|
 I
do not have a fancy testimony of
deliverance from drugs or crime or
anything exciting. But my testimony is
one of deliverance from Hell. I was born
in Chicago, Illinois, to a born-again
mother and to a Filipino father who
seemingly hated God, who was anything
but a God-fearing man. Of course, I do
not remember those early days of my
life. I do know however that the Lord
had begun to shape my life from early
on.
I was born with Epilepsy
(Grand Mal Seizures almost everyday).
But one day, my grandmother (a former
spiritistist) lifted me up in our little
church in Nottingham Park, IL which she
and my grandfather pastored and prayed
for a deliverance for me, (see Matt
21:22 and James 5:14). By the time I was
10, I had my last seizure! Praise the
name of the Lord! It could have been
that I outgrew the seizures but I like
to think that God had His hand on me! I
believe that prayer changes things and
that the prayers of a righteous man (or
woman) avail much. (See James 5:16)
There is power in that name and
whoever calls upon it will be heard!
That is Gospel, friend!
When I was 5, my dad
gave my mom an ultimatum. Go with him to
the Philippines or stay here and get a
divorce. My paternal grand parents had
died leaving him property and he wanted
to go cash in on his inheritance. The
Lord told Mom that He was going to use
her in the Philippines and that she was
to go to the Philippines. So in 1952, we
boarded the USS President Wilson and
headed to the Philippines via Hawaii and
Japan. About 28 days later, we arrived
in Manila, in the Philippines to start a
new life.
Mom and I used to go to
the parks and distribute Gospel tracts.
I remember that we used to go to the
park along Dewey Boulevard on Manila bay
and I used to say "Here is a leaflet
that tells you about my mother’s
friend." That was the beginning of my
ministry, I think! In 1954, I was saved
at the knees of my mother at a Baptist
church in Manila during the Sunday
School hour. The load of sin was
immediately taken off my shoulder as I
began to walk with the Lord...I was one
of the sheep that Jesus rescued. I was
baptized a few years later at a United
Church of Christ of the Philippines (UCCP),
when we moved up into Baguio City in the
Mountain Province, by immersion. This
signified a picture of my salvation,
being dead to my sins and rising to
newness of life as Jesus bought life
with His blood for me!
In 1962, as a sophomore
in High School, a missionary from Manila
preached at our church in Baguio City. I
saw a vision where I saw many people
rushing toward a
Burning city
and I was rushing towards them, begging
them to turn back and flee the city.
That troubled me for a few weeks. I
finally went to the Lord and asked Him
what the vision meant. I was led to
believe that the Lord wanted me to go to
the masses with a message of His love
and a warning of certain destruction for
those that fail to heed the call of God.
This was to shape my desire for ministry
later on.
After
graduating from High School, I attended
Baptist Bible Seminary and Institute (BBSI)
near Manila for a semester then my
family returned to the United States.
About a year and a half later, I joined
the US Navy and became a Hospital
Corpsman (formerly known as "Pharmacist
Mate." or "Medic") I was attached to the
US Marines and sent to Vietnam in 1966,
returning to the U.S. In the Fall of
1967. I began to drink and smoke and
ultimately backslid. But you see, God
had a plan for my life all along. I left
Vietnam without a scratch.
Two weeks after I left the area, the
base I was stationed at was
totally obliterated by rocket
fire. But for the grace of God there go
I. I later had made 3 attempts at my
life (PTSD) but the Lord would not let
me die. He has a plan for my life as He
does for your life.
In 1983, I was
miraculously delivered from smoking,
drinking, Marijuana use and carousing
and I rededicated my life back to the
Lord. In 1984, I was licensed as a
minister with a major denomination out
of Torrance, CA. I began evangelizing on
the Navajo Indian Reservation and did
that for approximately 4 years. God
blessed that ministry with souls! Praise
His dear name! I also was involved for a
year with televangelism out of
Farmington, New Mexico. The Lord also
blessed that outreach!
The Lord made
it possible for me to get a full
scholarship from the US Public Health
Service to attend Nursing school and was
awarded a BSN (Bachelor of Science in
Nursing) in 1981! I began to work with
the Indians on 3 reservations as a nurse
(RN), then with inmates and detainees at
a prison, then at an INS detention
center in California where I was used to
minister to about a dozen inmates. I
could have been fired had it been
discovered but God providentially
protected me because I was not hired to
be a chaplain...I was hired to be a
nurse to 1200 or so federal inmates who
were in prison for charges of drug use
and trafficking to murder. Some were
there for a few years, others for life
without parole) All 12 of these inmates
professed faith in the finished work of
Christ on Calvary and had invited Him
into their lives to be their Lord and
Savior. Of these, during the 4 ½ years I
worked at the prison, none of them came
back to prison. I do not know what they
were in prison for. That is immaterial/
What IS important is that they gave
their hearts to the Lord! To God be the
glory and honor for saving these men.
Other inmates I did not have a chance to
minister to had a recidivism rate
(return to prison following release) of
around 65 %, if I recall the statistics
correctly. That is high. My conclusion
after that experience is that truly,
"If any man/woman is in Christ, he/she
is a new creature...Old things are
passed away, behold, all things are
become new." Hallelujah! What a test
of God’s Word! Welllll...Glory!!! This
is exciting and I thank God for allowing
me this privilege to minister to the
unloved population of that prison on
Terminal Island, San Pedro, CA.
While working
at the prison and INS Detention center
later, I served as an Assistant pastor
at a church in San Pedro. Those were fun
years, learning about the art of
preaching and being counselor to some of
the folks there. I gave it up after 5
years of ministry to move back to the
Midwest because I was offered a nursing
job in Chicago, IL as an HMO
Coordinator. Previous to this departure,
I worked in several local hospitals in
Medical/Surgical units, Emergency Rooms
and for a couple of HMOs as well as for
an Insurance Company for which I served
as an Quality Control Inspector of
participating Doctors’ offices.
In 2000, I
received an invitation to go to
Amsterdam, the Netherlands to join a
conference of evangelists and pastors
from all over the world, with the
Billy Graham Evangelistic Association,
called Amsterdam 2000. I
applied and was accepted to attend! I
was blessed to be able to attend! I had
my call to the ministry confirmed while
there, when the Holy Spirit began to lay
on my heart a ministry in Internet
Evangelism. I met many who invited me to
their countries to minister. (One
particular country was Kenya where a
pastor is the head of a church that has
a hospital they support. I was asked to
bring a medical team to Kenya to conduct
medical clinics to evangelize in the
bush country and to conduct pastoral
conferences). I knew nothing about the
Internet (why would God give me a task I
knew nothing about? I believe He wants
us to be pliable and dependent on His
leading and His guidance to keep us
humble before Him.
While in
Amsterdam, a stirring in my spirit began
to take place. I was not satisfied to
just be a Christian and preach once in a
while. I had to do more. While in
prayer, His Love Extended Ministries
International was born out of my heart!
My desire is to see people saved, healed
and delivered and aim to allow God to
use me and whomever I work with to do
just that! He is able, folks! We have
this web site where the essentials of
eternal life are presented and then we
have the club on Yahoo where we share
messages of love and hope and even have
fun! I take no praise for this humble
means of sharing the Word. God
orchestrated the different forums as we
went forward with the ministry of
sharing the Word!
Had I known
about what I was getting into I do not
believe that this ministry would have
enjoyed success with souls saved and
believers encouraged since August of
2000! God sent a lady I never knew,
talked or chatted with to me via the
Internet (believe
it or not this
is the Gospel truth!) and volunteered to
build a website for this ministry, His
Love Extended Ministries International
without charge as her donation to the
ministry and the Lord! How did she find
me? I frankly cannot answer that except
to say that she was sent by God to help
me get this ministry off the ground. I
have had to ask her from time to time to
make some improvements which she did
without complaint! God bless Rhonda!
This ministry
has not been without difficulties.
Recently, the Message Board where there
are some different forums as sermons,
devotionals, poetry, etc. was overran by
obnoxious messages with hard porn as
well as people trying to use the site as
a classified ad agency. I had to delete
these messages but could not keep up
with them. I was concerned about the
testimony AND the message we are trying
to bring to a world of needy folks would
have (if not already) been defiled and
compromised. So I wrote Rhonda, who was
able, with the help of one of her
friends, to make it so only she or me
could post messages, thus ending the
career of those hackers on this
ministry’s website and we were in the
business of sharing the Gospel with
those who need to read God’s message of
love, healing and deliverance and as God
enables me to, I will continue this
ministry as my life’s work!
From time to
time, I continue to receive invitations
to minister from countries around the
world such as India, China the
Philippines and here in the US and as
God enables with His provision, we
intend to do just that in obedience and
love for Him) The Lord just blessed us
with His presence! Many times we held
hands with those around us and called on
the Lord to forgive us for our
complacency with His Gospel and
ministry and refill us with a
renewed zeal and vision for winning
souls! By God’s grace, I was able to
combine a visit with my Dad who lived in
the Philippines with being a keynote
conference speaker for a Pastors’
Conference on the Island of Negros in
the Visayan Archipelago south of Manila.
One memorable experience was a young
woman who yelled and screamed
profanities, running towards the front
of the church and foaming at the mouth.
I prayed for her over two hours and the
Lord delivered her from several demonic
influences and control.
We were also
able to link a prayer group we
established, (where we can pray for your
needs as well as those of your loved
ones) It can be reached at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hisloveextended-PrayerCloset
My members at that group pray for one
another as needs are presented and I
have been advised that there are people
praying at all hours of the day!
I also started a fellowship Christian
group at :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hislove_extended
where the members can also read
uplifting messages and share with one
another. It is an exciting group!
In late
December of 2002, I was afforded an
opportunity to establish a ministry on
the In Jesus Network. I
did this for a while until I had to
devote almost all of my available time
with the His Love Extended Ministries,
international so someone else took over
where I left of.
My prayer is
"Lord use me and these resources to Your
glory!" We do not want to make a name
for ourselves as some would. This is why
it is NOT called the Joe Diaz
Evangelistic Ministries. We want to
extend God's love to all
generations in recognition of
Romans 5:8: "But God extended
His love to us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us." We
want to help those who are hurting.
I served as an
Assistant Pastor at a Church in Lebanon,
Indiana from 2001 to October, 2002 as a
Licensed Minister. In October, 2002, I
was ordained.
I lost my
ordination papers when my wife filed for
divorce against me because divorce is
not acceptable. I decided not to pursue
reordination since I do not need papers
to do what I do. God ordains, not
mankind so I am ordained in the sight of
God Who called me into the ministry back
in 1962!
In 1996, I
received a full scholarship to attend
the Christian Theological Seminary in
Indianapolis and finished the equivalent
of 3 years, going part time so I could
work to support my family. In the latter
part of my Junior year, my New Testament
professor made a wild accusation which
stopped me cold in my tracks of
educational pursuit and excellence. He
said that Jesus Is NOT the Son of God
but was a prophet and teacher (sounds
like a religion that is trying to take
over the world today - Islam) I
challenged him on this and was told that
he has the PhD and therefore has
reliability. Sorry...the Bible has a
higher scope of reliability and
definitely paints Jesus as "THE SON OF
GOD" If Jesus is not God, He could not
have paid the penalty for our sins -
death and His shed blood and all our
efforts in the Lord’s service is in
vain. I did not have to pray about
this...I will not be "educated" by
oxymorons who pretend to know the truth
but do not know the Lord. The President
of the seminary at the time I was going
there was a Baptist minister who was
just as legalistic and obnoxious as the
rest. This is not a judgment but an
observation, folks! My mind and my heart
are not receptacles of filth and
untruths. They are God’s and I will not
fill them with trash and in effect
become as liberal as that professor. I
kissed my Master’s Degree away but I do
not need an MDiv either, just like my
ordination papers. God teaches me
through His Word and clarifies by the
Holy Spirit Whom I trust and serve!
The Lord has
been teaching me about His salvation
being a permanent condition and To say
that one can "lose his or her salvation
is a slap in the face of the Lord Jesus.
John 3:16 teaches that if we believe, we
receive "eternal life."
I want to be
able to reach people of all walks and
religious affiliations - all of God's
humanity as enabled by His Spirit. I
consider it a privilege and an honor as
well as a great responsibility to go
forth and teach all nations of
any denomination or creed
as the Lord lead without the entrapment
of a denomination or creed...sowing in
the name of the Lord to all peoples who
would be led to the website or any of my
groups on Yahoo!
I am available
to travel and evangelize, hold seminars
or fill pulpit supply as God provides
the funds and invitations. But am
dependent on the Lord to provide the
funds to travel with as well as for the
expenses which would be incurred in this
kind of ministry. Recently, in early
2007, I received two invitations to
preach and evangelize...Kenya and
Pakistan. I am waiting for funds to be
able to go as invited. I am confident
that the Lord’s will be done! I am
surrendered to it. I have also received
a couple of invitations to go to India
to evangelize.
In the Fall of
2002, I was diagnosed as having
Alzheimer's Disease which turned out to
be a wrong diagnosis for me after
extensive neurological testing and a PET
Scan at my insistence at the VA Hospital
in Indianapolis, Indiana.
I recently had
a chest x-ray which showed a spot on the
llower lobe of my left lung. A CT Scan
of my lungs was ordered which revealed
that the spot is gone! No spot was seen.
Only God could have performed this
miracle!
God is El
Shaddai, the
all-sufficient God and
Jehovah Rophe, the God Who
heals all our diseases! Hallelujah!
Praise the
Lord! satan tried to put me down but God
had other plans! I am fine, glory to
God! Your prayers are coveted. This
ministry will go on indefinitely as I am
able to, sharing the love of God.
My base of
operations is in Tacoma, Washington
effective since 4 September, 2005.
Someone had encouraged me with a
prophecy that this ministry will
increase in intensity. If God is
in it, and I believe He is...He was the
author and finisher of this
inspirational venture.
Within the next 5-6
years, I plan to move to the
Philippines, Lord willing. There is a
strong pull on my heart to return there
and plant a church in the city where I
was raised, Baguio City in the Mountain
Province of Benguet. Your prayers are
hereby coveted. Thank you!
My e-mail
addy, for your convenience is:
revjoe2701@comcast.net.
God bless you as you
seek His will for your life!
He loves you and is He that sticks
closer than a brother would!
Amen!
In His amazing and
unending love,
Joe Diaz |
