A call to the Church and to Israel
Author: Rev. A.A. Leenhouts
Date: 2016-07-12T00:00:00+00:00
Description: The Shofar series was written by Dr. A.A. Leenhouts and was completed shortly before the author passed away at the age of 86. The author gives a remarkable exegesis of biblical promises concerning the future of Israel and the unity of all Christians. This exegesis resulted from direct revelations from God, received in 1948. In this ‘spiritual testament’ of Leenhouts, all believers in the world are called upon to guarantee in word and deed a worthy changeover of the ‘Jewish State’ to its destiny status of a ‘Kingdom of Priests’. This book is intended to be an introduction to the Shofar series a
Publisher: Jilco Ministries

A Call to the Church
and to Israel

introduction to the shofar series

The Rev. Dr. A.A. Leenhouts

primo vere bv
the hague, 2013

Neither the honesty with which a message is given, nor the intensity of the spiritual experience in which it was received is a guarantee for objective truth.

Likewise, false messianism or even a political ideology can quickly spread about, with the consequence that, as soon as it becomes apparent that the fulfilment will forever fail to materialise, sooner or later wrong expectations may turn into destructive forces. This is what makes every act of prophecy such a serious matter…

The question posed to churches and congregations is: Is this message from God or from man?

A.A. Leenhouts

Copyright © 2013 Primo Vere bv

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Primo Vere bv, P.O.Box 82411, 2508 ek The Hague, The Netherlands
www.primovere.nl

Original title: Oproep aan Kerk en Israël

Translation: H. Hanemaayer

Chief Editor: Dr. C. Kutsch Lojenga

Cover illustration by M. Koekkoek – Meijer

Designed by C.M. Goslinga

Printed by Van de Garde Jémé, Eindhoven

Epublication by Jilco Ministries, 2016

P.O. Box 369, Clinton, BC V0K 1K0, Canada

A Call to the Church and to Israel

An introduction to the Shofar series

A.A. Leenhouts
isbn 978-90-73014-17-6
ebook isbn 978-0-9869075-8-6

Scripture quotations taken from the holy bible, new international version.

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton, a member of Hodder Headline Ltd. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked [kjv] have been taken from the holy bible, king james version.

Copyright © by Oxford University Press, Aman House, London E.C. 4.

Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked [nkjv] have been taken from the new king james version.

Copyright © by Thomas Nelson. Inc.

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contents

PREFACE

ANNO DOMINI 1948

The vision

Into the wilderness…

The call

The blueprint

CONTENTS OF THE DIRECT MESSAGES

Context and juncture of time in which the messages were given [11]

THE BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM [40]

IN REALITY

The address

Why the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt?

CUP AND GRAIN

IN CONCLUSION

PREFACE

In 1948, Rev. A.A. Leenhouts, at the time pastor in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, received a message from God whose content was particularly intended for the ‘Church’ and ‘Israel’. His experience was as if an angel appeared to him, and he heard God speak to him directly.

The vision on Israel’s future which he received gave him the conviction that a political solution for true peace in the Middle East, and with that for the whole world, can only come from a religious solution. Front and centre to this are the identity and the Messianic destiny of the Jewish people.

In 1962, the Testimony and Unity Foundation was called into being in order to assist in the task of proclaiming and opening up God’s Word and promoting true unity among God’s people. The Foundation sees it as its assignment to present the above-mentioned message to the Church and to Israel, with the exegesis ensuing from Scripture, as set forth by Rev. Leenhouts in the four-volume Shofar series.

With this call to the Church, in which Christianity is addressed across the board, he makes an emphatic appeal to Paul’s exhortation to all Christians: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21).

Whenever Israel is mentioned, the Jewish nation in its entirety is meant.

After a moving life, the author passed away at the age of eighty-six on March 12th, 2001.

Leenhouts, born January 11, 1915 as the son of a farmer, saw it as one of the most important moments in his life to be appointed minister of the Word in the village of Vlagtwedde. On May 11, 1941, he preached his inaugural sermon from Ezekiel 3:1, “Son of man, (…) eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel” and was ordained with the text: “…he who wins souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30b).

At his funeral, it was recounted how he phrased his life and work:

“Both these verses of Scripture have controlled my entire ministry. Already in Vlagtwedde, I felt that, because of lack of unity in the church, we stood powerless, spiritually speaking, against the political power of the darkness of fascism. During the time that the people of the covenant, the Jews, were deported in order to be destroyed, my church split over futile issues such as if children of church members, who were seen as children of the covenant, should be counted as ‘being born again’.

In those gruesome days, I went to see the Jewish people as they were rounded up to be deported to a concentration camp. I wanted to give them a final greeting. The misery and desperation I saw there has remained with me for the rest of my life. The only answer I could give them at their question ‘why?’ was: I hope to meet you in the New Jerusalem. (…)

In 1944, we left for Heerenveen, where, besides my pastoral work in the Church, I was also appointed as chaplain at Cracstate penitentiary. In this prison, the fascists were confined after the war. Through the many pastoral talks I had with these inmates, my understanding of the guilt of our ecclesiastical discord was deepened and I got a better understanding of this satanically-inspired worldview. Due to our lack of unity within the church, we stood powerless to do anything about it.”

Rev. Leenhouts received recognition from the governments of Great Britain, the United States and France for his activities in the resistance movement during the war.

Leenhouts continued his ministry in Enschede, where the ecclesiastical discord had taken on shocking dimensions. Yet it was here, in 1948, that the Lord addressed him concerning the way which would lead to peace for His Church.

Leenhouts’ own description of this tremendous event is found in the next section, entitled ‘Anno Domini 1948’.

The event in 1948 caused an enormous conflict in the church in which he was a minister, and it also had significant consequences for his own family. He therefore decided to step down from his ministry in the church in 1958 and subsequently started proclaiming his message freely, both within the Netherlands and abroad, both orally and in writing. Among others, he preached in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, and discussed his vision with religious and scientific key people in Israel, Morocco and Tunisia. In 1974, he addressed an International Rabbinical Conference in Knokke, Belgium.

In 1990, he received an honorary doctorate from the International Bible Institute of Malawi for his books and other publications concerning this particular subject.

Besides preaching the Word, Leenhouts sent several Open Letters to the parliament of the Netherlands, to the government and the people of Israel, to the Arab nations, and to the Vatican.

At an advanced age, he wrote the Shofar series which came to completion several months before he passed away. This series must be seen as his spiritual testament.

Finally it is important for the reader to know that wherever in the accompanying text the word ‘I’ is used, it concerns sections taken from previous publications (books, pamphlets, newsletters, etc.), or excerpts from as yet unpublished documents written by Leenhouts.

The Hague, June 2002

Testimony and Unity Foundation

Postbus 64814

2506 CE The Hague

The Netherlands

G. van Kralingen (chairman)

Drs. F.J. Kutsch Lojenga (secretary-treasurer)

ANNO DOMINI 1948

The vision

In 1948, after I had returned from my holiday and was about to resume my pastoral duties in the Reformed Church in Enschede, the Lord intervened in my life in a spectacular manner.

Suddenly a miraculous intervention took place, so moving for the person concerned that any description is bound to fall short. Suddenly my office was all ablaze. In the spirit, I heard a tremendous storm and I experienced an angel appearing to me. I went to the window, looked outside and noticed that everything was dead calm. Then I walked over to the bedroom, looked in the mirror and saw that I looked like a dead man. I returned to my office, and, as if led by an invisible hand, took a notebook and sat down at my desk.

Then the Lord spoke literally, word for word: “My children have prayed and I answer…”

The Lord spoke about Israel’s future, about the coming World Revival, and gave messages for the churches. During a number of days, He showed me in burning visions that the purport of the last verse of Malachi and Revelation 10 are intrinsically the same. Every word struck me as lightning. The cold sweat dripped down from me, and without having any control over my hand or my thoughts, I wrote down every sentence in an orderly fashion.

God revealed the mystery of Revelation 10: the secret of the thunders, the sealed penultimate mystery.

In the spirit, I was confronted with the agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, with His suffering on the cross and His despair when He felt forsaken by God, but also with the immeasurable power of His resurrection and future.

In turn, I understood our infinite guilt of His blood and the riches of His mercy in the coming revival.

Into the wilderness…

Then came the testing. This kind of experience makes for a very lonely road. Especially in days and circumstances in which the special workings of the Holy Spirit, ecclesiastically speaking, were not recognised. The church in those days—1948—offered a minister who claimed to have received a prophecy or vision two options: suspension for heresy, or a compulsory psychiatric examination…

I dare not blame anyone, for I too, before this visitation, had been guilty of the same mindset. Probably the one who offered most opposition to this calling and message was I myself. I knew enough from ecclesiastical history about such perceived excesses, and furthermore, I had been raised in a strict Reformed tradition. It was a completely foreign thought to me that God could yet really speak, or that Israel would still play a leading role in the kingdom of God. I had, as a ‘streamlined’ Reformed minister, warned wherever needed against all spiritualistic manifestations, false mysticism, fanaticism, chiliasm and such like.

In fact, I still see subjectivism as an abyss. For isn’t there a clear line from mysticism in the middle ages, by way of the fanatics in the days of the Reformation, to liberal Protestantism? How many ‘houses’, built on the quicksand of subjectivism, have been washed away by storm and downpour? How many false prophets have not gone out into the world? Furthermore, the honesty with which a message is given, nor the intensity of the spiritual experience in which it was received, is a guarantee for its objective truth.

How much more is this valid for any inspiration by the Holy Spirit!

We are but puny human beings, who, with the best of intentions, can easily stray from the truth and be infected en masse by religious delusions. Think for example of the delusion of witchcraft! For centuries, this religious delusion afflicted Europe. Millions of women, after horrendous torture at the hands of the Inquisition, were burned at the stake. Truly it was a spiritual eclipse.

So too, a false messianism or a political ideology can spread like wildfire, with the consequence that the wrongly raised expectations turn into destructive forces as soon as it turns out that the fulfilment fails to materialise indefinitely. This is what makes all prophesying such a serious matter.

But when the Lord does speak, then it is impossible to remain quiet. This is what all prophets have experienced. Jeremiah sincerely expressed this when he said:

“But if I say, ‘I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,’ his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (Jeremiah 20:9).

In the same way, it has been impossible for me to suppress the message and the insight concerning the last days as given to me in direct words and in many visions. In this book, I want to make a statement, which before God has the power of an oath: “Lord God, You know that I am not aware anything other than that You literally spoke to me in 1948, and I pass this experience and the resulting exegetical insight on, to the best of my ability.”

The call

All who believe in the Name of Jesus Christ have an obligation to test a prophecy addressed to them, according to 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21: “Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

With this exhortation, Paul does not mean we should examine and test prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah anew. He means that when the Lord speaks in the midst of the New Testament Church, or when someone claims to have received a message from God, we must not ignore it without further investigation. We must not hold it in contempt but examine it in order to find out whether its content concurs with the purport of the Holy Spirit and the tenor of the Holy Scriptures.[1]

And by virtue of the calling of the Jewish people—a calling which the Lord has never revoked—it is also to this nation that I turn with the request: ‘Test it; you are being addressed by virtue of your spiritual uniform. You are and will remain the chosen nation of priests in this world.’

Furthermore, I also very consciously address this message to the Islamic world. Also for the Islamic nations, a political settlement can only ensue from a religious solution. The whole tent of Abraham will end up in the storms of the last days.[2]

The fact that the Jewish people have a special standing before God also concerns the Arabs.[3] It imposes on us, Christians of the whole world, the responsibility to warrant in word and deed the dignified transformation of a Jewish State to a ‘Status’ of a Kingdom of Priests, and it imposes on the Arab brother-nations the responsibility to heed God’s supernatural dealings—in judgment and mercy—with regard to the Jewish people. (…)

In the coming Messianic kingdom, a task will be set aside for the Jew as well as for the Arab, a task which they will be glad to fulfil in the service of all mankind.[4]

The blueprint

When we survey Israel’s history from the time of the patriarchs to the present, one thing stands out: the Lord God always spoke when the people were about to enter or to leave the promised land.

The Lord spoke to Jacob at Bethel when Jacob had to go into exile in his flight from Esau. And when he returned and found himself at Peniel, in the border region, he wrestled with God and God spoke to him.

This has remained God’s basic pattern.

Figuratively speaking, Bethel and Peniel return over and over again. Likewise, in the story of Joseph, the going back and forth of Joseph’s brothers in and out of Canaan is accompanied by the prophetic words of Joseph.[5]

All major prophets were used by God in connection with the Babylonian captivity, announcing it long ahead of time…, threatening with it…, admonishing the people with the impending exile, or, during the captivity, comforting the people with words from God, with promises of restoration—or also by giving directions for the return out of Babylon. Specifically from the Babylonian captivity, vistas were opened up about the last days and the end of time.

Jesus Himself, too, announced, at the climax of history, the great exile of Israel. And from that exile and in connection with that exile, He extended the lines to the end, to His return:

“For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:39).

It would indeed have been an exception to this rule if God had not spoken at the return of Israel, in 1948.

Yet the Lord did speak. He made it clear that the angel of death will not pass over without the acceptance of the New Testament Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed for the sins of the world, namely Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). This is valid for the Jews, who were exiled because of their rejection of Jesus of Nazareth, and who have now returned unrepentant and unconverted, as well as for all of humanity. Both Jews and the entire human race will soon be confronted with the complete fulfilment of the last verse of Malachi.

The founding of the State of Israel was an official moment in the history of the chosen people. Israel has started lifting the exile, without a glimmer of acknowledgment of their own Messiah, the Son of the living God!

A reaction from the Most High did not fail to materialise; the Lord of Glory unveiled a deep mystery. God will come with His battle-ready fist over the whole Middle East, and with that, in this nuclear age, over the whole world! Israel remains God’s firstborn and therefore representative for the whole world, for all of humanity. The world will arrive at a situation of ‘to be or not to be’, a border situation, an extreme crisis.

Yet the mercy of God will triumph over judgment! The Lord will give an answer to the coming affliction of Israel and the world by bringing a confused and divided Gentile Christian Church to true unity and Pentecostal fulness.

We can count on the convicting work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament Gentile Christian Church, after the model of the Old Testament judgment on the heights of Mount Carmel.

This is what Revelation 10 alludes to as well, namely that the fulness of the Gentiles is the way whereby Israel comes to fulness and the Kingdom of God will break through.[6]

The unveiling of the penultimate mystery also opened up a completely new exegesis of the last book of the Bible. A beautiful architectural design of the end times became visible (…)[7]

When someone prophesies, there are only two possibilities: either he is a false prophet who deceives the people, or he speaks the truth and people must take his message to heart. The question posed to the churches and congregations is the following: Is this teaching from God or from man?

When believers from different churches and denominations who love Jesus dearly and believe Him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world will seek each other and together begin to proclaim the Lord’s death at His table, then the Lord Himself will not fail to show that the unity of those He purchased by His blood can only be realised through obedience to our calling towards Israel. It will become one flock under one Shepherd!

Together with Israel, we must acknowledge the Lamb of God, for in His blood alone will we find the passing over of the judgment. For time and eternity![8]

CONTENTS OF THE DIRECT MESSAGES

During the prayers of the International Council of Christian Churches (iccc) in 1948, a few days prior to the establishmentof the World Council of Churches (wcc), the Lord spoke to me in storm and fire:

“My children have prayed and I answer.

No, I will not give the antichrist the honour of bringing My people together, but I will do this by the lashes of My Word.

Behold, I stand on the brink of your existence.

Do not say: ‘There is no intermediate state’, nor ‘There is an intermediate state’: you have to expect the miracle.[9] If I am silent for two days, do you think, O man, that a day of fulfilment for My redeemed ones will never dawn?

If I shrink the universe to the size of a marble, you would not even notice it.”

Message for the Reformed Churches

“Yes, you may sing the hymn: You are not a God of the dead, but of the living.

For indeed the line of death is not passed there where the body of a child is buried, but it is already there where you all, by virtue of the covenant with Adam, the root of humanity, are conceived and born in sin.

But you have expressed yourselves unclearly.

You have ‘stuttered’ prophetically and therefore ‘royally’ enforced people, and in this way, you have violated the harmony between the offices of prophet, priest and king.

Herein lies your guilt.

Were you in this matter a clear reflection of the chief Shepherd of the flock, whose goodness is spread over the sheep like a soft glow?

Did you do justice to My commission to ‘feed My sheep’? There has to be discipline, but not in this way.

Therefore I have placed a man opposing your wall with a crowbar in his hand and an incurable wrath poured out in him. He will not yield until you repent.

Repent, then he, too, will be healed.

But there is more!

Who has given you the right to make infant baptism an iron law in ‘Israel’?

Where have I said this? If so, then I will yield.

I have afflicted you because of this, too.

You still need the pole of reasoning to vault from the covenant promise to the ecclesiastical command of infant baptism.

Neither have I commanded you to not baptise the children, but you should have tolerated each other in love born of the Spirit

You should not handle intellectual issues as an axe with which you smash My table to pieces.

You see your confession as something as flat as the Netherlands, but it is like the Himalayan mountains—with heights where no one ever comes—from which you should expect your help.

Back to the heights of Easter and Pentecost!

Then you will have an overview of the whole course along which I have led My people.”

Message for the Baptist Churches

“You also, in your reaction to the Reformed Churches, have relinquished the fulness of revelation. Repent.”

Message for Barthianism

“You were an instrument of alarm in My hands, but do not fall into the error of Obadiah. Or, do you need to hear a thundering oath from Elijah once again?”

Message for Israel

“I will take vengeance on those who mocked Me by saying that I was calling Elijah when I hung in the depths of hell. I will indeed call Elijah; and My vengeance is merciful. My Spirit roars for Elijah.”

Message for the Dutch Reformed Church

“You shall not deny the virgin birth any longer.”[10]

Context and juncture of time in which the messages were given [11]

[Although the contents of the direct messages have been given above, they are repeated here with the explanations]:

“My children have prayed and I answer. No, I will not give the antichrist the honour of bringing My people together, but I will do this by the lashes of My Word.”

In 1908, the ‘Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America’ was established in order to assist the protestant churches in their conflict management and to promote cooperation between them. This Council was formed out of a number of organisations which had been founded in America to fight the encroaching modernism, as is written by C. van der Waal in his book Antithese of synthese? (Antithesis or Synthesis?) Most American churches joined this Council. This Federal Council took over the activities of the American chapter of the Evangelical Alliance, which had been founded in Liverpool in 1845, with the aim of forming some kind of ‘Christian International’. Rather than a union of churches, the alliance was a body of Christians building a dam against liberalism, Roman Catholicism and religious persecution. The Alliance, with its vague—albeit orthodox—statutes opened the doors to church members who compromised with liberals and propagated, or at least did not oppose, an institutional unity with them. They were welcomed into the Alliance as ‘brothers’ and ‘evangelicals’. In contradistinction to its original intentions, the Alliance has become one of the roots of the synthesis movement: Evangelical Alliance—Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America—World Council of Churches.[12]

J.A.E. Vermaat writes in his book on the history of the ecumenical movement:

“In the early twentieth century, a call was heard to bridge the divisions between the protestant churches. (…) This problem of religious dissension was felt particularly on the mission field, because a divided Christianity is unable to give an unequivocal testimony of unity.”

Many attempts to foster greater unity failed, but when the Swedish archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931) organised an interdenominational conference in 1925, the basis for rapprochement was laid. ‘Life and Work’ was the theme of the conference that strove for innovation of the mission and social church work. It was the largest ever ecumenical meeting of protestant church leaders. Söderblom is therefore called the father of the ecumenical movement. Nevertheless, however pure his intentions and noble his character may have been, he adhered to the doctrine of liberal Protestantism. He shared the view of his friend Adolf von Harnack: ‘It is true, miracles do not happen, but there is no lack of miraculous and mysterious events (…) However, we do not believe and will never believe again that a donkey spoke, that a dead man rose from the grave, that a single word stilled a tempest. ’”[13] [14]

Söderblom did not believe in the miracles of the virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ either.[15]

The 1925 Uppsala conference gave rise to the movement ‘Life and Work’, which became permanent in character and was named after the theme of the conference. In 1948, this movement (with Söderblom as the driving force and founder) merged with the ‘Faith and Order’ movement to become the World Council of Churches.[16]

When the World Council of Churches was established, the member churches made a ‘secular’ dash to appropriate the high-priestly prayer of Jesus for the unity of His redeemed people (John 17:21). Many problems had to be overcome in the process of drawing up a doctrinal principle that was acceptable to all churches. Liberal, Remonstrant and Orthodox Protestants would have to be able to accept the doctrinal basis. The basic tenet became: The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the World Council of Churches, J.A. Zeilstra wrote on this subject in an issue of the Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse Kerkgeschiedenis na 1800 (Journal of Ecclesiastical History in the Netherlands after 1800):

“Liberal Protestants had great problems with this foundational doctrinal statement. (…) The liberal Lutheran professor C.W. Mönnich in Amsterdam questioned whether it was possible for liberal Protestants to join the Council at all on the basis of this doctrine. (…)

By accepting Christ as God and Saviour, Mönnich believed the church had resolved and found a way to profess God’s sovereignty of salvation, in accordance with the valid notions of ancient times. There was nothing wrong with this belief, as an aspect of redemption, but he believed it was not the “be-all” and “end-all” of the Christian faith. So, the doctrine became unintelligible for 20th century Christians. But Mönnich did not think that the doctrine should prevent liberal Christians from collaborating con amore with the World Council. It should not evoke moral conflict, as it was not a confession of faith, but a ‘piety’ or awkward theological tenet.”[17] [18]

Newspaper articles on the establishment of the World Council of Churches report that the participants representing the member churches at the conference were unable to celebrate the Lord’s Supper together.[19]

This ecumenical history led to concern among fundamentalist Christians that the movement would eventually lead to the birth of a world church, which would be the ‘bride’ of the antichrist. The evangelical Christians, who still adhered to the pure and unadulterated gospel, believed they had to seek each other for mutual aid and support, and so in 1941, they established the American Council of Christian Churches (accc) as the counterpart of the World Council of Churches. This American Council of Christian Churches led to the founding of an international organisation.

To challenge the Geneva Ecumenical Council of Churches (wcc), Dr. Carl McIntire established the International Council of Christian Churches (iccc) in Amsterdam, ten days before the World Council of Churches was founded. The congress, held from August 11-19, 1948, saw about 150 people attending, representing 61 protestant churches from 29 countries.

The second conference was held in Geneva, in 1950, with 450 delegates from 43 countries, representing 83 protestant churches. At this conference, the constitution of the iccc was conclusively decided upon.[20]

Dr. Carl McIntire was the most prominent person in leading iccc circles. He was elected as the first president of the American Council of Christian Churches and served the council in that position from 1941-1943. In 1948, he became the first president of the iccc. He died on the 19th of March 2002.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the iccc, August 12th, 1998, its president, Dr. Carl McIntire, delivered a speech in the Christian Reformed Church in the Netherlands (which hosted the founding ceremony in 1948), entitled: “Fifty years and how it happened”, in which he said:

“When we finished, we declared that we stood solidly against the wcc with all its various religions, believing that all were pathways to God and heaven […] You have to look back and see God going ahead of us and giving us the joy and privilege of founding this International Council of Christian Churches to reject and offset the World Council of Churches with their plans for their One World Church, which would indeed be the bride of the antichrist.”[21]

The fundamentalist Christians had gathered together in Amsterdam in 1948 for the sole purpose of beseeching the Lord to prevent His Church from becoming the ‘bride’ of the antichrist on the grounds of a false unity in a World Council of Churches. The conference was inspired by the text from Isaiah: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19 [kjv]). On the seventh day of this conference, the Lord spoke to me: “My children have prayed and I answer. No, I will not give the antichrist the honour of bringing My people together, I will do it by the lashes of My Word.”

“Behold, I stand on the brink of your existence.”

In 1948, humanity stood at the crossroads of world-encompassing political change, which evoked serious tensions and the threat of a new war. These political developments were:

1.  The founding of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948

The Jewish people officially attempted to lift the Exile by creating a national home. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations endorsed the resolution to divide Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab State, with Jerusalem designated to become an international city. In a solemn ceremony, the Jewish National Council proclaimed the State of Israel in Tel Aviv, one day before the British mandate would expire on 15 May, 1948.

2.  Division of Jerusalem

Immediately after the proclamation and the official recognition of the Jewish State by the United States of America as the first country in the General Assembly of the United Nations, the armies of the surrounding Arab states marched into Palestine and the fledgling state of Israel was forced to defend itself against enemy troops on several fronts.[22] For days on end, the war raged in the heart of Jerusalem, until, after twelve days of heavy fighting, the Jewish defenders of the city were forced to surrender to the Arab legion.[23] So, the old walled-in city of Jerusalem fell into Arab hands and a long period of fighting alternated with truces followed. The ultimate result was a divided city: the western sector was assigned to Israel and east Jerusalem was brought under Arab administration.

3.  Tensions about Berlin

The tensions about Berlin mounted to such a degree that they brought the world on the brink of a new (world) war.[24] Increasing dissension between the three Western powers on the one side and the Russians on the other made a united administration of the city impossible. The Western Big Three (the United States, France and the United Kingdom) enraged the Soviets by implementing monetary reorganisation in their sectors in early 1948. Hence they closed and barricaded the supply roads to West Berlin and the city council and the Kommandatura fell apart. In fact, Berlin was divided into two parts as well.[25]

4.  Decisive breakthrough of Mao Tse-tung in China

After a violent civil war, the red armies forced a decisive breakthrough in China. At first outnumbered by the nationalists with their sophisticated weaponry (roughly 1:3), the communists managed to bring their army up to par within two years’ time. Chiang Kai-shek (the nationalist commander) went to the United States in November 1948 to ask for military support, but the us refused to rescue China from the ‘communist quagmire’. Europe was far more important for them than Asia. The Americans said they lacked the resources for a ‘cold war’ on two fronts. In November/December 1948, the communists won a decisive battle in Central China and proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on October 1st, 1949.[26]

These political situations posed major and minor threats to world peace and engendered the arms race of the following decades, which produced the most atrocious deterrents, including the sophisticated abc weapons and the space shield, featuring as the number one priority on the current ‘wish list’ of the United States.

The nuclear threat, already present in embryonic form in 1948, has still not subsided. When the situation does explode in the Middle East, in Germany or in Asia (with countries having access to nuclear weapons and refusing to sign or ratify a non-proliferation treaty), the impact of a nuclear disaster is incalculable.

In 1948, the Lord spoke:

“Behold, I stand on the brink of your existence.

Do not say: ‘There is no intermediate state;’ nor say: ‘There is an intermediate state’: you have to expect the miracle.”

This pronouncement concerning the ‘intermediate state’ is a correction on the eschatological vision concerning the ‘intermediate state’ of the human being after his demise and before his resurrection. The Lord forbids us to speculate about this intermediate state, but encourages us to expect the miracle (1 Corinthians 15:35-49)

“If I am silent for two days, do you think, O man, that a day of fulfilment for My redeemed ones will never dawn? If I shrink the universe to the size of a marble, you would not even notice it.”

In Scripture, to ‘be silent’ is identical to ‘not taking action’.[27] This ‘silence of God’ points to two days of God, which means two thousand years of ‘not taking action’ with regard to ‘His redeemed ones’, the Jewish people. Concerning the thought that a day of fulfilment for this people and their messianic destination (Exodus 19:6), may never dawn, God admonishes us with: “Do you think, O man…?” [28]

Furthermore, the following comment: “If I shrink the universe to the size of a marble, you would not even notice it” indicates to us the limitation of our understanding in time and space.

Message for the Reformed Churches

“Yes, you may sing the hymn: You are not a God of the dead, but of the living.

For indeed the line of death is not passed there where the body of a child is buried, but it is already there where you all, by virtue of the covenant with Adam, the root of humanity, are conceived and born in sin.

But you have expressed yourselves unclearly.

You have ‘stuttered’ prophetically and therefore ‘royally’ enforced people, and in this way, you have violated the harmony between the offices of prophet, priest and king.

Herein lies your guilt.

Were you in this matter a clear reflection of the chief Shepherd of the flock, whose goodness is spread over the sheep like a soft glow?

Did you do justice to My commission to ‘feed My sheep’? There has to be discipline, but not in this way.

Therefore I have placed a man opposing your wall with a crowbar in his hand and an incurable wrath poured out in him. He will not yield until you repent.

Repent, then he, too, will be healed.

But there is more!

Who has given you the right to make infant baptism an iron law in ‘Israel’?

Where have I said this? If so, then I will yield.

I have afflicted you because of this, too.

You still need the pole of reasoning to vault from the covenant promise to the ecclesiastical command of infant baptism.

Neither have I commanded you to not baptise the children, but you should have tolerated each other in love born of the Spirit.

You should not handle intellectual issues as an axe with which you smash My table to pieces.

You see your confession as something as flat as the Netherlands, but it is like the Himalayan mountains—with heights where no one ever comes—from which you should expect your help.

Back to the heights of Easter and Pentecost!

Then you will have an overview of the whole course along which I have led My people.”

To those who know the history of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands, most of this prophecy speaks for itself. In the early forties, a battle flared up within the Reformed Churches about the question if the ‘seed of the covenant’, by virtue of God’s promise, counts for ‘regeneration’. Furthermore, many fostered objections to the spiritual climate in the Reformed Churches, and the suspension of Prof. K. Schilder, in 1944, as well as the suspension of other ministers aroused great indignation.

The conflict about the ‘binding’ doctrine of infant baptism (and assumed regeneration) was so great that all those who saw this doctrine as unbiblical, under the leadership of Prof. K. Schilder, his nephew H.J. Schilder [29] and others, withdrew from under the authority of the Synod of the Reformed Churches, accusing them of ‘synodocracy’ (synodal domination), with the Act of Liberation or Return on August 11th, 1944.[30]

The Act of Liberation and Return describes the rejection of the binding doctrine of baptism in the following manner:

“We declare that the statement which has repeatedly been invested with doctrinal authority and which since has been made a touchstone of true doctrine and of faithful exercising one’s office—namely that, according to the Confession of our churches, the ‘seed of the covenant’ must, by virtue of the promise of God, be assumed to be the ‘regenerated and sanctified in Christ’, until, as they grow up, the contrary becomes evident from their life or doctrine [31]—does not and may not bind our consciences since it cannot be found in God’s Word, nor in our Confession, nor can it be logically deduced from them. For neither God’s Word nor our Confession makes a pronouncement regarding the manner in which regeneration takes place in chosen children. Rather, it teaches us that God begins to fulfil His promise in us and in our children (that He will dwell in us and that He will sanctify us to be members of Christ, imparting to us what we have in Christ[32]) according to His good pleasure at His own time, either before or during or after baptism.[33] For this reason, we judge that the binding to this pronouncement, before and during service as an office-bearer[34] imposed because of the previously-mentioned synod, is in direct conflict with the Word of our God…”[35]

The schism occurred during the darkest days of the war. In the end, about 80,000 members left the Reformed Churches and ‘liberated’ themselves in this manner. Among those leaving were about 140 ministers of the Word.[36]

The ‘man’ whom the Lord placed opposite the ‘wall’ of the Reformed Churches was Prof. K. Schilder, acting as the ‘pars pro toto’ for the liberation movement. With the ‘wall’ was meant: the issue of making binding doctrinal statements. The ‘incurable wrath’ poured out by the Lord Himself will only lift when the Reformed Churches repent concerning this issue.

But there is more!

Infant baptism should not be handled as an iron law either. Nowhere does the Bible direct us to only baptise children and to reject adult baptism under threat of severe discipline.

In 1948, the call was heard: Return to the heights of Easter and Pentecost! Back to the structure of the early church as founded by the apostles. “Then you will have an overview of the whole course along which I have led My people.”

Message for the Baptist Churches

“You also, in your reaction to the Reformed Churches, have relinquished the fulness of revelation. Repent.”

Relinquishing the ‘fulness of revelation’ means that you have interpretations about eschatological issues, disregarding the yet to be fulfilled mystery of Revelation 10 and thereby giving way to all kinds of unbiblical chiliastic views.

Message for Barthianism

“You were an instrument of alarm in My hands, but do not fall into the error of Obadiah. Or, do you need to hear a thundering oath from Elijah once again?”

In 1 Kings 18:1, Elijah received the order: “Go and present yourself to Ahab.” This was a direct word from God, entrusted to him. On the way, Elijah met Obadiah and told him: “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here’” (verse 8).

Obadiah got scared and came to the wrong conclusion:
“I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you” (verse 12). Then he says:

“If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshipped the Lord since my youth. Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!” (1 Kings 18:12-14).

Then Elijah vowed: “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today” (verse 15).

The warning and the message of the Lord: “do not fall into the error of Obadiah,” is addressed to the globally extended Barthian movement, not to lapse into a wrong interpretation of God’s sovereignty, as if God would be able or willing to take back His once given Word.

Would Elijah have given in to the error of Obadiah, then the way to the Carmel judgment would have been blocked and, with that, the restoration of the unity of the tribes of Israel would have been obstructed.

Applied to our days: If the churches were to lapse into the same error as Obadiah, then the way to the true ecumenical unity of God’s children will be barricaded.

Message for Israel

“I will take vengeance on those who mocked Me by saying that I was calling Elijah when I hung in the depths of hell. I will indeed call Elijah; and My vengeance is merciful. My Spirit roars for Elijah.”

These words signify the ‘uttering of prophecy’, in order to point out to the churches across the board their responsibility concerning the Jewish people (Romans 9-11), in order that the mercy of God will also reach this nation.

To that end, as in the days of Elijah, the broken ‘altar of Pentecost’ will have to be restored.

Only in the united acknowledgment of God’s mercy, as revealed in the gift of His Son and His sacrifice on the cross for the atonement of the sins of the world, will our unity become true and will the way be opened for the Jewish people to really discover their Messiah.[37]

Message for the Dutch Reformed Church

“You shall not deny the virgin birth any longer.”

The ‘virgin birth’ is the ‘Word become flesh’, the central element of the gospel. “The Word was with God and the Word was God. (…) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-18). Whoever denies the virgin birth does not believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3).

Already in 1948, Prof. Dr. P. Smits wrote in the official church newspaper of the Dutch Reformed Church of Enschede that with the rejection of the ‘worship of Mary’, the ‘virgin birth’ should be dismissed as well.[38]

Even though this view was still the exception in the Dutch Reformed Church of 1948, yet it has gained more and more acceptance and presently, it could even be called the norm.

The following are some examples of this.

In his Christmas Eve sermon on 24 December 1959, Rev. P. Lugtigheid said among other things the following about Mary being ‘overshadowed’ by the Holy Spirit:

“She was wondering what the meaning could be of this greeting. What does this mean, and how do I know if it is true, how can I check it out? (…)

Because God was with her and entered into her life, she lived as one who is guilty (…)

Mary was (…) driven inwardly to go and tell Joseph; she felt that she had to do this. (…) Yet she had to confess, confess to Joseph. She had to admit her guilt. (…)

Joseph noticed it.

Do you really think that your husband wouldn’t notice if you were so quiet? Do you think that your surroundings wouldn’t notice that you were worrying about something? That something was bothering you? Joseph did notice, and he knew that, in fact, it was his duty to hand Mary over to the authorities. However, he could not do that, even though it was actually his duty to expose Mary’s guilt, so everyone would know. But he was unable to do that!

Then, in the middle of the night, God came to Joseph in a dream and said to him: Listen man, don’t do it. Don’t encumber Mary with that! Don’t let her down or abandon her. I can’t deny that she is worrying and feels guilty, but that is because of Me! That is on My account. I interfered in her life! Joseph, you should not leave her but go to her and help her in her silence. Don’t turn your back on her or cover it up. Rather, meet her in her problems. Embrace her and accept her with an all-forgiving love! (…)

In the same way, Mary was met by no one less than God Himself, who sent Joseph with a message of forgiveness, of acquittal. For God’s sake, he embraced her and represented for her the absolution, as the Roman Catholics would say. (…)

Jesus was for Mary the reminder of her guilt (…) Actually Mary should have been stoned, but that didn’t happen.”[39]

Another example is found in the journal ‘De Open Deur’ (The Open Door). In 1966, three different versions of the Christmas edition were published. One version was meant for the Dutch Reformed Churches, in which J.F. van Woerden called the ‘virgin birth’ a ‘myth’. A second version of this journal, targeting the Reformed Churches, had a completely different article in place of the ‘myth’ article for the Dutch Reformed Churches, more acceptable for this group of people, and in a third version, we find an article by P. Lugtigheid.

Note that all three versions had exactly the same cover, and the contents of the journal, except for the pages in question, were completely identical. Afterwards, ‘Hervormd Nederland’ (another Dutch church newspaper) published several ‘letters to the editor’ concerning this issue.24

With the charge: “You shall no longer deny the virgin birth”, the prophecy of 1948 actually concluded in the same way as it had started:

“No, I will not give the antichrist the honour of bringing My children together, but I shall do this by the lashes of My Word.”

For the deceiver and antichrist is the one who does not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh (cf. 2 John 1:7).

THE BATTLE FOR JERUSALEM [40]

“I will take vengeance on those who mocked Me by saying that I was calling Elijah when I hung in the depths of hell. I will indeed call Elijah; and My vengeance is merciful. My Spirit roars for Elijah.”

At first I did not understand this word of the Lord at all. Then, for a long time, I only understood it partly, until I gradually came to understand that Israel actually went the way of Jesus, and that the course of the Jewish people throughout history is a ‘Via Dolorosa’, a way of the cross, a road of suffering on a large scale.

As Jesus was banished from the Holy City and forced on the way of sorrows, so likewise, in 70 ad, forty years after Jesus’ first public appearance, the Jews were thrown out of Jerusalem by divine judgment, and so they were forced on the way of sorrows, a worldwide exile. For Israel, this ‘Via Dolorosa’ will irrevocably lead to ‘Golgotha’, as it did for Jesus. Israel will not be able to lift its exile without the acknowledgment of the Lamb of God. That is not the way in which Israel will come home. On the contrary, it will come to hang on its State as on a cross. I say this with deep emotion and with the greatest respect for the exceptionally high official status in which the Most High has placed this nation. It is this very high status of being the chosen people to whom God’s Words are entrusted—the people of ‘revelation’—which carries, along with this special calling, such severe punishments in case of disobedience. After all, God’s Word says in Leviticus 10:3: “…among those who approach me, I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people, I will be honoured” and in Amos 3:2: “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”

In 1948, Israel reached its ‘Golgotha’, the place of its definitive spiritual judgment. (…)

Israel’s road of suffering, the culmination of its history and the revelation of God’s most intimate intention with His people, will show a very strong resemblance to the Passion of Christ. “For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” (Luke 23:31).

Exactly as Jesus’ suffering on the cross still had an inner core, a moment in which the nerve of His existence was touched and He uttered the complaint: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”—and in which His own people mocked Him with the crown text of the Old Testament: “He is calling Elijah” and “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him”—in the same manner, Israel will descend into an inner depth of suffering and sink in a terrible feeling of being godforsaken, when it will soon come to hang on its State as on a cross in the sight of all nations. However, when they are ‘hanging’ in this impossible situation, they will not be mocked, as Jesus was, with the words: “He is calling Elijah”, but then, He, who is at the right hand of God, will be ready with the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ (Rom. 11:25 [kjv]) in order to give Israel the answer of mercy.

The Lord said: “My vengeance is merciful.” By way of obedience to our task concerning Israel, the Gentile Christian church will become one. Only in this ‘way of Elijah’ will the broken altar of Pentecost be restored and true unity brought about over against false unity. Through our reconciliation with God by the blood of the Lamb, we will be reconciled with each other.

There will be one restored Table of the Lord’s Supper, at which our unity with each other will be evident, but only if in coming together, we desire to bring Israel to Jesus, and only if we show mercy to them in word and deed, according to the words of Romans 11:31: “…in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.”

True unity will never be realised without this calling. It will be one flock—out of Jew and Gentile together—under one Shepherd. But Israel will first be made concretely and radically dependent on this worldwide community that partakes in the Lord’s Supper in unity.

This will be the ‘Battle for Jerusalem.’

It will be a better ‘encirclement’ than in the days of Titus in the year 70 ad. They will be encircled by the love of God, which will take shape in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper by His Church. The Lord Jesus said at the last Supper: “I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me” (Luke 22:29). When celebrating the Lord’s Supper together, we will also feel our immense Gentile-Christian guilt towards Israel. For only because of the abundant mercy shown to us and the forgiveness received in the blood of the Lamb will we be able to show mercy to Israel. Not because we are superior in ourselves, no…, it is only because God has granted us such abundant mercy. (…)

Our assignment as Gentile Christians is to struggle for this Pentecostal fulness in such a way that we can be the instrument of mercy to Israel in God’s hands. Through the prophetic and apostolic word, the responsibility for Israel has been given to us, and at the same time also for the breakthrough of the Kingdom of Peace. In a ‘Peniel’ struggle to receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit, we should have continued along the lines of Paul’s ministry, as is indicated so clearly in Romans 11:13-14: “I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.”

Paul worked with his back turned to Jerusalem, going further and further into the Gentile world. But his heart stayed with Jerusalem, because God’s heart stays with Jerusalem. Therefore, time and again, it was the crown of his work to be able to stand in the power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that the Gentiles were brought to obedience to Israel’s Messiah, so that, by their new lives—full of God’s Spirit—some Israelites would be provoked to jealousy. In this roundabout way, Paul served Jerusalem again and, actually, Jerusalem first of all. This apostle witnessed in word and deed, through the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit (Romans 15:18-19). Provoking people to jealousy, convicting them through the Word and the Spirit excludes all use of might and power (Zechariah 4:6).

Paul knew that what he experienced in his day with a limited number of people would reach a worldwide scale when God will fulfil the Mosaic promises concerning the Gentile world in relation to Israel (Deuteronomy 32:21, Romans 11:25).

Whenever Gentile Christians depart from this apostolic vision and attitude, sooner or later, life in their community will degenerate. For ‘what God has joined together, let man not separate’ is also relevant here. Denial of our responsibility towards Israel, this sinful isolation, turns churches into crumbling and scattered stones.

There is a direct connection between Gentile-Christian conceit and ignorance regarding the mystery of Israel’s future.

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in” (Romans 11:25 [nkjv]).

In the first place, God is no longer fully acknowledged when one forgets that human unfaithfulness will never undo His faithfulness. Ignoring His faithfulness and His important plans with Israel is a slur on God’s name Yahweh: I am Who I am. Not for one second has God abandoned of Israel. Even His coming to the Gentiles is, according to Paul’s letter to the Romans, an expression of His fidelity to Israel, for now, we are also included in God’s plan for His own people.

We must be well aware that ‘the failure to acknowledge God’ always brings about a depraved way of thinking (Romans 1:28-32).

Lest you be wise in your own sight, brothers in Rome, I want you to understand the ‘mystery of Israel’, and you must know that Israel’s hardening is only temporary. If you forget this, then you are no longer aware that Gentile Christianity is engaged in a sort of relay race and soon will have to hand over the torch of faith to Israel. If you forget your own interim character as proclaimers of the good news, then your congregation, your church, will become more and more an end in itself. Then your institution will be identified more and more with the kingdom of God and the consequences of your conceit will be endless. (…) Then, before all else, interests will have to be protected. Then every denomination will fall to a spirit of infallibility, to a desire of monopoly and tyranny, and consequently God’s Spirit will be immensely grieved.

When Jerusalem is forgotten, every ecclesiastical denomination receives its own ‘Rome’; and every Rome its own ‘Pope’; and all the popes together will then look for an ecumenical mask to camouflage their apostasy from Jesus to deceive the people with a false unity. This is the root cause of the fact that the one and only undivided altar of Pentecost has fallen apart (Acts 4:32-33). If only this destruction had remained within the ‘church’; however, here we also touch the root cause of the fact that whole nations have gone astray politically.

When ‘Caiaphas’ — representing ecclesiastical authority of the Jew as well as the Gentile—commits treason, then ‘Pilate’—representing secular authority—doesn’t see the truth anymore either, the ‘soldiers’ start battering, and ‘Pilate’ says: Ecce Homo: Behold the Man.

This is a miniature picture of world history. (…)

The apostle John has to write down “what must soon take place”. This first of all concerns the people of Israel, who are and remain God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), and certainly not humanity in general, as Paul teaches us concerning the coming restoration of Israel (Romans 11:29), “for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable”. In every aspect, Israel remains representative for all humanity.

How could the Apocalypse skip over God’s actions with the vanguard of humanity—Israel—or forget to mention that Israel symbolically depicts history within history?

How could the Revelation, given by God Himself to Jesus—Revelation 1:1—ignore the statements of our Saviour over land and people and especially over Jerusalem and the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles, statements in which the last days were characterised and described in broad outline? The same could be said of the conversations He had with His disciples concerning the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, just before His ascension (Acts 1).

Still, the Apocalypse completely agrees with the words of Luke 21:22-24 and similar passages. Because He was rejected as the Lamb of God, God’s Paschal Lamb, He has the right, as the King of Israel (Acts 2:36, 40), to chastise His disobedient people with an inverse Passover, according to what is written in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26. As Israel acted on behalf of all humanity, we do all share in this guilt and each one of us could be held responsible for the death of Jesus. Nobody can reproach Israel from out of his own piety or goodness, and we must realise that every form of anti-Semitism is from the pit of hell.

However, as far as the things of God are concerned, Israel stands in the frontline. They are a chosen people and they have a very particular calling, for which we, as Gentiles, must have a deep respect, even if Israel temporarily stumbles. Likewise, we must begin to understand that the Apocalypse is first of all about God’s dealings with Israel, and only after that about the nations and their way to the end of the age. (…)

Because of Israel’s stumbling in their position as the vanguard of humanity, world history was pulled out of joint and everything is rushing in the direction of the abyss. And yet, the Apocalypse gives us the firm assurance of a mighty turn in the fate of the nations. There shall come an interruption, a saving intermezzo, before the great and terrible Day of the Lord. (…)

How will we declare this to Israel—we, Christians taken from the Gentiles, who are so greatly indebted to Israel. We have every reason to do penance and to ask for forgiveness from Israel and the God of Israel.

And yet, the great ‘Joseph’, Jesus of Nazareth, intends to address His own people through us.

How did Joseph address his brothers?

His accusation about the theft of the cup of prophecy, this symbolic accusation regarding the denial of his prophetic office, was packed in grain, shrouded in the deed of love, in aid.[41]

In the same way, we should surround Israel in the coming hour of need with the Word and the sacrament of the Cross, and with deeds which are born in the love of Christ. In that way, Israel will accept the true blood of reconciliation and thereby be accepted and used by God as crown witnesses of the Lamb for all peoples.[42]

IN REALITY

The address

In order to present the message which God gave to Rev. Leenhouts in 1948, we now direct ourselves to the address which he pointed out to us and which, according to his conviction, is intended by the Lord, namely the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt.

In newsletters to the congregation which came into being around his ministry, he wrote, among others, about the prominent role which Egypt has played throughout salvation history[43] and how the entire message ultimately would have to be presented to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. He mentions that the first contact with this church was established, and that the first exchanges took place in an open atmosphere. Additionally, the mutual wish was expressed to remain in contact with each other in order to discuss the things of God’s kingdom.[44]

About the role of Egypt in the history of salvation in relation to Israel, Leenhouts says the following in a newsletter:

“It was in Egypt that the dreams of Joseph were fulfilled in an amazing way. He was made governor over all of Egypt, and Pharaoh said of him: ‘I am Pharaoh, but without your word no man will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.’ Pharaoh gave him his signet ring, clothed him in robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck, and when Joseph rode through the land in his chariot, they cried out before him: ‘Worship!’ (cf. Genesis 41:42-44).

So Joseph ended up in a position from where he could save the people of Egypt, but also his own people and family from starvation. In those days, Egypt became the means of rescue and preservation for the descendants of Jacob.

Later, in the days when Herod ordered all the little boys in Bethlehem to be killed, the great Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ, would receive a place of refuge in Egypt. Thus it was fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matthew 2:15, Hosea 11:1).

As introduction to this newsletter, Leenhouts used the text:

“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’” (Isaiah 19:23-25).

Then Leenhouts continues:

Here, the prophet Isaiah paints a picture of a situation in the distant future, namely the era of the Messianic Kingdom of Peace. Once again, we clearly see that Egypt will play a prominent role, so much so that Isaiah records the following words of the Lord: “Blessed be Egypt my people.”[45]

Why the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt?

The evangelist Mark visited Alexandria in Egypt for the first time in the year 43 ad. During his stay there, he preached the Gospel. At a later date, in 61 ad, he found there a flourishing Christian community and he appointed a bishop, twelve priests and seven deacons. In this way, the Coptic Orthodox Church was born. (The word ‘Copt’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Aigyptos’ [Egypt], in Arabic ‘Qibt’, which led to the English word‘Copt’).

In the year 68 ad, Mark died a martyr’s death.[46]

The evangelist Mark played a very important role during the time of Jesus’ life on earth as well as in the days of the apostles. According to Acts 12:11-12, a close bond existed between Peter and Mark. Peter even calls Mark his ‘son’ (1 Peter 5:13). Furthermore, in Acts 13 and 15, John Mark is mentioned as helper of Paul and Barnabas. Paul too had a strong bond with Mark, judging by his desire to see him during his imprisonment (2 Timothy 4:11).

The most remarkable thing, however, is what Mark did in connection with the institution of the Lord’s Supper in Jerusalem.

According to K. Schilder in his book ‘Christus aan de ingang van zijn lijden’ (Christ in His Suffering), a very old tradition, which is regarded as authentic by many respectable scholars, tells us that the house in which the Saviour celebrated the Passover belonged to Mary, the mother of John Mark. If his father had already passed away, he would have acted as the master of the house.

Schilder mentions several reasons for this, one of them being the fact that according to Acts 12, John Mark’s mother possessed indeed a large house and made this available to the Christian community in Jerusalem as a meeting place after Pentecost. He notes that Mary—in contrast with the first members of the small Christian church who sold all their goods—did not sell her beautiful home. “If we accept”—so Schilder—“in addition, that the house of Mary is referred to in Acts 4 as well in Acts 12, the associations become even more significant. Then the place where Christ ate the last Passover, and from where He sent the command to eat and drink out over the whole world is the very same which was shaken by a miraculous power that day after the prayer of the congregation (Acts 4:31). Then God Himself by that force pointed to it as a place of holiness, as the connecting link between the remnant of the Old Covenant which killed the Passover Lamb there, and the communion of the New Testament, which introduced the communal feast and the breaking of bread.”[47]

Leenhouts continues:

If we assume that it was indeed Mark’s house where Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples and where he instituted the Lord’s Supper, then it is also the place where He held His impressive ‘after-dinner speech’, which had the character of a ‘Throne speech’.

It was there that He said: “And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Luke 22:29-30). It was there, also, that He also pronounced the High-priestly prayer, in which He said: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21).

It was there that He pronounced His ecumenical command: “Take this and divide it among you” (Luke 22:17).

It was there that He spoke the words: “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20).

It was there, too, that He gave directions for the right attitude we are to have to each another: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:25-26). He Himself demonstrated this when he washed the feet of the disciples (John 13:1-17).

When, some years ago, my attention was drawn to the ‘address’ which God had determined for the message which He gave me in 1948, especially concerning the restoration of the one united Table of the Lord’s Supper, I had not yet immersed myself in the deeper background of this issue. However, now I understand why this message has to be presented to the Coptic Church of Egypt first of all.

If it was indeed the evangelist Mark who offered his house to Jesus as the place where Jesus would institute the Lord’s Supper—and I believe this to be the case—then the Most High has not forgotten this act of faith! Making your house available to Jesus in Jerusalem, which was very hostile in those days, was an act of the highest bravery and witnessed to a ‘hospitality’ which far surpassed the well-known eastern hospitality. It was an act of faith and utmost devotion to Jesus and His mission.

Doesn’t it speak for itself that, for the restoration of the Lord’s Supper—and with it His mystical body—He once again points to ‘the house of Mark’? In fact, the Coptic Christians are the ‘house of Mark’, figuratively speaking, for they are the descendants of the first congregation of Christians, founded by the evangelist Mark himself in Alexandria. I certainly accept that this church also belongs to the stones of the broken altar of Pentecost, yet this church is the ‘address’ indicated by the Lord to which this message in its entirety must be presented in the first place—of course with copies to the other churches.[48]

These ‘other churches’ are first of all those churches and movements to whom the messages which Rev. Leenhouts received in 1948 were destined. Therefore, besides the presentation to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt, this message will also be presented to the Jewish religious authorities and the Christian Churches concerned, as well as to religious fellowships which represent the majority of the Christians in the Netherlands.

CUP AND GRAIN

To enable the Jewish people to fulfil its God-ordained Messianic office, Israel’s holy status among the nations needs to concur with the status Levi had among the other tribes. Hence, the Jews will have to be exempted from duties preventing them from devoting themselves to this ministry.

Driven by the Spirit of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed a ‘Year of the Lord’s Favour’ with the words:

“…the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion
to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendour.

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.

Aliens will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.

And you will be called priests of the Lord,
you will be named ministers of our God.

You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast. (…)

Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the Lord has blessed”

(Isaiah 61:2-6, 9).

This prophecy of Isaiah is in principle fulfilled in Jesus (Luke 4:18-21) and will receive its more specific fulfilment at the dawning of ‘the Year of the Lord’s Favour’, the Messianic kingdom of peace for all nations.

Our only God-given basis to fulfil our calling vis-à-vis Israel as a nation of priests of the Messianic time of redemption is Jesus of Nazareth, the Prince of Peace, who, as the Lamb of God, takes away the sin of the world by His blood[49] and who, according to John 11:52, has also died to gather together the scattered children of God.

By way of a sign, a small group of believers in the Netherlands and Switzerland held for a number of years special celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, making a start with the Christians’ assignment to exempt the chosen people from duties other than those needed for their ordained ministry as priests.

They started this initiative in response to Rev. Leenhouts’ proposal in his book ‘A Passover for Yahweh’, a proposal which he repeated many times in his sermons, by way of appeal to the whole of Christianity:

‘…not that a date in itself has any intrinsic value in God’s Kingdom, but for the sake of the sign’s clarity, I make the following proposal to all who still believe in Jesus Christ as He was revealed to us by the prophets and apostles:

Celebrate city after city, village after village, district after district, the Lord’s Supper on the first Friday evening of the month.

Start to prepare the way for this.

Let it be a ‘Peniel wrestling’.

Believe that the breaking of His body on Golgotha has power to heal His mystical body, the Church, even today.

Believe in the power of His blood, and call on the power of His blood together, in order that the dark, satanic powers, which sustain both false unity and guilty division, may be broken.

Overcome the devil and the antichrist by the blood of the Lamb!

Expect the restoration of the true altar of Pentecost worldwide.

Expect the fire of the Spirit to fall on this restoration!

Pray in the same spirit as the first church in Acts 4:24-30 and the restored community will be filled with the Holy Spirit so that now, too, they will proclaim the Word of God with great boldness.’[50]

We must stress that this concerned a ‘sign’, as in the case of Jeremiah, when he had to purchase a field as a sign from God that after the exile, once more houses, fields and vineyards would be bought in the land (Jeremiah 32:15).

During these services, the Lord’s Supper was celebrated along the guidelines of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:26:

“For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, ‘you proclaim the Lord’s death’ until he comes.”

This testimony was accompanied by our task of mercy towards the Jewish people. The offerings donated at these celebrations were gathered in the ‘Cup and Grain’ fund that had been established specifically for this purpose. One-half was to be spent for the testimony to the Jewish people and the other half for charity to these people (symbolically named: the ‘grain portion’).

The ‘Cup and Grain Fund’ is named after the Joseph story, in which Joseph combined his accusation of the theft of the ‘cup of prophecy’ with the mercy of the sacks of grain.

In 1969, on 2nd Pesach/Good Friday, the ‘grain portion’ of the thus-far gathered funds, was presented to Israel as a ‘first-fruits’ gift with the unfolding of a proclamation at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem explaining the significance of this gift. The proclamation reads as follows:

proclamation

In the year 1948, God raised up a prophet in the Netherlands. The messages which he received brought a disclosure of the penultimate mystery of Revelation 10 and refer to Israel’s future. The preaching of this prophet called by God has caused us, Dutch and Swiss Christians, to pay attention to the biblical promises for Israel and particularly to the words of Exodus 19:6:

You will be for Me a Kingdom of Priests
and a Holy Nation

Comparing these words with Isaiah 61, this means nothing else but Israel’s messianic destiny in the future

Messianic Kingdom of Peace for all Nations

According to Isaiah 61, the holy status of the people of Israel among the nations will resemble the status which Levi had among the other tribes. His tribe was exempted from every duty in order to fulfil its priestly task. The Levites were not allowed to possess their own territory in a legal sense; they did not need to maintain their own economy; for the Lord was their “inheritance” (Numbers 18:20), and yet, the priests and Levites had the right to dwell in the Promised Land. This structure was made possible because the whole nation owed gratitude to God for delivering them out of Egypt through the blood of the Paschal Lamb. Now the question arises: What motive may the nations of the world ever find to have Israel live on their wealth (eat their riches), according to Isaiah 61:5,6 [nkjv], so that Israel may function as a kingdom of priests?

Through God’s mercy, we have discovered the meaning of the Blood of the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world:

Jesus of Nazareth, the Prince of Peace
and we have become aware that this is the only basis, given by God, by which we can fulfil our calling towards Israel as the priestly nation of the Messianic Age.

We are now making a start with the offering of our ‘ransom’ for Israel’s exemption from worldly duties to serve in their priestly office in the coming Kingdom of God and we believe we must do so, in spite of the fact that up until today, Israel has rejected Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. For the stumbling of Levi never absolved the other tribes from the duty of redemption. Thus for us, Christians, the words of our Master remain unassailable: “…salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), and so the responsibility for the chosen people remains ours (Romans 11:31).

As a small group of believers, we gathered an amount of f14,000 for the ‘Cup and Grain Fund’ at our special meetings in which we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Our purpose was to use half of it for the witness to the people of God, and to present the other half to Israel as a ‘sheaf of the first fruits’. We realise very well that the small amount of f7,000 only has a symbolic value; but this was the same with Jeremiah’s field (Jer. 32:15). And although, in a document of this sort, we can only mention a few aspects of the many things that have become clear to us and that have moved us to make this offer, we believe unconditionally that God has shown us the way along which His plan for Israel and for the world will be fulfilled.

The Board of the Testimony and Unity Foundation in Amsterdam signs this document in the name of participating believers. The Board declares that the amount mentioned in the proclamation will be transferred as soon as the notice of acceptance from the responsible body for Israel has reached the Secretary of the Foundation.

Amsterdam, signed on January 26, 1969

Jerusalem, intended date of presentation April 4th, 1969, 2nd Pesach/Good Friday (Leviticus 23:11).

Furthermore, a personal report of the above-mentioned events was given to the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Israel and in writing to the Government and people of Israel, by means of an Open Letter, also dated April 4th, 1969, the second day of Pesach or Good Friday:

Open Letter to the Government and People of Israel

Most honourable Members of the Government of Israel,

Honourable People of Israel,

You are certainly aware of the fact that the notion of state cannot be compared with the high status to which God has called you, namely to be a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation among the nations (Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:5-6). To function merely as a State among the other nations amounts to ‘being like all the other nations’ (1 Samuel 8:20). Functioning as a Kingdom of Priests, however, presupposes a state of holiness, of being set apart for the service of God, just as the tribe of Levi was set apart from the other tribes in order to serve God.

The situation in which you now find yourselves draws East and West together like a magnet, in sharp contrast to one another, and since you are called God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22) in God’s Word and therefore considered representative for all nations, a position of ‘to be or not to be’ for your nation irrevocably entails a border situation for all humanity. Thus the fulfilment of God’s promise regarding your status in the Messianic Age becomes an absolute condition for the survival of all of mankind. After all, a political solution can only emanate from a religious one. This is the forgotten dimension in all diplomatic proposals for peace in the Middle East and for world peace in general. Therefore, every political scheme in which God’s election of Israel is ignored, is in fact a request addressed to the Eternal One to come with that curse about which Malachi spoke through the Holy Spirit (Malachi 4:6). In the meantime, the heavens remain like brass and not a drop of ‘shalom’ falls on this thirsty earth. The first-fruits of this need are already tangibly present. The full harvest of this misery will also come, namely the absolute deadlock of the life of the nations.

But however much the Jew or the Christian may sense the urgent need of a fulfilment of the divine promises regarding Israel’s status as a Kingdom of Priests, each and everybody realises that such an action of fulfilment goes far beyond human capacity and will therefore require a divine intervention of such intensity and extent that we have to return to Moses and the Exodus and to Elijah and the Carmel judgment in order to find words that can express our expectations. But sacred history does give many examples concerning the fulfilment of divine promises and of the congregation accepting in faith a

Divine Judgment

Was the celebration of the Passover in itself not an abandoning of oneself to the judgment of God? Was the Carmel judgment not a judgment of God and would this judgment ever have taken place if the people had reacted negatively to Elijah’s proposal? (1Kings 18:24)

Is the God of Elijah dead?

As truly as God lives—I ask of you, Israel, in His Name—by virtue of a divine calling which came to me in 1948, to say “yes” to the invitation to accept a judgment of God in order to reach a religious solution. There are only two possibilities: either a Messiah who has nothing to do with Jesus of Nazareth will intervene in such a way that you will be dragged out of your religious and political twilight and receive heavenly authority for the official status of Kingdom of Priests, with all the accompanying consequences for the Gentile nations (Isaiah 61:5-6),—or else, this high Status will be granted to you by Him Who, as the Christians believe together with the apostle Paul, “ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10 [nkjv]). The fulfilment of Isaiah 61:5-6 also belongs to this.

Well then, Israel, agree to a ‘competition of the altars’ (1 Kings 18) in front of the whole world. Build your Jewish national ‘altar’—in whatever way you see it—but build it in confrontation with another altar and in complete openness to a verdict from the Lord. God will certainly answer. For the outcome of history also counts as a verdict of the Lord (Psalm 105:19). Then opposite your ‘altar’, another ‘altar’ will be built by the ‘word and the spirit’ of Jesus Christ, on the basis of His blood, the blood of reconciliation. This altar will be built out of love for you, because the desire of those who are helping wholeheartedly to build it is that you attain the holy status of a Kingdom of Priests in the coming Kingdom of God.

On the second day of Pesach, i.e. Good Friday, a Proclamation was ‘waved’ at the Wailing Wall as a first-fruits gift to the God of Israel. In the enclosed text of this Proclamation, you will find a miniature model of that which was set in motion through a prophetic message in the Netherlands and Switzerland under divine confirmation by means of very great signs and miracles. And what God has started on a small scale, He will bring to its fruition on a worldwide scale.

I will gladly discuss with you what the spiritual background of this proposal is, what mysteries were revealed, how a ‘competition of the altars’ can be implemented in practice, which aspects will be opened, how many delicate and difficult points can be touched upon—in short, all possible questions that may arise with this proposal.

I will end by pointing out to you that, at the present time, no priestly hands could be found capable of accepting this first-fruits offering from the Gentile world in the same spirit in which it was given by the believers. Sincerity bids us to hold the offering in reserve for you until these hands are available. But should your official bodies decide now or later to investigate thoroughly the motives of this proposal, then the believers who have offered this first-fruits gift will certainly be willing to contribute to the costs of an investigation with the above-mentioned funds.

With sincere greetings and a prayer in my heart for the peace of Jerusalem,

Signed by A.A. Leenhouts

In February 1970, on the Feast of Aïd El Kebir, the Feast of Sacrifice of Israel’s brother nation, the Arabs, Rev. Leenhouts took the prophetic word to King Hassan II of Morocco, and spoke with the chancellor and a group of professors at the University of Fes and sent an Open Letter to all the Arab countries via their embassies there.

It falls outside the scope of this writing to treat the additional salient moments from his prophetic ministry and the particular road he had to travel because of his calling in a more in-depth way.

IN CONCLUSION

By way of conclusion, we will cite the words of Leenhouts, as he outlines Israel’s glorious future—and also the future for all of humanity—once the chosen people will have come to their Messianic destination:[51]

When—in the acceptable year of the Lord—Israel will be raised up by God to be the crown witness of the Lamb for all nations, Joseph’s dream will receive a more profound fulfilment. For then, it will become evident how the patriarchs and their descendants are indeed ‘stars’, planted by the Most High, in the firmament of world history. They are stars, who determine and decide the destiny of the nations. They will not do that in their own authority, but because they receive their light from the central ‘Star’, the one risen from their midst: Jesus Christ, the bright Morning Star.

Bowing down before the central Star, they will give light and determine the destiny of the world. For it will become clear that the patriarchs and their descendants are indeed sheaves on the field of the world, meant for nourishment of the nations who hunger for true peace and reconciliation.

They will be sheaves and nourishment, but only when they bow down to the central ‘Sheaf’, Jesus Christ, who, in His expiatory death, is nourishment for the world: the bread of life.

What shall their acceptance be but life from the dead?

Passover (Pesach)—the angel of death passing by: “… lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” (Malachi 4:6 [nkjv]).

Pentecost (Shavuot)—a harvest of nations will be brought in (Amos 9:11-15; John 4:35-36; Acts 15:16-18).

The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) —“… for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9).

“For from Him and through Him and to him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:36).

[1]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Een Pascha voor Jahwe”, pg. 5-8, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, (no date)

[2]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Wedstrijd der altaren”, pg. 10, 11, Primo Vere bv, The Hague, 1981; “Competition of the Altars”, pg. 11, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, 1984

[3]  See: Shofar series, volume 3: “Joseph’s Cup”, chapter 3

[4]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Wedstrijd der altaren”, pg. 153, 154, Primo Vere bv, The Hague, 1981; “Competition of the Altars”, pg. 150, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, 1984

[5]  See: Shofar series, volume 3: “Joseph’s Cup”

[6]  See: Shofar Series, volume 4, “The Fulness of the Gentiles”

[7]  See: Shofar Series, volume 2, “The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse”

[8]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Een Pascha voor Jahwe”, pg. 10-14 and 252, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, (no date)

[9]  In Christian eschatology, the intermediate state or interim state refers to a person’s ‘intermediate’ existence between one’s death and the universal resurrection.

[10]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Een Pascha voor Jahwe”, pg. 8-10, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, (no date)

A.A. Leenhouts: “Mijn wraak is barmhartig”, pg. 38-41, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, 1971

[11]  The contents under the heading: “Context and juncture in which the messages were given” was put in writing by A.A. Leenhouts in July 2000

[12]  C. van der Waal: “Antithese of synthese?”, pg. 29-34, J. Boersma, Enschede, 1951

[13]  J.A.E. Vermaat: “Kerk en tegenkerk”:, p. 24, Buijten & Schipperheijn, Amsterdam, 1972

–“Reeds in het begin van de twintigste eeuw gingen er stemmen op om de verdeeldheid binnen de kerken te overbruggen. (…) Vooral op de zendingsvelden ondervond men veel moeilijkheden van de kerkelijke geloofsverschillen, hetgeen begrijpelijk is, daar een verdeeld christendom geen eenparig getuigenis kan geven.

Veel pogingen om te komen tot meer eenheid liepen op niets uit, maar toen in 1925 de Zweedse aartsbisschop van Uppsala, Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931), een interkerkelijke conferentie organiseerde, leek de basis voor toenadering gelegd. De conferentie had als thema “Life and Work” en streefde naar vernieuwing in de zending en sociaal kerkelijk werk. Het was de eerste grote oecumenische kerkvergadering van protestantse ambtsdragers. Söderblom staat dus aan het begin van de oecumenische beweging, van welke hij ook wel de vader wordt genoemd.

Toch, hoe schoon zijn bedoelingen en edel zijn karakter ook geweest mogen zijn, was hij dezelfde leer toegedaan als het vrijzinnig protestantisme. Hij nam het standpunt in van zijn vriend, Adolf von Harnack: “Het is waar, wonderen gebeuren niet; maar aan het wonderbare en onverklaarbare ontbreekt het niet… Dat een ezel gesproken heeft, dat een dode werd opgewekt, dat een storm werd gestild door een enkel woord, dat geloven wij niet, en dat zullen wij nooit weer geloven.”–

[14]  Translated from Dutch

[15]  Dr. D. Hedegård: “De oecumenische beweging en de bijbel”, pg. 149, 150, Internationale Raad van Christelijke Kerken, Amsterdam, 1959

[16]  J.A.E. Vermaat: “Kerk en tegenkerk”, pg. 24, Buijten & Schipperheijn, Amsterdam, 1972

[17]  J.A. Zeilstra: “Van evidente betekenis” in: “50 jaar Wereldraad van Kerken – monument van eenheid?”, pg. 35, Documentatieblad voor de Nederlandse Kerkgeschiedenis na 1800, mei 1998, jaargang 21, nr. 48

–“Vrijzinnigen hadden grote moeite met de basisformule. (…) De Amsterdamse vrijzinnige Lutherse hoogleraar C.W. Mönnich wierp de vraag op of vrijzinnigen wel mee konden doen op basis van deze grondslag. (…)

Door Christus zo te noemen heeft men, zo vond Mönnich, naar de in de oudheid gangbare begrippen Gods heilssoevereiniteit kunnen en willen belijden. Daar was niets mis mee, als aspect van de verlossing, maar het was volgens hem niet het een en al van het christelijk geloofsbezit. Zo werd de formule voor de twintigste eeuw onbegrijpelijk. Maar Mönnich vond niet dat vrijzinnigen zich vanwege de formule moesten laten weerhouden van het con amore meewerken in de Wereldraad. Zo’n formule kon geen gewetensconflict betekenen omdat zij geen belijdenis was, maar ‘een stichtelijkheid’ of een ongelukkig uitgevallen theologische formule.”–

[18]  Translated from Dutch

[19]  Karl Barth in his speech at the plenary session of the congress of the World Council of Churches concerning the subject of section IV: “De menselijke verwarring en Gods heilsplan”, trouw, August 25, 1948

[20]  Dr. D. Hedegård: “De oecumenische beweging en de bijbel”, pg. 197-201, International Council of Christian Churches, Amsterdam, 1959

[21]  Gerhard Besier: “Nationaler Protestantismus und Ökumenische Bewegung”, pg. 325, 326, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1999

[22]  nrc, 15 May 1948: “De Joodse Staat Israël uitgeroepen”, and “Israël moet nu op drie fronten strijden”; Het Parool, 18 May 1948: “Legers der Arabische landen rukken op in Palestina”

[23]  nrc, 29 May 1948: “De Joden in het oude Jeruzalem capituleren”

[24]  trouw, 23 August 1948: “Drie wereldmachten tegenover elkaar op Potzdammer Platz” and Dr. Mott in: “Wereldraad van Kerken opent Congres”; Foster Dulles en Prof. Hromodka: “Overwin eerst de oorzaken die tot oorlog leiden”, trouw, 25 August 1948

[25]  Politische Paperbacks: “Das geteilte Deutschland”, p. 34, W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1965; nrc, 2 July 1948: “Achtergrond van de nieuwe moeilijkheden te Berlijn”.

[26]  trouw, 22 November 1948: “Tsjang: Alles of niets”; trouw, 15 December 1948: “V.S. niet bereid China uit moeras van communisme te helpen”.

[27]  Shofar series, volume 4: “The fulness of the Gentiles”

[28]  Shofar series, volume 2: “The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse”,
chapter 6

[29]  H.J. Schilder was ordained to the ministry in Noordeloos and barred from the office by the synod on 2 June 1944

[30]  R. Kuiper: “Vuur en vlam”, pg. 11-13, Buijten & Schipperheijn, Amsterdam, no date

[31]   This section forms part of the doctrinal pronouncements of Synod 1942

[32]   This is a quotation from the Form for the Baptism of Infants

[33]  This sentence is part of the decision of Synod 1905

[34]  Candidates for the ministry were confronted with the synodical pronouncement before they were admitted to the ministry, serving ministers during their ministry

[35]  “The Liberation: Causes and Consequenses”, pg. 149, 151, edited by C. van Dam, Winnipeg, Premier Publishing, 1995

[36]  R. Kuiper: “Vuur en vlam”, pg. 14, Buijten & Schipperheijn, Amsterdam, no date

[37]  This subject is fully explained in the Shofar series

[38]  Hervormd Enschede, number 329, 25 June 1948

[39]  Italics mine, A.A.L.

[40]  The contents of the following paragraphs were taken from “The battle for Jerusalem”, a speech A.A. Leenhouts held at the end of the Sixties and which he recorded on a gramophone record bearing the same title

[41]  See: Shofar series, volume 3: “The Cup of Joseph”

[42]  A.A. Leenhouts: “The Battle for Jerusalem”, (gramophone record), Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, 1967

[43]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Christmas Letter”, 1996

[44]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Supplement to Easter Letter”, 1997

[45]  More about the role of Egypt in the history of salvation can be found in the third volume of the Shofar series: “Joseph’s Cup”

[46]  Marcus, monk of the Deir Anba Bishoy monastery in the desert of Nitria, bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in France: Introduction to the Coptic Orthodox Church, pg. 4-5, Publication of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the Netherlands

[47]  K. Schilder: “Christ in His Suffering”, pg. 154-157, Klock and Klock Christian Publishers, Minneapolis, Minnesota, usa, 1978 reprint

[48]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Newsletter”, April 1997

[49]  Taken from the Proclamation presented by A.A. Leenhouts at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on April 4, 1969

[50]  A.A. Leenhouts: “Een Pascha voor Jahwe”, pg. 251, 252, Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, no date

[51]  A.A. Leenhouts: “The Battle for Jerusalem”, (gramophone record), Testimony and Unity Foundation, The Hague, 1967