Checking the printed Dutch translations in 1980

Besides “The Seven Church Ages”, there were very few Dutch translations of William Branham’s sermons available when Harry first opened his home to play the tapes. The Lord spoke to Harry van der Stel to translate and print William Marrion Branham’s sermons in Dutch, although he had no experience at all of printing books. The Dutch translation work was initiated in Harry van der Stel’s home, in 1972, with the sermons about the book of Revelation. It was done by means of a simple stencil machine, whereby page by page had to be fed into the duplicator manually.

Shortly after the commencement of the translations Harry van der Stel spoke to Roy Borders, who at that time was the chairman of “Spoken Word Publications” in Jeffersonville, America. He was quite taken with the initiative of publishing William Marrion Branham’s sermons in the Dutch language and it was arranged that ten copies of every translation should be sent to him in Jeffersonville. Many of these Dutch translations have at one time or another found their way through “Spoken Word Publications” to Dutch speaking believers in Suriname.

The printing office around 1990

In 1979 our church had already been translating and printing the Message for some years. However, during Sidney Jackson’s visit that year, he gave us a list of important messages of William Branham, which he advised to be translated first. Sidney said furthermore that the prophet had told him that in those tapes the mysteries are given to the Bride. By God’s grace we translated them all and sent them out in Holland, Belgium and other Dutch speaking countries.

Samuel Suter, a pastor in Switzerland, also met Sidney Jackson in the meetings in Rotterdam during 1979 – 1981. Sidney asked him whether the tapes on that list were available in his language. On Sidney Jackson’s advice Samuel Suter started to translate those messages into the German language for the German speaking believers. In the past years our pastor Harry and the brothers in our church have reprinted many of these German books for the believers.

Around 1982, having written his memoirs, the minister Karel Hoekendijk selected a small Christian printing office, somewhere in the east part of the Netherlands, to have his book “Before I Forget” printed. At the same time, our church in Rotterdam was busy translating and printing William Branham’s sermons in Dutch. Our pastor had a desire to include some pictures and in order to do this, with our offset printing machine, the pictures had to be dithered. As we did not have the equipment to do this, an appointment was made with the very same Christian printing office which Karel Hoekendijk had chosen, about a hundred kilometers from Rotterdam.

When we came to the office, we were informed about the book “Before I Forget”, that was just being printed. One of the personnel there asked us specifically about William Branham, as she was impressed by what she had read in Karel’s book about him.

The printing of books in 2010

Karel Hoekendijk mentions in his book, that the Lord had spoken to William Branham about the revival proceeding from the Netherlands. At the time that his book “Before I Forget” was printed, we were, by God’s grace, a part of that revival fire, that was burning in other places around the world as well. We were fully involved in it, through the work that was done in our church, by spreading the Message through the ministry and by the translated books that were given out, in Holland and other countries.

The printing of covers in 2010

Meanwhile, more than four hundred of William Branham’s sermons have been translated and given out free of charge in the Dutch language. Many of these sermons have been put into the computer and can be read on our web site. Besides the translations of William Branham’s sermons, other Dutch translations have also been made, such as the two Family Altars by Timothy Dodd, the book “The Twentieth Century Prophet” by Lee Vayle and the books of Morris Ungren. There are also several tracts published in Dutch and a film made of William Branham in seven languages, including his life story. We have also donated many printers and printing machines to foreign countries, to stimulate the translation of the Message there. Finally, there are publications made in Rotterdam, for Europe and overseas, in diverse languages.

Harry and Annie van der Stel in 2012

Our pastor Harry van der Stel has worked many years in the harbour, besides taking care of the church and the publication work for the Dutch translations, while his wife Annie was continually at his side to support him. The translation work, the correction work, the print preparation, the printing and sending of the books and maintaining the web site are all done by a group of believers from our church, who sacrifice their leisure time to do this. The necessary equipment, e.g. many computers and printing machines etc., are bought by the church of Independent Mission Work.

The money we receive in the form of gifts from outside the church, has been used throughout the years to take care of a part of the postal costs. By God’s grace the mission work for foreign countries is completely financed by our own church. This way, with the help of the Lord, the translations can be published independently of third parties and without any requests at all for financial support.

The church of Independent Mission Work is grateful to the Lord that she, by means of preaching the Word and publishing translations, is able to support the spreading of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in Holland and across the borders. We know that the Bride has her revival now and that this revival is the Word, that is revealed to her by the prophet-messenger William Marrion Branham.