My Father's Blessing
By Joe Keim
September 30, 2025
This letter was written after Joe Keim asked his father for a blessing,
but his father chose not to, believing Joe was living outside of God’s will.
Dad and mom,
I read your letter with a heavy heart, feeling the depth of your love, sorrow, and yearning for peace. First and foremost, I want to say that I love you both deeply, and no matter where life has taken us, that love has never faded.
It pains me to know that you carry such burdens, and I wish I could ease them for you. I know we have faced differences, moments of uncertainty, and choices that have led us down separate paths, but please know that my respect and gratitude toward you both remain unchanged.
Your words remind me of the strength of family, the way love endures even when tested. I want nothing more than for us to find a way to meet each other with understanding, without bitterness or blame. I do not wish for you to suffer quietly, nor to feel isolated in your pain.
It's understandable that you might blame yourself for the fact that five of us chose to step away from the culture you hold so close to your heart. But please know that this was a decision each of us made individually, it was never a reflection of anything you did or didn’t do. You should not carry that burden on your shoulders.
It seems that you believe God calls us to follow Amish traditions and rules alongside trusting in Jesus Christ for salvation. However, we see it differently, we believe that salvation is not dependent on any man-made customs or regulations. Jesus Christ alone is the way for all people to come to the Father in heaven. Our faith rests entirely in Him, not in earthly traditions, culture, or a manmade system of beliefs.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If there are any Amish people in heaven, it is only because they put their entire trust in Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Looking back over the years, I have tried to understand your perspective, and it seems that the reason we cannot fellowship together is simply because we chose a different path from the Amish traditions and culture. If that is truly the case, my heart aches for the time we have lost years, that could have been filled with love, understanding, and connection instead of distance. I long for a day when we can see beyond our differences and embrace the bond that has always been there.
I believe we both understand that in heaven, there will be only one group, those who have trusted in Jesus and been born again. Earthly traditions and cultures, including Amish customs, will not carry beyond this life. They are part of our reality here, but they do not define eternity. What truly matters is our faith and relationship with God, which goes beyond all human traditions and differences.
Romans 10:12–13 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you ever feel moved to pray a blessing over us and your grandchildren, we would be grateful to receive it. If you choose not to, I will fully respect and accept your decision. No matter what, we know that our Father in heaven has already blessed us abundantly, far beyond anything we could ever ask for.
With great love and desire to spend time with you,
Joe Keim
« Back to News
Comments
I am a Nazarene - I believe in the Christianity that is almost unknown today, but we have the teachings from the Peter Apostle.
I will give all of You a bless, based on the Law, as I know the Name so I will pronounce the the Name on You:
May יהוה bless you and keep you;May יהוה make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; May יהוה turn his face toward you and give you peace.
Now let's consider Your case in teachings of Jesus.
As You know, Jesus said that if somebody sins and they don't want to return, you can exclude them, even if Paul may suggest something different, you still need to keep Jesus as the source of Truth.
Regarding to the exclusion, Peter Apostle said that exclusion is good, because the sinner can rethink their behaviour.
If you don't exclude them, they cannot rethink and will stay in their sin, also then the sins are getting worse and worse because of the acceptation of the sin.
Also the proper exclusion is not because somebody is doing good, but because somebody did something wrong and doesn't want to return to the God's Path.
So the proper exclusion has a source in the person who has been excluded, and it's not that the society separates them, but the separated person doesn't want to return to them (as it wants to stay in the sin).
There is many bad sides if You allow to be such person in society including that the person who is accepting is also considered as a source of the sin, but I will summarize that in the following way:
if somebody loves you, this means they love both You as a person now, but also You as a Soul.
if somebody allows You to sin, this means either they don't believe in the God's Court, or they are bad people - as only a bad person would accept somebody's sins knowing the person would have troubles on God's Court.
This means, I believe Your father loves You, and I want to believe He is doing because He believes He is doing a good thing.
The bad thing is that many people don't listen to Gospel - the Keys to the Kingdom have been given to Peter Apostle.
Paul was from a Herod family (that's why he could judge the people, put them in the prison -acts 8, had half a thousand people to secure him -acts 23,23-24, also refers to his family member in Romans 16,11 - was is often translated Herodian as 'fellow', instead of relative - https://biblehub.com/greek/4773.htm ).
How do you think, who could be the person suggested to avoid in Mark 8,15?
"15 And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod."
What if Paul was a false apostle mentioned in Revelation 2? Also a person who suggested to eat the sacrifices to idol (1 Corinthians 10) mentioned in Revelation of John 2,14?
In his letter Galatians 1, he says:
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Peter Apostle said that we cannot accurse people, because people are made on God's Image. If You accurse Image You accurse the Person that appears on the image.
Unfortunatelly all of Paul's christians are missleaded because of false teachings and need to return to God, as You all don't have the Keys to the Kingdom.
You cannot have 2 teachers - Jesus and Paul, as there is only One - Jesus, and
So both of You are missleaded, by Paul :(
Search, and You will find....
May God bless You
Kefa