Bulletin of Prophetic Historicism

24 June 2015                                                                             Editor and Proprietor

                                                                                                  Edwin de Kock

Bulletin # 21

The editor/proprietor assumes responsibility for his own contributions. He is not, however, responsible or liable for the ideas expressed in pieces by other writers, also sometimes mentioned or cited.

                   Forward to Zion Hometown Camp Meeting

                                June 3-6, 2015

    We are deeply grateful to all our new friends for inviting us to share God’s abundant blessings during a few marvelous days. We thank them for the invitation, flying us up, and giving us a place to stay—not to mention wonderful and sometimes scary rides in a golf cart to the beautiful hall where the meetings were held!

     Never before have we attended a camp meeting where there was such a deeply felt love and a sense of belonging. The messages reflected our deep desire for the Holy Spirit, the former and the latter rain, so that God’s work can be done in and through us and we can go home. The Spoken Word reigned supreme, the messages were truly present truth, with Jesus in the sanctuary making intercession for His people. And then there was our appropriate response to the very serious times we live in just before His return. The music was not excessive but like light frosting, just enough and of the highest quality. All dressed modestly and reminded us of the “good old days”.

     We were also struck by the sacrificial giving to pay for the venue and accommodation at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware. Edwin and I were thrilled to hear that some people had travelled hundreds of miles to meet and hear him.

     We made many wonderful friends fast, some of whom bought all or some of Edwin’s books, while others had put all their money into the last great Sabbath offering and had nothing left! We are so sorry there were some we were not able to bid adieu personally, but I often had to run to be at our table. We left our unsold books with Gus Foster, from whom they are still obtainable.

     It is such a pity that we will probably never meet many of these acquaintances again on this earth, but we can do so on that planet where the redeemed will spend a Sabbath on the way to heaven. We love them and cannot wait for that to happen!

                                             The Speakers

     Central to the proceedings were presentations by five speakers: Stephen Bohr of Secrets Unsealed, whose messages on prophecy and other topics are well known; Ron Goss, who directs Project Restore, which prints and distributes truth-filled literature on a colossal scale; Richard O’Ffill, a retired revivalist and seminar speaker; Elias Baquero, a graduate of both Wildwood Lifestyle Center and Weimar Institute, who works at the latter institution as a Newstart therapist; and Edwin de Kock, a Historicist writer about prophecy. This Bulletin focuses on the last mentioned. For details about the ministries of the other four persons, we refer our readers to the Internet and note that the topics presented will also feature on Audio Verse and be available as DVD recordings.

     Here are Edwin’s three topics:

     1. The Lord is Coming. Are You Ready? This was a lecture on how the Lord Jesus will return, a literal Second Coming that will burst on the earth as an overwhelming surprise. It was also a personal appeal for us all to be ready. He discounted false teachings about it like Idealism, Preterism, and secret-rapture Dispensationalism, linking it with the great Historicist time prophecies of the Bible.

     Afterwards he had what was surely a unique experience for a preacher: one of the organizers complained that this presentation had been too short! He had limited himself to half an hour, As a former speech teacher, Edwin has observed that greater length detracts from the effectiveness of a sermon, while brevity adds to it. Some preachers try to put too much into a discourse or undermine it by dragging it out. Ellen G. White also wrote about this. She called it “The Evil of Long Sermons,” in Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers, pp.7-9, which also appears on the Internet. But, admittedly, a lecture is not a sermon, and Forward to Zion was, so to speak, entitled to value for its investment in flying him up there; so his other topics were presented at greater length.

     2. Three Angels Flying in the Midst of Heaven. Edwin analyzed each of these, exploring their past, contemporary, and future dimensions. For instance, historically they define the Seventh-day Adventist Church and its present mission, but the Third Angel also represents a mission that can only be fully realized when punitive Sunday legislation is planned. He berated those ministers who oppose or detract from the preaching of the Three Angels’ Messages, liberals who are sometimes called progressives. He said that they were, in fact, regressive Seventh-day Adventists, who have no part or parcel in completing the Great Commission. However unpopular it may be to proclaim that God’s people must leave Babylon or to refer to the papacy as the Antichrist, we have no right to reinvent ourselves as a Church but must proclaim what the Lord requires of us.

     3. To Ripen the Grain for the Harvest. On the basis of Old Testament passages from Joel and Zechariah, what happened at Pentecost and the situation in New Testament times, as well as statements by Ellen G. White, Edwin described the work of the Holy Spirit. Two phases are important and should not be confused with each other. For victory over sin, we all need the Early Rain. The Latter Rain will be poured out to finish the Lord’s work by gathering in his people, who are mostly still in other churches, religions, or just out there in the world. It is impossible for us to receive the Latter Rain if we have not been justified through the Lord Jesus Christ. God must also, however, dwell and remain within us through the Holy Spirit.

     It is he, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, through whom we must be born anōthen, that is again or from above. Showing how the apostle Paul is often misunderstood, Edwin quoted from several of his epistles. He especially dwelt on Eph. 2:8, 9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” By themselves, these verses are incomplete and easily misunderstood. They must be understood within the context of Eph. 2:1-10.

     In this passage, works and workmanship refer to the threefold activity of Satan, our natural, unregenerate human nature, and God himself. Most startlingly Edwin, quoting from the New King James Version, pointed out that people do not simply sin by themselves; they are possessed and abetted by a demon: “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh.” This made us “by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (vs. 2, 3). Nobody can be delivered from this bondage through his or her own works. Instead, we are to be “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (vs. 10).

     Edwin also quoted what Ellen G. White had written about the Latter Rain. It was to be more abundant than the Former Rain.

     “The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Here are ‘the times of refreshing’ to which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said: ‘Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus.’ Acts 3:19, 20. 20 The work will be similar to that of the Day of Pentecost. (GC 611-612)

     “It is with an earnest longing that I look forward to the time when the events of the day of Pentecost shall be repeated with even greater power than on that occasion. John says, ‘I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.’ Then, as at the Pentecostal season, the people will hear the truth spoken to them, every man in his own tongue . . . Thousands of voices will be imbued with the power to speak forth the wonderful truths of God’s Word. The stammering tongue will be unloosed, and the timid will be made strong to bear courageous testimony to the truth. May the Lord help His people to cleanse the soul temple from every defilement, and to maintain such a close connection with Him that they may be partakers of the latter rain when it shall be poured out. (SDABC EGW's comments on Acts 2:1-4 p. 1055)”

     There are, as Edwin pointed out, more than six thousand languages on our planet with its seven billion people. Nowadays 80 or 90 percent of its inhabitants do not know English. It is therefore foolish to think that we can reach the whole world through English television. Also for that reason, it seems that the genuine gifts of tongues will again be manifested and needed.

     Many were deeply moved by this lecture. One organizer remarked that he had not heard anything like it in forty years! But Edwin knew it was not just he who was speaking to the people at that camp meeting. It was the Lord, who had used him.

     Afterwards, himself awed by what he had found in Paul’s epistles, he declared: “Today, with this message, I was not simply a Historicist expositor of prophecy but a preacher of righteousness!” This has become a blessed theme for him.

                                          Other Ministries

       In addition to the speakers, several of those who attended the Forward to Zion Camp Meeting also had special ministries. We picked up on a few of them. Br. Jim installs radio stations that proclaim the Three Angels’ Messages, Sr. Janie conducts a Bible School as well as a prison ministry, and Andy with his wife Naomi lead out in the West Salem Mission. Please look this up on the Internet, and also “From Amish to Adventist.” This is a conservative Amish couple, who were baptized and joined our Church in 2014. Praise God!

     Since Edwin and I run a family ministry, with only a few donations, we largely depend on the sale of his books and our loving Father’s impression on the hearts close friends to help us keep going. Fortunately, in between the Forward to Zion services, many visited our table and bought a good quantity of Edwin’s books.

                    Excursion to West Salem and Berlin, Ohio

       After the meetings, we used a rental car with a borrowed GPS to go and visit Andy, Naomi, and their children on their farm. Not many people have the privilege of entering a conservative Amish home. With wonder we learned about their plans for an SDA house of worship, a church school, and a mission to their people. We then drove on to Berlin, where among other things we visited the Mennonite and Amish Heritage Center. The Amish are a conservative group that developed out of the Mennonites. Together with the Hutterites, these are all Anabaptists. They do not, however, baptize by immersion but by pouring water on people’s heads, when they reach the age of choice, most commonly at eighteen.

     At home the Amish mostly speak Pennsylania Deitsch, a form of German, not Dutch, as is commonly supposed. Edwin finds this fascinating. Since he can already read German, Dutch, and Afrikaans, he can usually figure out what a verse means in the Deitsch Nei Teshtament.

                      Bitten by a Horse and a Surgeon’s Knife

     After our return from Ohio, Ria tried to help our neighbor’s horse and her delightful filly. The mare was eating. Ria leaned over to push aside a branch that was in the way. Then, suddenly, the mare bit her forearm, removing a large patch of skin. This of course, resulted in a visit to the doctor, a tetanus injection, and an expensive antibiotic. Ouch!

     Two days later, a dermatologist performed surgery on the same arm, just above the bite, and cut out a skin cancer. He had to operate twice to remove all the malignant tissue. Please pray for her.

                            La Palabra Profética Más Segura

     In the meantime, we have received wonderful news from Cuba about the Spanish translation of A More Sure Word of Prophecy. It has already been available as a digital download. But now the folk at the Seminary at Havana can print 2,000 copies of La Palabra Profética Más Segura for only $1,000, which is much cheaper than in the United States. Unfortunately, we no longer have such funds; for we are still struggling with credit card debts incurred to fully pay off our mobile home.

     Ria thinks that Edwin’s dreams about this project are too small. The Lord is planning something very big for that island with more than 30,000 Seventh-day Adventists. One in fifteen of their adults are university graduates. Cuba can, as it opens up to the rest of the world, become a mighty center of evangelization for the Spanish-speaking world.

                                             Our Website

     Please remember that more details about our activities, as well as previous Prophetic Bulletins, appear on our website: www.propheticum.com. We can be contacted by e-mail at edwdekock@hotmail.com, or snail-mailed as follows: Edwin de Kock, 12916 Los Terrazos Boulevard, Texas 78541, USA.

     May God bless you richly for your interest in our ministry.