FORENSIC INVESTIGATION OF SCRIPTURES

Some 5 plus years ago, during the year of the covid lockdown, I started a project to do a comprehensive study of the Bible. As is common with most people who have limited Bible knowledge, I read the Scriptures as I would read a travel journal, without looking for anything more than following the storyline.  It was only when I realised that I was not seeing the bigger picture that I revised my program to a higher level of understanding, by listening to selected sermons by trusted pastors, and by tuning-in to Bible study sessions. This enhanced my knowledge of the past events, and gave me the drive to understand more. That was when I was introduced to Bible Prophecy, and my whole world turned upside down.

As a trained auditor, having experience of ‘forensic investigations’, but mostly in the financial business market, this experience has provided me with the ability to verify and validate information, statements, documentation and projections about the activity of such entities, and projecting into the future. Applying similar principles against the information that we find in the Scriptures, can be a real and valid motivation for a true understanding of the many prophecies that are recorded throughout the Bible. In any forensic analysis, one looks at the program in place, and the result that is anticipated, validating that the steps taken, meet the criteria laid down. This will provide the investigator with the truth and authenticity of these projections and give credence to the ‘Person’ that designed the package.

An intense study of Scriptures, on this basis, will also authenticate the design that God has laid down for the salvation of His followers of the Word. One does not have to be a ‘rocket scientist’ to understand this fact. One simply has to follow the instruction sheet, obey the rules, and apply oneself rigorously to the task, and with passion. It is the passion part that is so vital and important. It is not about ‘reinventing the wheel’. It is about listening to the advice from someone who has much more knowledge than you have. The key to achieving the goal, is by adhering to the proven steps that have been laid down.

The most noticeable theme throughout the Bible, is God’s never ending task of bringing His people back onto the right path. As mentioned in other articles, nearly 30% of the Bible contains prophetic passages, and a large portion of them applied to times that have already passed. Every prophecy has been fulfilled, exactly as predicted. I cover a number of these events in great detail, throughout these articles. As mentioned many times, prophecy is the ‘corner-stone’ to authenticate the truth of Scriptures.

So, some years back, my studying of the Bible switched further over towards an intense study of Bible Prophecy in order to clarify in my earthly governed mind, without any doubt, that the Bible was NOT just an historical record of mankind’s activities spread across the world. As a result, my initial approach to my studies changed, after which, so many events took on a totally new meaning for me. The prophecies in the Bible about future events, not yet taken place, can be seen as a pleading for everyone to “Wake-Up” and take note of the plan that God has for mankind. Throughout the Bible, covering a period of about 6,000 years, it portrays God’s constant plea for man to change his ways. It portrays God’s never-ending love for those who believe in Him though Jesus Christ, His Son. His offer is the free gift of everlasting, abundant life with Him, His Son and all His children (Fellow Believers). It is a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.  

The final message is very clear. It is a message of hope, redemption and salvation, which can either be accepted, or rejected with consequences. The Bible clearly identifies these ‘consequences’. These will be explained, examined and clarified in future articles. It also offers the mechanism to follow the correct path. It is an investment for your future, a safe-guard against ‘falling away’ from the planned destination, available in the after-life. Life on this planet is just a tiny blip in one’s journey. God’s plan for the lifestyle of Believers, is an ‘Open Book’, available for all to follow. It just needs Trust and Obedience to His Word.

30/05/2025.

HEAVEN ON EARTH  -  A MARKETING PROJECT

We are apt to talk about ‘Heaven on Earth’ when we visit a place we truly love, and a place that we find difficult to leave. It could be when we go on holiday to a special area, or we visit family or friends that live in a beautiful part of the world. We often wish that we could stay a little longer. It may be due to the beauty we see, the tranquillity that we find, or the pleasures and camaraderie that we experience in such a place. We invariably talk about coming to that place again.

But what if one could find a place like that and stay forever.

I know of such a place, where our future destiny can be all of the above. We call that place Heaven.

But many of us just only consider that place to be somewhere high above us, and in an unknown place situated in an area that is difficult for us to visualise. It is especially difficult for those who cannot perceive any association to any type of spiritual world. I am referring to those who are grounded only on earthly things, without any knowledge of the spiritual environment that surrounds us.

Then there are those who deliberately shy away from these thoughts.

For over 40 years, I have been in the marketing game, running my own business, with my wife as my trusted partner. We have travelled far and wide over much of South Africa, marketing and distributing products that have been in demand by many, but also, supplying to many others who were unaware of these lines. I have always marketed products that are needed by people across the board and not only by a select few. So we had to gain their trust and sometimes offer proof in what we were talking about.

In marketing there are many ‘Ups and Downs’ and some elements of this journey were difficult to overcome, with many obstacles in the way. Competition is one of the major issues, especially when disinformation takes on a significant role. A good marketer must be 100% aligned with their product.

Failure was never about the product. It was only about the ‘will’ of the buyer, based upon their own preferences, but often deliberately mislead by those around them.

25 years ago, I took a giant step forward in my Spiritual journey, which I have documented in some detail. I know that there are many others in this world that have gone through a similar experience, but maybe never moved forward. But I never considered that I would take on a new role to market my Spiritual Belief to others, especially taking into account my limited amount of knowledge. I was very much the average ‘Joe’ who just sat on the fence, hesitant to move forward, and quite willing to jump back onto ‘safe’ ground. We were members of a wonderful Fellowship in Wilderness, S Cape, but business took us out the area, on a regular basis. We eventually relocated, 10 years later, to Langebaan on the Cape West Coast, joined a regular Church, but with very irregular attendances, again mainly due to business commitments. 

Even so, I did start asking myself many questions and realised that I had no constructive answers. In 2020, during the covid lockdown I started an in-depth research of Scriptures, to gain more knowledge, I started recording my findings in a number of articles, just for my own sake. But there was still something missing. It was the church fellowship that we had enjoyed so much in our Southern Cape days. I had a spiritual awakening, leading us to the Langebaan Christian Fellowship on Sunday 25^th December 2022.

That led to my next giant step forward. In October 2023, I registered the ‘Wake Up South Africa’ website, and started the preparation of my articles for that website to be made available to all at a future date, when enough articles had been published. That time has come, and the site is now up and running.

It has been an exciting road, gaining a tremendous amount of knowledge for me personally, and looking forward to spreading this far and wide.  

Link to: Introduction. (………)

03/06/2025

MY WALK WITH GOD

In the years, before we moved down to the Western Cape, I felt very insecure about my relationship with God and His Word (the Bible). I knew of God, but I realise now that I actually DID NOT ‘Know’ God.

I knew that God existed somewhere and that he was a Spirit, but how it all related to me personally, was still very mystifying. My parents never gave me any Spiritual guidance throughout my formative years.

In all the years living in Gauteng, I never had the desire, to become a full-time member of a Church Body.

I was a very materialistic person during my first 60 years, and I found it impossible to communicate or even associate with someone or something that I could not see or hear or feel. To me, the only representation of God, was in Nature. I loved Nature. So, in this way I appeased my mind by this, acknowledging that there existed some sort of powerful force or entity in place that had been instrumental in what I could see, feel, and hear. For me, it was still a toss-up between Evolution (which I could understand to some degree in scientific or physical terms) and Creation (of which I had not found any way of understanding) 

Occasionally at my wife’s urging, we attended the service at some Christian churches in the area. During the years when our children were still under our care, she took them regularly to the Catholic Church in our hometown of Krugersdorp, but I often did not go with them. I felt very uncomfortable and ‘out of place’ there particularly due to the rigid rituals in place. But I had made a pledge when we married, that I would not stand in the way of our children being raised in the Catholic faith and I honoured that pledge.

A few months after we had moved down to the Village of Wilderness, in the district of George, which was in December 1998, we were invited to attend a service at a non-denominational church that had been formed by local residents and led by a small group of ‘Lay-preachers’. For the first time ever, this move gave me a real “feeling” of what it was like to belong to the Body of the Church. It also gave us the opportunity to meet many of our neighbours. We truly enjoyed these gatherings during those 10 years that we lived there.

We re-united with the Wilsons, old friends from our Gauteng days, who were now living in Knysna. Robin was an ex-auditing colleague and we discovered that Felicity was also involved with a church there, as a Lay preacher. She soon made me realise that she had a personal agenda for steering both of us closer to God. Robin was not well, suffering from many ailments. I was heavily involved with the marketing of a large range of Natural Medication at that time and was able to offer him a selection of suitable products. These products helped him immensely and we became close friends again.

In July 1999 on our way home from Plett, we stopped by their beautiful house, which was on a hill overlooking the Knysna lagoon, just to say “hello”. We were invited to stay for dinner. As was often the case, the conversation became very spiritual and after many hours of talking it all ended with Val and I being baptised as children of God, by being ‘Born Again’ and making our allegiance to Him through Jesus Christ. We were given a New Testament Bible with the Psalms and Proverbs in The Message by Eugene Peterson and encouraged to read it. This all culminated finally at about 4am the following morning.

What a night!  Looking back, at the time, it was difficult to realise what had actually transpired.

After our encounter with the Wilsons, the impact of what had transpired did not make me feel any different. The rest of that week was just back to normal, except for the following Sunday at our Fellowship service.

We had a visiting Pastor from another church, conducting our service that day. A very interesting man, with an excellent sermon. BUT, unexpectedly at the conclusion of his sermon, he invited all attendees who were ‘Born Again’ to step forward to receive a Special Blessing. This took me by surprise and Val nudged me for us to go up. Hesitantly I stepped into the line. It was a long line in a very small space, so it took a while to get to the front. As we waited in line, a very strange feeling came over me which I could not identify. It was almost like a dizzy spell. After the Blessing, sitting back in my seat, I just broke into tears. Couldn’t stop them for quite a few minutes and I felt extremely embarrassed. After the service, one of our senior lay preachers came up to me and asked me why that had happened. I told him that I couldn’t explain the reason, but I mentioned our experience earlier that week with the Wilsons and he immediately seemed to understand. Without realizing it at the time, I can only say now when I think back, that I am sure the Hand of God was on me at that moment. I had never ever had that kind of feeling before.

Over the next number of years, our business activity drew us regularly more and more down to Cape Town and up the Cape West Coast, spending much time away from home. We even had to set up a permanent residence with our caravan in a caravan park in Belleville, Cape Town, as well as renting warehousing facilities in the area. The time spent at home had been cut down to not much more than 1 week per month.

Missing our church gatherings, we eventually found a wonderful Presbyterian family church, close by in the Boston area of Bellville. Pastor Rod gave the most fantastic and enlightening sermons especially those from the Old Testament of the Bible. It was my first experience of what the Bible was all about, and I realized once again, that I ‘knew of the Bible’, but in reality, I did ‘NOT KNOW the Bible’.

Again, a very big difference.

When I left College in 1956, I was given a beautifully bound Original English version of the King James Bible with all 66 Books plus Psalms and Proverbs. That Bible had been tucked away in various cupboards during all the following years. There was a moment during that period that I tried to read some of the chapters, but I found it extremely difficult to read that King James version and to fully understand the text.    I soon gave up. But I took that Bible with me wherever we moved. We had not even made much headway with the New Testament Bible that we were given in The Message, I am ashamed to say.

In November 2008 we decided to move to Langebaan, up the West Coast. Commuting to that area from the Southern Cape was not an option anymore. We had been using the Saldanha Bay area as another interim business base for the last year and had moved our caravan permanently to that area. During that period, we also used timeshare points to stay at the Mikonos Resort many times during those years.

Unfortunately, once settled we did not find a Presbyterian church in Langebaan, so we joined the local Methodist fraternity, under the leadership of Pastor Olivia, a lovely lady preacher. We got on well with her and became very active in helping out at the church when the need arose. Unfortunately, after about 3 years, she was relocated to another area and the pastors that replaced her, were in my eyes, just not equal to Olivia’s teachings, so our attendances became less often, then eventually ceased altogether.

For the next 9 years our business activity took us regularly all over the Cape and even into Namibia, greatly interfering with the ability to have consistent attendances at any church gatherings, and our choices were also very limited. To compensate for this we embarked on a plan to read the whole Bible in one year and watch some services on TV. In 2004, my wife and I had been given a NIV ‘One Year Bible’ from our daughter, as a Christmas gift, but we had not made any concerted commitment to start a reading plan, mostly due to our hectic business travel schedule. It was only around 2012 that we decided to embark, for the very first time, on a plan to read the complete Bible over the allotted period of one year. Our plan was to try to read every day, but if we were away, we would catch up on the weekends. Well sadly to say, three and a half years after we started this plan, we eventually only managed to reach Revelations, the last Book in the Bible. That is when our reading plan came to a grinding halt. We just could not believe the words and phrases that we were reading in that last Book. We could not even make any sense of some of the words or the narrative. We found it so terrifying that we skipped out that last Book and finished up only reading the balance of the scriptures listed in the plan.

That incident had a very negative impact on my spiritual drive over the next few years. But my tremendous desire to learn more did not go away, so I started browsing through the religious channels on SATV, watching and listening to a number of programs. Many were using this media for their own financial gain. Many went overboard with their ranting, ravings and antics, but eventually I found a Presbyterian Church, based in California USA that was very similar to our church in Boston CT. But on a very much larger scale.

Unfortunately, after about a year of viewing, the senior pastor became ill and eventually passed away.  They did not initially make this known and carried on by viewing past sermons. We eventually realised this.

Further searching led us to the Shadow Mountain Church in San Diego, California under the 40year long leadership of a Baptist preacher, Dr David Jerimiah. He was a respected Preacher, ‘Bible Teacher’ and author of many books, renowned all over the world as an excellent Theologian. Every sermon was a lesson. Every part of the Bible was explained with exceptional clarity, intense honesty, and dedication, with the objective of bringing its message to the ‘world’ (all nations). I fell in love with the Book of Daniel through his teachings and for the first time began to understand the Book of Revelations. He became our Mentor and Spiritual leader. His teachings also spanned the world, his audience ran into hundreds of thousands every week. He had written more than 20 books bringing the written Word of God to many more thousands. It was only from his teachings on the Book of Revelation, that I started to appreciate the contents of those verses.

Only then did my understanding of those ‘revelations’ make sense. It also gave me a new drive to learn more and more. It was also very instrumental in knitting the Old Testament to the New Testament, giving better meaning of what those Prophets were writing about.

The linking of prophecies between the Old and New Testaments, took on a whole new dimension, greatly enhancing my level of knowledge. As I have said on many occasions in recent years, Bible Prophecy is the ‘corner-stone’ for understanding and believing the Scriptures as the True Word of God. One must never forget this fact. In this quest for full understanding, we both realised that there was a long road ahead.

That started our need to know more about Bible Prophecy and I recorded many sermons on video, and verbally on tape, which we then studied over and over. Unfortunately, due to illness and ageing, Dr Jerimiah’s teaching and preaching sessions became less frequent, but his words will never disappear.

Then out of nowhere, Gary Hamrick, a pastor in his mid-50’s from Leesburg, Virginia USA popped onto the scene. Approached by a group of local Christians 30 years back when he was a young pastor, he was commissioned for the post of senior pastor of a new church that they wanted to build. This became known as the ‘The Cornerstone Chapel’. Under his direction, the congregation grew and grew, and they also spread the Word through the internet. His teachings soon reached across the planet. Being a very charismatic, honest, and humorous character, he was delightful to listen to. We began to learn more and more from his Bible study sessions that were broadcasted on a regular basis.

Gary enthralling us with his knowledge of the Bible, his extremely effective presentation technique, and his most obvious dedication to the task of bringing God’s Word to the world. And both of his sons became active members of the teaching team. A wonderful family unit. It was another great leg-up.

My final step to enlightenment, which really only took off very recently, was my extensive research on Escatology. (the study of ‘End Times Prophecy’). It was these studies that generated the desire to unfold this element of Biblical Doctrine to everyone who does not know, or understand what the Bible actually tells us about the future of, not only mankind, but the future of the whole world as we see it today.

A huge subject and one that will fill many pages of writing. It offers us the key to how we should prepare for, and embrace the future, as seen through the Scriptures. It has become a very controversial subject, and many Preachers are not well-versed enough in this sensitive subject matter, thus not willing to preach on the subject due to lack of knowledge, and willingness to bring all the Biblical truths to their congregations.

I have referenced my writings to only those who are experts on the subject and cross-reference their teachings accordingly. The apostasy in the churches today is causing many pastors to preach only on the doctrines that the congregation wishes to hear. It is often about maintaining the financial well-being of the church that is driving a wedge between Christian church groups. It is imperative that every comment and assumption has actual and factual Biblical connectivity within the Scriptures themselves.

Satanic influences also play a massive role in this deception. These demonic activities are escalating at such a rapid rate that today’s world is being compared to ‘Those in the day’s of Noah’. The Old Testament graphically describes those days in Genesis ch.6

So, from being a very ignorant adult up till 20+ years ago, it has been a very long walk to where both of us are today. And I know that I have not reached the finish line. I feel that there is much more ground to cover.

God has a lot more on His bucket list for both of us. But I am eagerly looking forward to that challenge.

Our next desire was to find a church body that would provide us with the tools. This was our next objective.

A LAST NOTE: – The primary reason for me to record my experiences in ‘My Walk’, is to bring this to the attention of all those many people who are living a life with similar thoughts and feelings, either right now, or at some time in the past, with a need to find answers. I feel positive that many of you reading this journey, have asked many of the same questions that I have asked, over these last years. I know that I have found answers to many of them, but I am still looking for many more. But ‘The answers ARE in the Scriptures’, and one just has to look there, and find them. It is not a ‘cake-walk’, and you have to be dedicated to the task. The rewards from this knowledge will exceed all expectations.

So, I encourage all of you, especially those unsure of their own ‘Walk’, to re-look at your situation and think differently, that by the renewing your mind (that is your humanity), girding yourself up (that is your courage), trusting in your action (that is your step forward in Faith), and accepting the help on offer (by God’s Grace).

Then, instead of just looking down or around, I am asking you to look up, to find your Creator and the Truth.

The real Truths are only found through the Written Word of the Lord (the Scriptures). Humanity can play it’s role, but the end rewards come from God alone. Do not be deceived otherwise.

Centen Baxter - July 2022

EDITORS NOTE:  

My series of articles to follow, is designed to bring attention to Biblical teachings and much more.

Without this knowledge, any awareness of the ‘Future Times’ would have been severely lessened.

We must prepare for ‘The Journey’ ahead, that will take-on a totally new meaning and purpose.

Updated December’2024

Final: 25/04/2025