way for goodness sake.”
“You know because of what Adam did we all are made that way now.” I said to her still standing on the bottom step a bit above their heads.
“What do you mean?’ She asked.
“When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden sin went into every human being except the new Adam, we each are born that way, born into sin.”
“New Adam?” she asked. When she asked that, the short haired girl came up to me and grabbed me by the shirt at the shoulders and pulled me off the step. She lifted her knee up and yanked me onto her extended thigh. She began to ram her thigh between my legs up against my groin and was yelling and laughing
“Ride ‘em Cowboy! Ride “em Cowboy!” When I got my bearings I shoved her so hard that she fell back onto her back.
“Now tell me before God that that didn’t turn you on!” and she laughed as she demanded an answer from me.
“I can tell you before God as my witness that did nothing for me; Sorry Sug’ you are just not my type.”
“You’re lying” she screeched and then began to spread her thighs apart and wiggled on the grass back and forth making these like, moaning noises and laughing. I could see the demon on her but she seemed to be in her mind and like she was teasing and enjoying this.
So I gently kicked her legs together and said, “Not attractive from anyone’s perspective.” At that she laughed hard and got up.
I looked up at the other girls and a few were very disgusted by what the short haired girl had done. By the reactions on their faces I could tell which girls were open and which ones were trapped by the demon that this girl had on her.
So I looked back at them,
“Many things in life, situations, things you feel, and smell, and see can turn you on, but are they God best for you? I loved a man once when I was very young. And I believed then that I could not live without him, that we must have been made to be together. But he was not God’s best for me.” The girl who I had put my hand on her shoulder again said,
“How could you know that he was not God’s best for you?” I replied,
“Because he was married. And we can see in God’s own Word that we are not to have another woman’s husband so I knew no matter how much I loved him, no matter how I felt with him, that He was not God bests for me. God didn’t put that in his word to punish me. He didn’t say not to take another woman’s man so that I would have to suffer. He said it so that I could be set free to see what God’s best for me was. ”
“What was God’s best for you?” the tattooed girl asked.
“First and always His best is Jesus. And when I knew His love for me I knew His choice for me would be the only thing I would be happy with.” They stood there listening. Quiet and thinking, I went on,
“Many of you have been deeply wounded, I can see it in you and the Holy Spirit is showing what has happened to you. Don’t grab on to anything to be safe, to not be lonely, you must grab onto Jesus. He will show you the rest. Forsake everything for Him and He alone will work out your life.” The girl with the tattoo asked,
“Are you married Joie, “and I wondered how she knew my name,
“yes I am married to Douglas. He is God’s best for me.” And then I began to walk back into the church motioning for whoever would to come. The girl with the tattoo wove her arm around my waist and I held her tightly and said to her,
“and by the way, my husband is smokin’ hot.” They all giggled, and two more followed.
“I am telling you that not because he is a beautiful man but because my feelings for Doug are a gift from God. This came because of a thousand little acts of obedience.” Then we were standing at the back of the church looking in at the congregation. There were five girls with me, the only one who left was the short hair girl.
“See them?” I said pointing at the backs of the crowd.
“Most of them do not even have sex with their spouses anymore, most of the rest feel like they are being used for sex by their husbands or wives, it’s because they are not continuing to choose God’s best. It doesn’t end with marriage, it almost entirely begins. We must continue to choose God’s best and His best continues to be the way of Christ, the way of the cross, denying yourself everyday and taking up your cross, losing your life to gain it. That’s the only way to have real life.”
“Now will it be about you or will it be about Him?” And then I woke up.
Moving to Africa!
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, or to read it online you can click here. 
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 publically, 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.
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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 deductable check to:
Shouts of Joy Ministries, P.O. Box 41, Little Chute, WI 54140
Or make a secure PayPal Donation on our web site (Click Here)
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.
Wallis Defended by Local Athiest.
I was at Jimmy John’s Restaurant this morning and actually heard the Lord tell me to pick up a magazine laying on the top of a counter there. When I looked at it and saw an icky Zombie on the cover I thought, no, that’s not the Lord. Then I heard again,” pick it up, there is an article about Wallis in it”. So I thought, weird, now I have to look to see if there actually is one. And sure enough, half way through was an article titled, “The World According to Robertus Maximus: Red-baiting Jim Wallis”.
So I read it and found it to be well, stupid. It’s a rant by well known local atheist, Robert Nordlander where he dices up Jesus into two separate people and slams the Word of God all while he explains why Wallis is good and should be left alone by idiot Christians(his sentiments) like Jake Jacobs and Robert Meyers. But after hearing the Lord like that about the article being in the magazine, and then finding it in there I was intrigued. So I sat there and asked the Lord why He showed me this.
Here is what I got: I feel that the content of the article itself is not the point but that the most well know ‘anti Christ’ person in the Valley, Robert Nordlander, is siding with Wallis and by proxy Bob Lenz/ Life Promotions. If we do actually fight against an enemy, and as most of you know the Bible says we do, then I think that this endorsement by a very ‘anti God’ man of Wallis, speaks to the thought that the enemy want this assimilation of Wallis’ false teaching into the gospel of Jesus Christ here in the Valley. I feel that Life Promotions has assisted in this plan by allowing Wallis a format/ platform from which to speak his false teachings into the Valley. Keep in mind his teachings haven’t come from just that speech but from the vast amount of printed material teaching it that was sold at Lifest as well. And then with Bob publicly endorsing him, creating the idea that Wallis’ teachings are worth standing up for and fighting for, gives the youth who paid attention the format in which to follow Wallis via the internet.
This issue isn’t going away because it addresses a fundamental change in the Body of Christ in the past two decades. The Evangelical Church has assumed the political correct agenda into even it’s doctrines. The Emergent Church Movement is one such example and of course the C5 Insider Movement in Missions is another. Why has the Church not grown and has only decreased in the U.S. in the past few decades we ask? We have taken ourselves out from under the headship of Jesus Christ and anything built on that sinking sand will not last. The Church is in trouble people. What will you do about it?
http://www.scenenewspaper.com/news-views/19-news-view/145-the-world-according-to-robertus-maximus.html
About
My name is Joie Pirkey and I am married to Douglas Pirkey. I am a christian. I am seeking to please Christ. Since I was a small child I have been gifted with the ability to see and hear into the spiritual sphere. This ability has caused me many, many problems. I would never opt out, however, because through it I am getting to know my God.
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- Heresy in Wisconsin.
- Methodist Trial of Pastor Amy DeLong next door.
- Todd Bentley Coming to the Valley.
- Insider Movement: The Tide is Turning
- Dirty Kitchen, whose watchin’ the Kids?
- WEMI going Seeker Sensitive?
- Dream about Homosexuality
- Moving to Africa!
- Wallis Defended by Local Athiest.
- Scripture Glen?
- Insider Movement supported by Jim Wallis
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