The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:5
Fatherhood Prison Ministries Fellowship fulfils Jesus’ desire that
we visit Him in prisons (Matthew 25:35-36), bringing prisoners the
gospel of reconciliation to their Father God through Jesus Christ.
We have come to realize that oral peoples in remote rural African
villages are also prisoners, prisoners of satan, as they up to now
have been isolated from access to the Word of God, His will for
their lives, and their redemption.
We do not begin with a focus on dogmatic issues, but by helping
people see that our Father eagerly waits for our love, intimate
relationship with Him and His Son Jesus Christ that comes with
sanctification, with healing of wounds in our broken hearts.
We bring an Audio Bible Teacher (ABT) with solar panel in
prisons and remote rural villages in Southern Africa, Eastern
Africa and increasingly beyond, with topical bible lessons and
Bibles in local languages where they start ABT village-churches.
Our Audio Bible Teacher (ABT), often called the “Talking Bible”,
allows most prison inmates and rural people to hear the Word of
God for the first time ever. The initially most impactful content are
its topical lessons that address African cultural problems. It
provides for an immediate introduction to the heart of our Father
God and how people should live to make Him happy and find
peace in their own lives. And as people begin to mature in their
walk with God, they can increasingly turn to the entire bible to
study, and grow further in their faith.
As prison populations come for 90% from witchcraft-dominated
villages, our ABT focus helps even reduce prison populations in
time.
Through experience we learned that the ABTs disappeared
too quickly in prisons to remain an effective tool in reaching
our goals. Therefore, we reintroduced the most important
ABT-lessons in book format saving us in prisons between 85
to 95% of the cost. But a major additional benefit is that we
can now also distribute these most significant lessons among
educated people, where we also experience a major impact
of people coming close to God, and learn to deny
themselves, take up their cross and so follow Jesus closely
and fruitfully. At this moment we have two books, “Healing
Wounds of the Heart” (Intimacy God seeks with us) and
“Marriage and Family” (Male and Female Roles God created
in Us). Soon we hope to add two more booklets, “Witchcraft”
and “Loving is Giving” (Having a good Eye (Matthew 6:22-23)).
Kees dedicates “Healing Wounds of the Heart” to his four
children who he loves so much, but who treated them so
often harshly in their growing up years.
And now, on this new website we offer for the first time a download capability of ALL our teachings: in script format, in audio format, and in all available languages. May our Father be more and more glorified through this new access to His revelations to men.
See DownloadsGod created us in His exact likeness so that He might have
fellowship with us, His children. We cannot live without love and
acceptance, and so our spiritual Father yearns to be loved and
accepted; He longs for our unconditional free gift of love, as only
that can satisfy His Father’s heart. And because love is a gift,
God cannot force us to love Him, but pleads with us to seek
Him “WITH ALL OUR HEART” (Dt 4:29, Dt 6:5, Dt 10:12, Dt
11:13, Dt 13:3, Dt 26:16, Dt 30:2, Dt 30:6, Dt 30:10, Jos 22:5, 1Sa
12:20, 1Sa 12:24, Pr 3:5, Jer 29:11-13, Joel 2:12, Zeph 3:14, Mt
22:37, Mk 12:30, Lk 10:27, Acts 8:37).
God’s longing for our love is not much understood anymore today.
We have lost the vision of God’s love as an exuberantly giving of
all of self, giving up our own desires, and doing anything and
everything for the Lover of our soul. We pray but do not grasp:
“Your will be done on earth (in me) as it is in heaven”. We have
become lovers of self instead of lovers of our God and Father.
Women may seek after God when in need, but man with their
pride and trust in their own perceived abilities may think that they
do not need any help. Such independence and pride are best
broken through trauma, and that often happens much better in
prisons. Prisons are a productive mission field of God to draw
men to Himself. Fatherhood Prison Ministries Fellowship helps
people understand that nothing satisfies the longing of our heart
more than intimacy with our loving God and Father. Thus
transformed men, when released from prison, are ready for God’s
use to change families and nations for His glory.
Fatherhood Prison Ministries Fellowship was begun in 2008 by our current African Field
Director Kees Hoek through prophetic calling.
After his wife Elsje Hoek-De Keijzer died in 1998 after 36 years of marriage, four people with
gifts for the prophetic, people he did not know, spoke to him in less than three days’ time
that he was going to be "a father to many young men who have not had a father of their
own". Kees received this as a great privilege, motivating him to dedicate the balance of his
life to serving his Father with all his heart. Here is the third prophecy, verbatim recorded and
amazing accurately fulfilled, given on 10 February 1999:
“I believe that the day is coming when your heart’s desire is going to so satisfy you while it has been such a
frustration, and even when your mind has told you: ‘It is impossible’, there will be times when you will hear the Holy
Spirit say: ‘I am in fact the God of the impossible.’ And He is about to do what is impossible; it is impossible for you
to do it, it is impossible for you to orchestrate it, it is impossible for you to redeem yourself in such situations; it is
absolutely impossible, and He is going to redeem what belongs to Him in you.
As He has been refining you, there are parts that don’t belong to Him, and that has been painful. But there are a lot
of good things that you stuffed down in your heart, and they need to come out; yes, there are a lot of good things,
good things.
Once you’ve gotten past all these things and resolved them in your heart so that you have peace, there isn’t conflict
anymore, and the wondering, the wondering, the wondering, you are going to mentor others: lots of young men,
lots and lots of young men, lots of young men, few maybe now, but nothing like the brood you are going to have
someday. And eh, it is going to be very, very good; it’s going to be very good, and you will have what they need, not
what they want.”
Though Kees already engaged since 1998 in full time prison ministry in his home state of Washington in the USA,
God led him in 2002 to Africa where he began church planting in rural communities in Swaziland. God prepared Him
there for his ultimate calling by teaching him about ancient African culture, and African prisons. Since 2008 the
ministry has near exclusively focused on remote rural peoples and African prisoners, bringing them solar powered
Audio Bible Teachers ("talking Bibles") with topical bible lessons and complete bibles in local heart-languages, and
“Fatherhood Prison Ministries Fellowship” was founded. We consider remote rural people to also be prisoners who,
because of their lack of literacy, have been isolated from the Word of God.