What is the Maid of Heaven Foundation all about and what are you trying to accomplish?   Ultimately we are trying to help people today to be totally free as God has called us to be: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be FREE!” (Galatians 5:13) Which means helping people to learn how to really Love God & Live Free! There are many ways that we go about achieving this goal and you can find details about some of our activities on the home page for the Maid of Heaven Foundation. You can also find more specific details about the kind of people we are on our Who We Are page. What is probably a good way to sum it all up is to say that we are first challenging Christians today to be more like St. Joan of Arc and be all that God has called us to be as light overcoming the darkness trying to enslave us. And then we are doing all that we can to help equip Christians with what is needed to actually be able to live up to this challenge that is ultimately from God to be brightly shining lights through Him.

I absolutely love your motto Love God & Live Free! How did you come up with it?   It was totally inspired by Saint Joan because that sums up her brilliant life. In everything that she did she showed her love for God. Whether it was the words she spoke: “I entrust myself to my creator God, I love Him with my whole heart!” Or the banner she carried that displayed a picture of God and the names Jesus + Maria. Or the great influence she had upon everyone around her to also love God as she did. Then there is her great passion to not only live free herself but to sacrifice herself so that everyone that she loved could also live free. Her life is really a great example to us all of how to live out what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." (Matthew 37-39)

Why St. Joan of Arc?   We are very Blessed to have Saint Joan as our main patroness because she is truly one of the most brilliantly shining lights in all of God’s Kingdom. I can’t take any credit for choosing her because it was God Who sent her to me years ago to help me with all that He has called me to do for Him to His Glory. (Non nobis Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam! - Psalm 115) I can only praise God for sending such an outstanding Saint of His to assist us in everything that we do. A great example of how important she is to our work is what we appropriately titled St Joan’s Challenge To All because it is hard to think of a better person in all of history to challenge Christians today in this way:

ST. JOAN’S CHALLENGE TO ALL! Do More Than Just Say You Love Your Neighbor! Jesus commands all Christians to: “Love your neighbor[s] as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39 & Mark 12:31) But how many Christians today truly live out His command when they allow the lives of their “neighbors” to be destroyed by the tyranny of others? St. Joan of Arc is a great example for us to follow here because out of her great love for God and her desire to please Him she absolutely refused to allow her “neighbors” to be harmed without doing all she could to help them to live free as God desires. (Galatians 5:13) What a great tragedy it is whenever Christians tell others that they love them but it is only empty spoken words. The Apostle John addressed this problem in 1 John 3:18 when he wrote: “Let us not love in word or talk but in action and in truth!” Unfortunately far too many people go into churches today and are slapped on the back and told they are brothers and sisters in Christ and how much they are loved only to return to the world outside where their lives are being destroyed by a tyrannical government. So let us take up St. Joan’s challenge to all of us to love in “action and in truth” by always fighting any and all tyranny that tries to harm our “neighbors.” Because this is not only how we can truly show our love for our “neighbors” as Jesus desires but is also how we can best live out our love for Him our great and loving God!

And this is only one example of all that she does to help all of us to to better Love God and Live Free which is our motto as inspired by her!
Our companion website MaidOfHeaven.com that we host is the largest and most comprehensive place in the world all about St. Joan and is good place to visit for anyone wanting to better understand why she is so special. Among the thousands of pages and millions of words about her there you will find the following two quotes that I have always thought were particularly well said by two very famous men who obviously greatly admired her:

"...next to the Christ, the highest spiritual being of whom we have any exact record upon this earth is the girl Joan." Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-Physician and brilliant author of Sherlock Holmes novels.

"Unconquerable courage, infinite compassion, the virtue of the simple, the wisdom of the just shone forth in her. She glorifies as she freed the soil from which she sprang. All soldiers should read her story and ponder on the words and deeds of the true warrior, who in one single year, though untaught in technical arts, reveals in every situation the key of victory." Winston Churchill-Legendary British Prime Minister during WWII

"Your daughter is but a breath of You but oh what a breath Divine! So precious a jewel of Heaven’s delight given by Your love sublime. So sweet and kind and full of Your love she holds my heart secure, And leads me home to Your Heavenly throne with all Your rapturous allure!"

Why do you think Christians today need to be challenged?   When you look at our generation of Christians as a whole it should be obvious that we are far from being all that Jesus called us to be as the “light of the world” overcoming darkness. As Jesus warned: “A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.” (Matthew 5:14-15). Yet so many of today’s Christians seem to do little more than just “hide” in what have effectively become church “bowls” obscuring the light God has given us. We need to challenge Christians today to get out of their “church bowls” and engage the evil forces trying to destroy us with their “light” because Jesus also said we should be the “salt of the earth” and since salt is a preservative we should be doing all we can to preserve God’s creation in our world today. Since God sometimes chooses “the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27) I think the shining example of what a young illiterate peasant girl was able to do can certainly challenge Christian people in the way that is so desperately needed today to better shine the Light of God in our world! Don’t you agree?

My church says that venerating saints is wrong because Jesus should be our only example. What do you have to say about that?   God commands us all through the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 11 to learn from and be inspired by the great heroes of the faith which are His saints so it is hard for me to understand why this is not being taught by all churches today. Jesus Himself also specifically told us to venerate saints when He said in Luke 16:9: "Make to thyself friends, by venerating the saints of God and walking in their steps, that when thou failest, thou mayest be received into everlasting habitations." I realize this translation is different from what is found in most English versions of the Bible today however it is completely consistent with Hebrews 11 and other similar scriptures in the Bible. Also this particular translation is from the famous book The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis and the author very obviously had both a great love for God and tremendous knowledge and grasp of Holy Scripture so I personally believe this is the most accurate rendering of this scripture (for more about finding the most accurate translations of Biblical Scripture read the answer to the next question on this page). What may help us more here to better understand just why God would want us to learn from His Saints is seen in these exquisite words by Romano Guardini from his book The Art of Praying: "They open up the riches of Christ. Whereas He is 'the Light,' simple and at the same time all-embracing, the saints break up the mysterious brilliance like a prism breaking up the white light in the spectrum, allowing first one color to shine and then another." What some Christians today need to really understand better is that the saints in Heaven are all part of God now because they are in “union” with God. (John 17:21-22) So when we show love for God’s saints through veneration we are actually loving God and being loved by Him. And I think God really shows His love for us by using the best saints for each of us to really challenge us to stop being so “lazy,” (Hebrews 6:12) as the Apostle Paul put it, in the race we are all called to run, (Hebrews 12:1) and instead “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised!” (Hebrews 6:12) I know this has certainly been the case for me which has greatly inspired me to want to live up to the lofty standard set by that "great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us" (Hebrews 12:1) that are the Saints of God! (For even more about veneration of saints read Maid of Heaven Foundation paper titled Don't Allow Your Religious Tradition to Keep You From Being Close to God: Part 1 Saints HERE

You use different translations of some biblical scripture that I have not seen before. Where did they come from and why do you think they are the most accurate?   Yes, I do try to use the most accurate version of scripture I can find as I am enlightened by God through prayer and research. I have often wondered why it is so difficult because of the many differing translations of scripture to really know God’s truth but then He reminds me that: “It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.” (Proverbs 25:2) So it is actually a great honor for us to be able to search out God’s truth and draw closer to Him in this way. And I believe it is very important for us to study the lives of different saints precislely because as Pope Benedict XVI said so well in his book Jesus of Nazareth: "The saints are the true interpreters of Holy Scripture. The meaning of a given passage of the bible becomes most intelligible in those human beings who have been totally transfixed by it and have lived it out. Interpretation of Scripture can never be a purely academic affair, and it cannot be relegated to the purely historical. Scripture is full of potential for the future, a potential that can only be opened up when someone "lives through" and "suffers through" the sacred text." One thing I have learned for sure from aviation is that nobody ever learns to fly an airplane except from someone else who knows how to fly. This is why I prefer translations of scripture that come from saints like Thomas Aquinas or Bernard of Clairvaux or even St. Joan who though she was illiterate and wrote nothing down herself was recorded as speaking incredibly truth from God. Such people showed during their lives that they knew how to “fly” with “wings as eagles “ through their close relationships with God so I have greater faith in the way they interpreted scripture than any other human beings.

I don't need anyone to interpret the Bible for me because I can read it myself.   Most people reading this will see immediately how silly it is for anyone today who relies on modern Bibles translated into English by someone else to say they don’t need an interpreter. The reply just below that I gave to a friend of mine recently when he made a similar statement in response to reading the Pope Benedict XVI quote above should help anyone who feels this way to see their error:

Mike your handwriting is hard to read in the image message you sent me but looks like you are saying you don’t need an “interpreter” to understand the Bible but the truth is you are already using an “interpreter” since you use English translations by someone else. Perhaps you don’t fully understand the meaning of the word “interpreter” so I attached a basic definition so you can see translations from one language to another is part of being an interpreter. So the point I am trying to make here is you better find yourself a good “interpreter” who knows the Lord as shown by the “fruits” of their lives. This is why I prefer to learn from God’s saints as we are commanded to do in Hebrews 11 and 12. Even if you didn’t need an “interpreter” to translate scripture for you it would still not be enough because Jesus elevated all of this to what is most important when He warned the Pharisees: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; yet you are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life." (John 5:39-40) Mike part of my calling from God is to challenge people today to not limit God to any one book or one church or one anything because He Is so much more because He Is God Almighty! So if this challenges you to go directly to Jesus Himself to truly know Him better then good because I believe that is exactly what He wants from all of us! I wrote most of this a little earlier this morning during my time alone with God upon waking so hopefully He was able to speak through me to you what He wants you to hear so I humbly send this reply back to you in this way.

Do you have to be a Christian to become a member of The Maid of Heaven Foundation because I really admire Joan of Arc?   No you do no need to be a Christian to join The Maid of Heaven Foundation because we are not a church but more an army for God fighting evil to restore freedom in our world today. But you better get ready to learn more about one of the greatest Christians to ever live, St Joan, and she may just inspire you to want to know her great God who she served so well during her life and continues to serve now for all eternity!

You say you are fighting evil in the world. How exactly are you going about doing that?   I once heard a Christian minister say a long time ago that the best way to overcome darkness is simply to turn on the light. I always thought this was great advice for Christians since we are given the light of God and commanded to be the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14) This is why we do all we can at The Maid of Heaven Foundation to teach God’s truth and show people how to live it out because what we need today is an army of people like St. Joan with brilliantly shining lights to drive out all the forces of darkness attacking us. Of course it all starts with having a close relationship with God which is why the first part of our motto is Love God. And you can see in the bible in James 4:7 exactly what happens when you love God and become close to God and have God’s power to “Resist the devil” because “he will flee from you!” But this is only just a strategic overview about how we go about fighting evil because there are many specific lessons that every Christian needs to learn to become really effective at fighting evil. For instance learning key scriptures to use in spiritual warfare is essential which is why we maintain a special page listing some of the most powerful scriptures which you can find HERE. We also do our best to train people to become “good soldier[s] of Christ” (2 Timothy 2:3) though our free spiritual training program you can find on this page HERE. With God’s help we will train up a whole army of Christians today who are “strong in the Lord and His mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10) to truly be the Light of our world overcoming all the dark forces of evil!

Are you only teaching people to be spiritual warriors because I personally don’t think that is enough and am fed up with Christians today who aren’t doing more?   I would be ashamed to name an organization after St. Joan of Arc and not try to be like her in every way and she of course was maybe the greatest freedom fighter to ever live. So yes we also believe that Christians should do more than just fight spiritually. This really shouldn’t even be a question for Christians since Jesus taught us to pray to our Father in Heaven: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” Just as a farmer shouldn’t ask God for rain unless they have done all they can themselves to produce a crop it is wrong for anyone to think we should ask God for His will to “be done on earth as it is in Heaven” without doing our part. This is why the examples of saints like Joan are so important to know because they show through their lives what God really expects from us. And God wants us to be free not only In His kingdom in Heaven but also in this world which is why He led His people out of pharaoh’s bondage in Egypt. So we not only fight evil in the spiritual realm but we also do all we can to stand against any and all tyranny in this world that tries to enslave us. This was why we organized and led a rally at the state capitol of Kentucky in 2020 to oppose the tyrannical actions of the governor during the covid crisis. And this rally ended up being the only gathering of Americans in the whole USA on public land for Memorial Day. This action alone should be enough to show how just how far we are willing to go in fighting for freedom in our world today! (click the image below for details about our rally including live video of that day)

How are you helping people to Live Free?   The real key to living free while we are in this present “land of the shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16 & Isaiah 9:2) is to not limit God’s power in any way in our lives. Unfortunately mankind in our fallen state always wants to limit God to what we can easily understand and are comfortable with like our own version of the Bible or our local church where we attend services. But our God is God Almighty “the Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5) and when we do not believe in all that He Is then we limit what He is able to do for us in this world. This was what happened to the people in the hometown of Jesus (Matthew 13:53-58) and continues to happen to our people today who don’t fully believe in all that He Is. To help people today to overcome their lack of belief in order to truly Live Free we teach everyone how to better know God and truly love Him as He desires (Matthew 22:37) which is ultimately the key to everything and why we put “LOVE GOD” first and foremost in everything that we do! (For a much more detailed explanation of how people today limit God through unbelief read our paper HERE titled Do Not Limit God and His Power in Your Life if You Want to Live Free and the intro paper to our spiritual training program Learn How To Overcome Evil With The Full Power of God HERE)

Can you explain more about your spiritual training program and what benefits I can expect to gain from it?   Our spiritual training program is designed to help Christians today to become “good soldier[s] of Christ” who are “strong in the Lord and in His mighty Power” (Ephesians 6:10) and totally capable of overcoming the forces of evil in this world. (1 John 5:4) To see what this can fully mean in the life of a Christian we need only look at St. Joan and all that she was able to accomplish in her remarkable life because she so brilliantly shows what a Christian can achieve through God. While St. Joan is most certainly a very rare case if we as Christians really truly believe what the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:13 that: “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me!” Then we should all aspire to this high level of Christian life. Since some form of training is usually required to have any real success at anything in life it should be no surprise that God does command us to: “TRAIN YOURSELF FOR GODLINESS!” (1 Timothy 4:7) And in case you are wondering, yes, St. Joan did undergo what we would call training by the spiritual beings God sent to her for nearly three years to prepare her for all that she was called by God to do. So the focus of our spiritual training program is upon helping people today to achieve what was the true secret to St. Joan’s success which was her extremely close relationship to God. This is the most important thing you can expect to gain from our spiritual training program because being close to God is everything and as He promises us in James 4:8: “Draw close to God and He will draw close to you!” (You can find our Free Spiritual Training Program HERE to help you draw close to God and unleash His full power in your life)
“I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being." (Ephesians 3:16)

Why do you restrict some of your site to only members?   While we certainly do wish that people everywhere would come to know our God and all of His truth we abide by what He warned in Matthew 7:6: “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” So while most of our site is totally available to anyone and everyone who visits us some of our more precious “pearls” are restricted to those who have at least shown enough alliance with us to have joined us as members. I do hope you understand!

I see that you ask for donations so what does the money go for?   Like all organizations we have basic expenses that must be met to continue operations. Unfortunately what little we receive each year does not even really cover our basic expenses but then generating revenue through donations is not a top priority for us. I founded this organization out of love for God and St Joan so as long as I am alive in this present world I will make sure that our focus is upon accomplishing all that we are called by God to do trusting that He will provide whatever resources we need to be successful which has always been the case. But we do greatly appreciate any and all support from anyone who wants to help us out in any way!