Biography
read full storyJochem Quartel (aka "Selecta Jog-M") was born in Amsterdam, 1975. From the age of 14 he started to listen to reggae music. At 16 he started to smoke a lot of 'ganja' and went to many reggae concerts. He also started attending many houseparties, drank a lot of alcohol and used extacy on a regular basis. At one point he very strongly felt that his way of life was not leading him to any satisfaction or fulfillment at all, and that there had to be a better way of living life. He had always believed that there was a Creator, and one of the reasons he liked reggae music so much were the lyrics of the songs, that dealt with Jah, the Almighty God, creation, humankind, righteousness and so on. In 1996, when he was 20 years old, he went to Israel for three months. There he came to faith in the God of Israel, Jahweh, and his Son Jesus Christ. Since then he is a new creation in Jesus Christ!
Jochem has studied theology and teaches religion in high school. He is married to Tirsa, which means 'pleasing' and 'joy' in Hebrew. And indeed she is just that to him! Since the 27th of March 2007 Jochem also has a beautiful son called Boaz!!!
Rev was born in 1967 in Den Helder, Holland of mixed blood; of Dutch, Indonesian and Ghanese decent. The first album that he bought was "Best Dressed Chicken In Town" from Dr. Alimentado. He loved the dignity he exposed while looking poor. Rev never overstood the use of learning all kinds of things in school and started rebelling. He couldn't overstand making careers and things. He started smoking Hash at the age of 15. Later on he was championed in his hometown for the large quantities of Marijuana that he would smoke each day.
He was "touched" by God the first time on a trip to Jamaica in 1993. On that trip he realized that he had to know the Lord. Rev was a member of Hammasound (a Dutch sound system) for some years but had different views about the music they were playing. He started out with the Jah Word sound system. He was called Rev already because he talked about God all the time. His name was also short for reverse (wheel), revs and revelation. Rev was reading the Bible daily and was already called a Christian even though he didn't feel that way (yet). He did ask the Lord to tell him if he had to believe in Christ. The answer waited for a while. At one time he bought the book "Dread Jesus" by William Spencer, and read the book. He saw so many views in Rastafari and thought there can only be one truth. He then read Judy Mowatt's story and recognized the truth.
Some time later he realized if he wanted to talk about the Lord to everyone he had to quit smoking ganja. He asked the Lord to help him because he liked every smoke he took. The Bible says if you're weak God's strength can work in you. Rev told that to the Lord and he quit that very day without problems (mentally or physically)--Praise the Lord! Within a week he could finally dig it. “Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no man cometh to the Father but by Him.” Praises again! June 25, 2005 Rev was baptized, “Cause the Bible seh so”! Rev joined BYSS in 2006.