WORDS OF A PROPHET
Adriaan Snyman
(Translated from the Afrikaans by Julie van Rensburg and Michael Viljoen)
Dedication:
I dedicate Words of a Prophet (previously published as Voice of a Prophet), to my wife, Annelize and children (Gustav, Naomi, Reinier, Carin and Engela) who, during the past 14 years, so faithfully walked with me in the footsteps of the old Boer prophet; and also to my friend, Chris Botha who offered to walk the second mile with me…
Foreword by the English Translator 9
Adriaan Snyman and his work 11
Author’s Introduction to the 2004 Afrikaans Edition 13
Prophet, or Schizophrenic? 13
Forewarned is forearmed 16
Preface 19
Prophet, or Bearer of an Apocalypse? 19
A World Ploughed Under 20
Astonishing Wisdom and Knowledge 22
CHAPTER 1 23
(A Prophet is Born) 23
Dream Vision 25
The Gift of Prophecy 26
The Second Revelation 27
CHAPTER 2 30
(Kalahari-Mac: Seer — The Person) 30
Dr. C. Louis Leipoldt — a Scientific View 30
Johannes Meintjes: Seer — The Patriarch 31
Carl Jung and the Seer 33
Reports, Letters and Memories 35
A Joseph Within the Family 35
Betrayed 37
His Knowledge of Human Nature 38
CHAPTER 3 40
(On the battlefields) 40
The Anglo-Boer War 42
Everything Covered under Smoke and Flames 43
Field Preacher 45
Through the ‘Red Sea’ 46
President M.T. Steyn and the Prophet 47
In the Smelting-furnace 48
The Beginning of His Sorrow 50
His Family Scattered 50
Kill the Chickens! 51
CHAPTER 4 54
(Messenger of God) 54
The Sickle of Death 56
CHAPTER 5 59
(Mourning Crepe over Lichtenburg) 59
Flags Hanging Half Mast 61
“You Are Bareheaded…” 63
CHAPTER 6 65
(The Rebellion) 65
The Hammer and Sickle 65
The Prophet Led Them Through Safely 66
Record of the Rebellion 67
Treaties Drawn Up 69
A Black Mule and the Sabbath 70
Like Moses of Old 73
Patience of Job 75
CHAPTER 7 76
(An astounding vision) 76
Under House Arrest 79
The Farmyard at Rietkuil 80
CHAPTER 8 82
(The Chosen Committee) 82
General Hertzog Testifies for the Seer 83
The Tragic Death of General Botha 84
CHAPTER 9 88
(WW II) 88
Hitler’s Blitzkrieg 88
…And the Invasion of Austria 89
Japan Enters the War 90
Firestorm over Dresden 91
Aftermath: Germany Divided 92
Profetic words of Sir Winston Churchill 92
The Founding of the United Nations 93
CHAPTER 10 95
(Africa In Turmoil) 95
The Panga Era 96
South Africa Booted From the Commonwealth 97
The Assassination of Dr Verwoerd 98
Dimitrio Tsafendas 98
CHAPTER 11 101
(Conflicts and Other Upheavals) 101
The Angolan Border War 101
Collapse of the Berlin Wall 102
CHAPTER 12 104
(The First Democratic Election) 104
Africa Afflicted with Pestilence and Famine 105
First Woman Bundeskanzler? 105
A New World Order 106
The Coming Darkness 106
An Ominous Prophecy 107
The Black Horse 108
The Yellow Horse 109
The Red Flag 110
Jean Raspail — A Modern Prophet? 111
CHAPTER 13 114
(Spectre of Terror) 114
Keep It Secret! 114
A Nation Divided 115
Beginning of the End 116
Drastic Changes 117
Ex-President P.W. Botha 118
The Church Street Bomb 120
Assassination of Prof. Johan Heyns 121
The Zim Killing Fields 122
Awakening of Islam 123
CHAPTER 14 127
(Nelson Mandela — Era of the Goose) 127
Operation Uhuru 129
Farm Attacks 132
Operation Uhuru 133
Johanna Brandt 135
Fatal Stomach Disease 136
English Settlers flee from the Eastern Province 137
CHAPTER 15 139
(A Time of Darkness) 139
The Seer’s Timetable 139
Black on Black Violence 141
The Krause Document 142
Race Riots 144
No successor to the Throne 145
Merino Rams and Blue Letters 146
The Second Coup d’etat 148
Kimberley bombed 150
CHAPTER 16 152
(A Second Blood River) 152
The Warning 153
CHAPTER 17 154
(Prophecies for South Africa) 154
WW I 154
Boy Mussmann’s Prediction 155
Dismantling of Apartheid 155
Black Government Takes Over 155
Squatters on the Advance 155
A Bucket of Blood 156
The ‘Chicken Run’ 157
The Boer Nation in Sackcloth and Ashes 158
The Truth Commission 158
Nuclear War and Disaster at Koeberg 158
Destruction of Jankemp Dorp 159
Power Failures 159
Night Attack on Johannesburg 159
Their Ultimate Destiny 160
CHAPTER 18 162
(The Man In The Brown Suit) 162
The Face of Our President 164
The Kruger Millions and the Tabernacle 164
Electing the President 165
CHAPTER 19 168
(World Prophecies) 168
WW II 168
World War II — The Aftermath 168
Ireland Gains Independence 169
Rise of Communism 170
The Hungarian Uprising 171
The Cuban Crisis 172
Asylum-Seekers Invade Europe 172
The Rise of Islam 173
Civil War in Bosnia-Herzegovina 175
There is unrest and rioting in Europe. 177
AIDS 178
The Chernobyl Disaster 178
Russia Changes its Spots 179
Divorce and Death of Princess Diana 180
Europe Becomes Black 181
Depression and Famine in Europe 182
Alliance with the British 182
Collapse of A Government in Europe 183
A Time To Mourn 183
Asia devastated by Tsunami 184
New York next? 185
Beheading of prominent British leader 186
Earthquakes Will Destroy Japan 188
CHAPTER 20 190
(WW III: A Prelude — Rivers of Blood) 190
The Gulf War 190
Prophecies of Gottfried von Werdenberg 191
Daniel and the World Trade Center Towers 192
Outbreak and Course of World War III 193
Seer’s Eyewitness Account of WW III 195
Treaty With Russia 196
England is Destroyed 198
German Army Resurrected 199
When the Ice Melts 200
CHAPTER 21 201
(The Seven Plagues of England) 201
Famine 201
The First Plague 203
The Second Plague 203
The Third Plague 204
The Fourth Plague 204
The Fifth Plague 204
The Sixth Plague 204
The Seventh Plague 204
CHAPTER 22 206
(The Seer’s Last Days) 206
Five Death-Bed Visions 207
My Flesh Disappears 211
Funeral list 211
CHAPTER 23 213
(Seer and the Bible — Amazing parallels) 213
CHAPTER 24 224
(Epilogue) 224
Real-life prophecies 224
References 233
Foreword by the English Translator
It has been a privilege to translate this very important book, a book with a clear message from a prophet of the Almighty God to his people.
As the reader will learn, Nicolaas (Seer) was a simple, humble man who had no formal education, being able only to read his Bible, with great difficulty.
All Biblical quotations used in the text have been taken from the King James Version, except where specifically marked ‘Good News Bible’
The old Afrikaner Seer was known in South Africa during the previous century… As a Prophet from God.
Nicolaas (Seer) van Rensburg was a modern Nostradamus if ever there was one. He became a legend during his lifetime and was one of the most remarkable characters that ever lived in South Africa and his prophecies were well known during 1899 until his death in 1926. During the Second World War the then Prime Minister of South Africa General Jan Smuts prohibited the distribution of the Seers prophecies, Nicolaas Seer van Rensburg not only foretold the future of South Africa, but also that of Europe, America and England. Before his death in 1926 he predicted that ethnic violence will explode worldwide after the turn of this century and start World War Three. It is a chilling experience to read in this book about his predictions of this coming war when armies of the world will use terrible ray’s that will sow death and destruction and soak the earth in blood. He describes events on the battlefield of the world in such detail as though he himself had been an eyewitness.
Here are some of the prophecies he made from 1899 until his death in 1926
The release of Nelson Mandela by ex President De Klerk
A black government will govern South Africa.
The atomic disaster on April 26 1986 at Chernobyl.
The divorce and death of a beautiful English Lady, in an accident that would be mourned by the whole world.
Not long after her death, the Lady on the Throne will also disappear.
Asia devastated by Tsunami.
Terrorist attack on England (London first).
England will suffer terribly, when World War Three is at hand
Japan will be destroyed by earthquakes — no one will survive.
The astonishing prophecies, in this book, are of great importance, not only to South Africans, but also for the people of the Western World.
Adam Vosloo
Adriaan Snyman and his work
(Spare no one, not even yourself)
Adriaan Snyman was born in the Lichtenburg district situated in the old Western Transvaal, South Africa. After matriculating in Johannesburg, he joined the Government Service and obtained a B.A. degree from the University of South Africa. He went on to become a journalist with Farming in South Africa and a reporter for the newspapers Hoofstad in Pretoria and Die Burger in Cape Town. He now resides and works from the beautiful seaside town of Mossel Bay (halfway between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth), with his wife Annelize.
He developed a passion for writing during his childhood and had his first short story published by the popular South African Afrikaans magazine Huisgenoot, at the age of 18 years. He has subsequently written some 100 short stories, 50 serial stories. His published novels include two about the 2nd World War, Kruistog na die Ewigheid (Crusade into Eternity). This is the first Afrikaans novel about General Erwin Rommel and Field-Marshal Montgomery’s bloody battles on the desert sands.
North Africa has always been one of the great battlegrounds of history and much blood has been shed on those unforgiving sands. Rome and Carthage decided their long-drawn-out contest for the Empire of the Mediterranean. Years later, another two of the world’s greatest conquering heroes, Alexander and Napoleon, established themselves in the Egyptian arena.
And in this Rommel – Montgomery Crusade, Snyman has brought the latest North African Campaign (1940-1942) to life, in the most vivid way imaginable.
Flight into Hell was inspired by 2nd Lieutenant Bob Burgess DSO. He was the co-pilot of one of the SAAF Liberators, of 31 Squadron, to fly to Warsaw on August 13, 1944. He had never flown a Liberator unaided. Suddenly, gunfire and flak crippled the plane. Burgess watched in astonishment as the pilot left his seat and bailed out above the blazing city. The Liberator limped on, pilot less.
The drama that follows , ranks among the epic stories of World War II…
In The Ark Builder, an upright man is driven by noble sentiments of honour and loyalty to a Chosen Course:
“And God said unto Noah — Make thee an ark of gopher wood…”
In the long history of mankind’s perpetual struggle for survival, not one single command demanded so much from one individual, as the command contained in Gen. 6:14. What is even more amazing than the command itself, is the fact that this exceptional individual accepted the challenge: “And Noah did according unto all that the Lord commanded him.”
The Ark Builder tells the story of that man.
Snyman’s latest novel, Towards The Evening It Will Become Light, is a strange, haunting and prophetic vision of the crucifixion and resurrection of a nation, a nation born from the blood of martyrs who bought land with blood offers. Martyrs, who, when the enemy arrived at their gates and claimed that land, gave it to them without shedding a drop of blood and with gladness.
Powerful, apocalyptic, shocking and controversial — a global Golgotha.
Since 1990, he has made an in-depth study of the visions and interpretations of the renowned Boer Prophet, Seer Nicolaas van Rensburg. His Afrikaans biography about the Seer, Boodskapper van God, (Words of a Prophet — 2005) became an instant runaway best-seller in 1995.
Adriaan Snyman has been presented with many literary awards in recognition of his dedication as an author.
Author’s Introduction to the 2004 Afrikaans Edition
About five o’clock one autumn morning in the early nineties, I was sitting on my cane chair reading 1 Samuel 9. Saul and his servant were looking for his father’s asses that had been lost. They found nothing and when Saul wanted to go back, his servant advised him that they should consult a man of God. He said the following to Saul: “Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man, all that he saith, cometh surely to pass; now let us go thither; peradventure he can show us our way that we should go…Before time in Israel when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spoke, come let us go to the seer, for he then is now called a prophet was before time called a Seer.”
Something happened to me at that moment; a shudder went through me, a light flashed through my head and as I stood up I spoke aloud to myself: “Have we not had our man of God and Seer?” Vague memories came to mind and for a fleeting moment I saw myself in the countryside at Lichtenburg where my father was busy telling my brothers, sister and me about Seer van Rensburg. The Seer always went to a hill behind his house during the day, to read his Bible and pray. “And there God spoke to him, ”I heard my father say. This was what I could remember. I then started searching, but just like Saul’s asses, Seer van Rensburg was lost to me. Then one morning, at a place called Eloffsdal in Pretoria, he appeared before me in the form of Mr. Paul Prinsloo, an eighty two year-old “disciple”, and a person who knew all about Seer van Rensburg; a man who, even at that age, had bright and clear eyes. And for the first time, since my childhood, I heard the following words: “Seer van Rensburg said…”
I have since, met various other people who knew about the Boer Prophet and what he had said. And the next five years information about Seer Nicolaas van Rensburg started coming to me like a flood. Today I know without doubt we had our own Seer!
Prophet, or Schizophrenic?
But now, after more than the passage of a decade, and after many books about his dreams and visions had seen the light, complete with literally hundreds of irrefutable pieces of evidence that Seer van Rensburg was undoubtedly a true man of God and a true prophet, the message of his prophecies to his people is still being rejected by many of them. They not only despise his godly warnings, but in the media he is regularly referred to and mocked as a ‘ragged prophet, ’ ‘marijuana smoker’ and insane ‘schizophrenic who suffered from epilepsy, during his visions.’
Many of Seer’s peers were sceptical and openly antagonistic towards him after he had a vision, in 1899 that the Afrikaner nation would lose the Anglo Boer War. General Koos de la Rey also warned him to be careful to whom he spoke about these things, “…because the men would not believe you and would only laugh at you. Rather come to me…”
Boy Mussmann, a close friend of Seer, who had been involved with his visions for more than 60 years, told his nephew, Mr. Joos Haasbroek, shortly before his death in 1973: “What I’m going to tell you now, I’ve not told anyone else and you must rather remain silent about this, because people will not believe you. Look, Nicolaas van Rensburg told me that we would have a black government in the future!”
Gen. Louis Botha had Seer imprisoned for about 11 months, in 1915, because Seer had obeyed a divine order to accompany the Rebels to German West Africa (now Namibia). Even the fact that during that long journey he never carried a firearm, or fired a single shot at anything or anyone, made no difference. No sooner was he released in December that year when Gen. Smuts had him placed under farm arrest for eight years.
Sixteen years after his death, in 1926, his visions were still an embarrassment and annoyance for Gen. Smuts – so much so that when Mr. Boy Mussmann tried spreading the word, not only was he prosecuted; afterwards he was assaulted by two detectives in the streets of Vryburg.
Now, 76 years later Government’s discontent with Seer’s visions has surfaced again. This time Seer van Rensburg’s visions are haunting the ANC government.
Operation Hopper was carried out on 29th November 2002 and over 60 properties were raided – amongst others, Vaandel Publishers in Mossel Bay, as well as the homes of Mr. Adriaan Snyman, author of the Seer biographies and Mr. Chris Botha, who accompanied the author during his 8-month long lecture tour throughout the country. During these raids, computers, documentation, books, as well as a documentary video, about Seer’s visions, was confiscated. Snyman’s wife Annelize said that she suspected the raid on their home was related to his talks, during which he paid particular attention to the night of terror, which would allegedly take place after the funeral of former president Nelson Mandela
Forewarned is forearmed
Throughout Seer van Rensburg’s visions one clear message stands out: There is going to be a war, so devastating that virtually no piece of land on earth will be untouched by it. All over the world people will die, but Europe and England will be in the middle of it. Whole cities will be turned into rubble, there will be very little food and people will be fleeing for safety, continuously. There will be no place to hide and staying on the move away from the violence, will be the only solution.
Women will be trekking over mountains in Europe, probably to get away from the fighting. In the eastern parts of Europe the fighting will be worst. Chaos will be the face of this coming war. Bloodshed will be so terrible as to be sickening. It is not clear what precisely will happen in Eastern Europe, but the people will flee from there as Communist. African and Chinese troops appear on the scene.
Large parts of America will also be demolished, either by nuclear attacks or earthquakes. Seer told Mr. D.W. le Roux that he saw an earthquake/tsunami in America, brought on by man-made means or a missile/bomb exploding underground. He also mentioned two other large explosions ― one somewhere in the West and the other in England:
21 Sept. 1919 – “The capitalists find themselves in trouble, there is a serious shortage of money, no clothes, no food, no water. They will be powerless to do anything. It is going to be a very trying and dangerous time for everyone and people will be in great distress. There is talk of treason and bribery and very few who can be trusted during that time. No one will be able to help.”
[Within weeks after the London bombings an Islamic scholar from Egypt, Tawfik Hamid, warned: “There will be future terror attacks in Britain and they will make the bombing in London look like nothing, I expect a major chemical attack on the water supply or on the food in Britain … Britain will be hit by a Chemical attack next time…” (Seer predicted “no food, no water”)]
1 Dec. 1919 – “Four nations in Europe will now stand together to form an alliance. It will be according to traditional thinking because people will expect them to do so. But then Germany backs out of the alliance and will be better off than the others. The Communists then plan to invade/take over/ Europe, but then they are driven back.”
14 May 1918 and 18 July 1919 – Europe is again in his visions and this time he sees violence, a lot of violence. 1 Dec. 1917 – “A lot of coal mines burn in Europe, fires spread over a large area.
“Then there will be an onslaught from the East against the West, directed against America and England. Russia/China will directly be involved, ruthless in their hunger for war. As soon as they make their presence known, Europe will ready itself to fight back. But even before hostilities begins, I see a massive and horrifying explosion in the west.” (He doesn’t say where this explosion takes place). He had never seen anything like this before and couldn’t find the words to describe it. All he said was: “I saw it mushroomed out far and wood was flying through the smoke.” In 1918 no one had even heard of a nuclear or atomic bomb, so he couldn’t understand how such a devastating explosion was possible. But fourteen months later on July 18, 1919, he had another vision of such an explosion, except this time he knew for certain that the target was England. He not only saw many civilians and soldiers die in underground bunkers, but also that they were literarily cremated alive in a terrible fire and dust storm — for their ashes was all that was left in the bunkers.
[Regarding the above-mentioned China-Russian alliance that the Seer predicted in 1919 it became a reality in July 2005 when the Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a “China-Russia Joint Statement on the 21st Century World Order”. With this, China is returning to a strategy of depending on a single ally. China now joins hands with the Soviet Union to counter the US threat by making all of China’s defences and development dependent on the Soviet Union.]
The Seer continued: “Many troops will drown, though it is not clear where that would happen. At first the war will be fought in the eastern parts and the northern parts of Europe, but soon it will also spread to the south and western parts. Many coalmines will burn, but that will not be the only thing to burn. Seer said that everything will be on fire. Huge food shortages and major devastation will force people in Europe to move around. Many of the visions the Seer had, were about people fleeing from the destruction of a horrific war and much fire and smoke, but then he also saw Germans with wagons loaded with grain.
Eventually three countries will capitulate and hang out their white flags. Some German speaking countries will do the same, but this does not include Germany itself. Many of the armies in Europe will flee from their enemy. The fleets of the West will sail East to make war.
No government is to be trusted. They will come as a friend, but think nothing of betrayal. Countries will be preparing for war without the others knowing about it.
In many of his visions he saw that the earth turned black, a sign of death and destruction. The fights will be mainly between East and West, but hatred towards Germany will complicate things and Europe will be turned into a bloody battleground.
He also saw the fall of the European government and the rising of a new government in Europe.
Preface
Prophet, or Bearer of an Apocalypse?
During the last quarter of the previous century and the first quarter of this century, no one was better known in the Western Transvaal than the Seer, Nicolaas van Rensburg.
He was a legend during his lifetime and not only did well-known generals of the Anglo-Boer War, like De La Rey and Kemp believe that he was a prophet, but also, statesmen like Generals Hertzog, Louis Botha and J.C. Smuts. On more than one occasion they bore witness, even in Parliament, that Nicolaas van Rensburg’s prophecies had come true during their lifetime.
There is enough evidence, which proves that Nicolaas van Rensburg was no charlatan. The only book he read was the Bible and he believed that his visions came directly from God. He never practised occultism. He was a devoted Christian and never used his “gift of prophecy” for personal gain, nor did he attempt to impress anyone. He believed that you must live your life in honour of God. Many Bible verses are found in his prophecies, and to this day it has not yet been proven that his prophecies were false (except for those ignorant people, who have attempted to interpret them in their own way).
In a study called Bible History for Catechises, published in 1971 and edited by Professor J.I. de Wet, it would seem that Nicolaas van Rensburg was a bearer of an Apocalypse more than being a prophet.
Nicolaas (Seer) van Rensburg, the Boer Prophet, died in l926, but today he is still considered to be one of the most remarkable personages in our history.
It is therefore, surprising that there has been only one half-hearted and superficial attempt to publish his life story .
From 187l (when he was only seven years old) until his death in 1926, he had more than 600 visions about his people in South Africa, other nations, as well as world affairs. Although many of his visions were remembered by word of mouth, it was only during the last ten years of his life that he asked his daughter, Anna, to write down his daily visions.
The two books that contained his visions, as written down by Anna, were nowhere to be found 50 years after his death. Even the surviving family did not know where they were. According to an article in a Sunday newspaper in 198l, these journals disappeared after the death of his daughter Anna and could not be found. It was only in September 1992 that I tracked them down in the dusty archives of the Lichtenburg Museum. When reading these visions (they have an astonishing parallel with the Revelation of John) one realises that the symbols and metaphors may contain the keys to those things, we do not yet understand in our times. Nicolaas van Rensburg’s prophecies not only sketched the events in South Africa, but also that of many other nations, over a period of l00 years, fitting together like pieces in a jigsaw a puzzle.
A World Ploughed Under
With the publication of Words of a Prophet, I am fulfilling the wish of Nicolaas van Rensburg, namely that his prophesies should be made known to all. In 19l6 he had a vision that towards the end of this century people worldwide would become more and more interested to know about his visions. At that time he told a very good friend of his, Mr. Boy Mussmann, who lived in Vryburg, the following:
“There will come a time when I will be much in the news again. At that time I saw that we as a nation were still arguing amongst one another and then suddenly we have a black government. Then only will the Afrikaners’ most bitter struggle begin.” He also said: “I see a time when the whole world will be ploughed under. This is the beginning of WW III and everything will be in disorder and confusion will reign. Then I saw a snake lying on the ploughed land. I could not see its head or tail. (Nobody will know for certain where this war started, or where and when it will end).
Everything in the churches will also be wrong. I saw my daughter Anna seated and writing, then I knew: nobody would be able to make head or tail of my visions for one will say Nicolaas van Rensburg said this and another will argue and say, no, he said that…. After seeing this vision I asked my daughter to write down my visions, daily, so that all will know when the time comes.”
Mrs. Anna Badenhorst (his daughter), who was 14 at the time, started writing down all his visions from 15th August 1916 until his death ten years later, filling two books with hundreds of entries. How many actual visions Nicolaas van Rensburg had will probably never be known. Those, which he “saw” from 1871, were mostly memorised and passed on by word of mouth.
In latter years, his one and only trusted friend, Mr. Boy Mussmann said: “I devoted my life to make my people aware of the visions and their interpretations, as seen by Nicolaas.” The hundreds of letters he wrote to people, newspapers and magazines, regarding these visions, bear witness to this. The bulk of this material is published in Words of a Prophet, for the first time in 40 years.
Lastly, in the second half of 2004 I obtained a collection of visions from the files of the Ossewa-Brandwag (1942), kept in the archives of the University of Potchefstroom. The Seer’s son, Cornelius, wrote it down in the early 1920’s. For me personally, this and the secret ‘Krause Document’ (see below) are two of the more important ‘Seer’ discoveries of the past decades. In these files are documented some of the most remarkable events of our time: earthquakes in East Asia and America; a terror attack on London’s underground transport system; the beheading of a prominent Englishman and lastly, he prophesised that when Russia enters the Iraqi crisis, England will break her alliance with the USA.
The Krause Document was a neatly hand-written manuscript in beautiful Afrikaans. It consists of over 90 pages and contains many of his well-known visions as written down by his daughter Anna. However, it also includes his astounding vision of the outbreak, course and outcome of World War III (as memorised by a friend, grandfather Krause).
When Jan Smuts sent the old man to jail in 1942, he related these future events verbally to a cellmate, Mr. E.L. Brits, who wrote it down. Furthermore, it contains a number of letters personally dictated by the Seer, as well as some extremely interesting new visions that were not documented by his daughter.
Undoubtedly, Seer van Rensburg has an enormous influence on the descendants of his people.
In 1916 he himself said that the time would come when they would be at loggerheads with each other, under a black government.
That prophecy has already been fulfilled in our time!
Astonishing Wisdom and Knowledge
One of the very first things I noticed, when I began my research on the life and prophecies of Nicolaas van Rensburg, was his humility and unshakeable belief and trust in God.
He never had any formal schooling, yet his knowledge and wisdom not only astonished his own family and friends, but even scholars from Cambridge University, England(who had perused his visions). They could not believe that he never had any formal education and that he was just an ordinary and illiterate farmer.
During Nicolaas van Rensburg’s lifetime, many of his visions were fulfilled, like the second Boer War and after that the Union of South Africa. Many of his visions have yet to be fulfilled, while others have already been fulfilled during the last decade or two. Some examples are the disintegration of Russia that would coincide with major reforms in South Africa, and Afrikaner dissension.
I hope, that with the publication of this book, some 70 years after Nicolaas van Rensburg’s passing away, to reintroduce him to the world, as a man of God, a prophet and a true patriot.
The writing of this book, Words of a Prophet, like none other, has given me many days of joy.
— Adriaan Snyman, January 2005
CHAPTER 1
(A Prophet is Born)
Nicolaas Pieter Johannes Janse van Rensburg was born on the 30th of August 1864, near the town called Wolmaransstad, South Africa, on the family farm, Rietkuil, where he spent his childhood. Like most children of his day, he grew up in difficult and turbulent times.
At the age of seven he started his schooling that lasted a mere 20 days, for his father needed his help on their farm, and since then he never had any formal education again. From a tender age he was perceived to be ‘different’, timid and reserved and never took part in the mischievous pranks of other boys his age, nor did he have any real interest in farming.
He mostly enjoyed listening to his mother reading to him from the Bible. By means of the Bible, his mother was able to teach him, with difficulty, to read the Book by spelling and deciphering the words one at a time.
Until his death the Bible was the only book he ever read, and he had no interest whatever to read anything else, for he believed other books or newspapers were worldly things and did not spiritually enhance a person. This made his knowledge and visions of world affairs all the more astonishing, for by only reading the Bible, over a period of 55 years, he accurately forecast what would happen worldwide in the future.
His mother, Annie van Rensburg, was a quiet, sensitive and soft-spoken woman and health wise not very strong. Nicolaas van Rensburg did not only take after his mother, but also inherited her frailness. This was the main reason, why there was such a strong bond between them until her death.
Just like his mother, he disliked violence to such an extent that he could not even stand seeing an animal being slaughtered. It is therefore, an enigma why he joined the Boer forces, during both wars and stayed throughout, until the end, even though he foresaw the disastrous outcome.
He is also the only soldier in known history who was always in the frontlines, but never shot at or killed any of his enemies, for he never carried a gun.
When he was still a toddler, his mother noticed that her son could ‘see’ things, but he was then still too young to grasp and understand what was happening to him. His mother believed that if this gift was from God, her son would understand at a later stage. Even though she had always wondered how great this gift was that her son received and asked him many times what he was seeing that made him so unhappy, he only stood staring at her with his deep penetrating blue eyes and would not utter a word. The look in his eyes was such that she wanted to take him to her and hug him.
Many people have said that his eyes put fear into them and did not want to look into them. Others again said that they have never seen such sad eyes, it was as though he looked at you from an infinite depth, through you, as if he saw something far beyond, which brought the sadness to his eyes.
According to the English author, Lawrence G. Green, “Nicolaas van Rensburg was a small man with hunched shoulders, a bushy beard and amazing eyes which seemed to behold an extra dimension beyond the sight of ordinary men. He was a tormented creature, for he had visions, which gave him no peace. Life was a double torment to Van Rensburg, for he went through it twice: in his visions as well as actively.”
How heavily this burden of prophet or seer rested on his shoulders, nobody would know, but at the age of twenty he had already started greying and was chosen as an elder in his church the following year. At thirty, neighbouring farmers much older than him called him Oom Nicolaas (Oom translates to ‘uncle’ in English and is widely used among Afrikaners as a sign of respect for somebody older than oneself, even though he is not one’s immediate family. A female was likewise addressed as ‘Tante’ or ‘Tant’, meaning aunt, while peers usually addressed each other as ‘neef’ or ‘nig’, meaning cousin.)
An Afrikaans painter and writer, Johannes Meintjes, who had made a study of the prophet, put it this way: “It is as if Nicolaas van Rensburg had never known any childhood or teenage years. It was as if he was born old and one could not help but feel awe and respect towards him.”
Only at one time during his childhood (he was seven years old) did she have a glimpse of his gift of prophecy, because she had passed away long before Nicolaas became known as a seer and a legend in his lifetime.
Nicolaas’ father, known as Willem van Rensburg, or ‘Kort (Short) Koos’ (Koos being an abbreviation of Jacobus, or Jacob), was a very rugged man and had no time for cowardice. As a teenager he was part of the ‘Great Trek’ and had to face many hardships and dangers and when he arrived in the Transvaal, he settled on a farm that he called Rietkuil (Reed Pool). It therefore came as a shock to him when he discovered that his youngest son, Nicolaas, was not to follow in his footsteps. He wanted tough and rugged sons, who could, like him, take on the struggle of life with no sympathy towards, or from anyone. He never showed sympathy and the workers (blacks) on his farm experienced this.
Therefore, he made Nicolaas a shepherd, for he believed that was all he could do. Nicolaas left home every morning to tend the sheep. He carried his food and Bible with him, and while looking after the sheep, he struggled with the reading of the Bible and as a result he eventually read through it many times and could remember lengthy passages. The Van Rensburg family was very poor and to subsidise his meagre income, Kort Koos had to leave the farm many times with his wagon loaded with farm products and tools he had made, to barter for food. During these times his wife and four children were alone on the farm. Annie, his wife, being of timid nature, experienced these times as a nightmare, for there were many raiding gangs roving around the countryside, robbing and plundering.
Dream Vision
It was on one of these occasions, when Kort Koos was absent on a trip that Nicolaas had one of his visions.
One evening, a very loyal black worker named Moos, who worked for the Van Rensburg family, knocked on the kitchen door. The children were already asleep. The old black man warned Nicolaas’ mother that he had heard that one of the gangs, who roamed the countryside, was going to attack the family farm that evening.
Nicolaas’ mother was numb with shock, for although knowing about these roving, plundering gangs, she never expected that they would be attacked. She woke the children immediately and told them that they must get ready to leave for a neighbouring farm.
When his mother woke him, Nicolaas sat still for a moment, staring. He then said to her: “It will not be necessary, Mother, for God appeared to me in a dream, saying that we must stay home, for He will protect us, as long as Father is away. We must stay.”
The seven-year-old Nicolaas was calm and spoke with confidence, a confidence that his mother had never heard before. She wanted them to leave immediately, but Nicolaas told her: “You, Pieter and the girls can go I am staying home.”
His mother’s impression was that God wanted her to protect her home and children, unto death. She then decided that this was what she would do.
She took her four children to the sitting room, made them lie down, covered them with blankets, took the old musket and waited. Nicolaas’ brother and two sisters went to sleep immediately, but he stayed awake with his mother. Everything was quiet and by sunrise no attack had taken place.
At first light, Nicolaas’ mother looked through the window and saw the gang outside. For some inexplicable reason they never attacked, and as she looked, she saw them turn and run away as if something or somebody frightened them. She could never find out why they didn’t attack the house or why they suddenly ran away. However, from that day she believed in her son’s gift to see and accepted that he received visions from God, because he trusted in God so much and studied the Bible diligently.
Nicolaas van Rensburg eventually came to understand this gift he had, a gift which would bring him a lifetime of pain, anxiety and sorrow. He also realised he could not use this gift to enrich himself, for then it would be taken away and he also realised that the message, which he would receive through his gift, was far too precious to his people and other nations, as he had to warn them of their future.
The Gift of Prophecy
People who have the gift of prophecy acknowledge that it sometimes appears in their younger years, sometimes in middle age and now and then in old age, but very seldom throughout their lives.
Nicolaas van Rensburg’s case was different, for it began at a very early age and only came to an end when he passed away. It reached its zenith during the Anglo-Boer War, when it subsided a little and reached a peak again during his later years. He always experienced his visions in times of silence and/or when he was alone.
Twelve years after the Anglo-Boer War, when he was imprisoned for participating in the Rebellion of l914, he explained to a journalist, Harm Oost, how his visions appeared to him.
He explained it as follows: “I start to experience a sort of pressure in the back of my head and my senses begin to spin until I become so dizzy that I cannot stand upright any more. I then lie down, put my hands behind my head and close my eyes. Even though my eyes are closed I begin to see haziness passing before my eyes, but the pressure in my head is still there. The haze becomes thicker and starts to whirl like clouds that are gathering and out of this the visions come as clear as daylight as though I am there myself. The only thing I can do is to look and see what is shown to me…”
The visions end when the pressure and the dizziness subside. He then contemplates on what he saw, so that he may understand them. Just like in the Revelation of John, most of Van Rensburg’s visions appeared in symbols, which were objects he came into daily contact with, like pigs, goats, sheep, oxen, horses, and donkeys. These animals also appear in different colours. For example: a red bull will be England; a blue bull Germany, and oxen with white on the back will be America The Afrikaner nation was always seen as a greyish or brown type of animal.
He soon learned to understand the meanings of the symbols and visions, and although he could or would not in the beginning, either understand, or interpret his visions, he later did so. From 1916 until his death, he always went to sit on a small hill behind his farmhouse to pray and study his Bible in the silence. During these times he experienced his visions. People living in the surrounding area then started to call this little hill, ‘the place of visions’. For every time he returned after having been there, his daughter had to write down what he had seen.
The Second Revelation
Mr. Boy Mussmann corresponded with various people for decades until his death in 1973, regarding Nicolaas van Rensburg’s visions; he was his bosom friend for twelve years, as well as his ‘disciple’ and only ‘messenger’. In his letters, he wrote comprehensively about Nicolaas van Rensburg’s visions, which were told to him personally.
He said the following: “If I had to put into book form everything I have written down, it would come close to what one of the writers of the Bible wrote (…making many books, there is no end Ecclesiastes 12 verse l2). Every person, whether rich or poor, should read it (the Seer’s story and his visions). Then they will know that the world of our day also had a prophet, as one reads about in the Bible. Samuel Chapter 9 verse 9: “Before time in Israel when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spoke, come let us go to the seer, for he then is now called a prophet was before time called a Seer.”
Mr. Mussmann (he was the son of a sister of one of the Boer generals, De La Rey), in his later years farmed at Langlaagte (Long Valley), near Vryburg.
In 1955 he wrote to a friend: “The Seer’s daughter, Anna, wrote down his visions from 1916, until his death. Things that still have to happen and are happening now have all been written down. After her father’s death (1926), she told me the following: ‘Oom Boy, you must write a book about my father. I do not think there is anybody today that knows as much as you do about the visions. But to get to know Nicolaas well, you must know all about him and have intimate knowledge of the meaning of everything….’”
I have therefore made extensive use of Mr. Mussmann’s knowledge and interpretations of the Seer’s visions, dating from after WW I until today.
For the first time after reading all the visions that had been written down, Mr. Boy Mussmann declared emphatically: “Nicolaas is a second John and his visions a Second Revelation of what is still to happen to the world…”
After this, Mr. Mussmann started gathering all the information he could possibly get in order to start writing about Nicolaas van Rensburg, as requested by Anna Badenhorst. Unfortunately, however, the time to do this continuously eluded him, for during the war years (1940 onwards) things went wrong for him when General J.C. Smuts sent a team of detectives to confiscate all books and also the ‘secret’ Krause Document (see Chapter 15) in which these visions were written down. Probably because of the less flattering things written about Smuts and the future of the country that Nicolaas had prophesied. However, Mr. Mussmann left behind extremely valuable information about Van Rensburgs in numerous letters, articles and personal conversations.
CHAPTER 2
(Kalahari-Mac: Seer — The Person)
(Kalahari-Mac is the pseudonym of an Afrikaans author)
‘Seer’ Van Rensburg as a person, with his peculiar character and visions, drew the interest of various well-known people like ‘Kalahari-Mac’, author of a book titled, Behind the scenes of the Rebellion (About the 1914 Rebellion). He met Nicolaas van Rensburg for the first time on the 26th November 1914, at a town called Nakop. His description of the Boer prophet was as follows: “He was short of stature, with a long black beard and had a stately countenance, always carrying his Bible under his arm. I have never seen him smile; his calmness was such that his face was virtually expressionless.
“Together with his son, they accompanied the troops on a little open cart drawn by mules. It is astounding how much respect General Kemp and his troops showed him. I estimated his age in the fifties, although his dignified conduct made him seem much older. When he experienced a vision, he recounted this vision exactly, at least a hundred times that day.
“With the patience of Job, he explained the vision over and over without any indication of becoming impatient. Never have I seen him angry. Any other person, under those circumstances, would have lost their temper.
“He had an unshakeable belief in the Bible and had no doubt that he was sent by the Creator to assist the Rebels with advice. This was the reason why he accepted all questions, by the Rebels, as part of his task. He was a humble and poor farmer, with just enough education enabling him to read the Bible”.
Dr. C. Louis Leipoldt — a Scientific View
(Doctor, poet and author)
The poet, Dr. C. Louis Leipoldt’s view of the Seer was more scientific and objective. His view was that, although the Seer was not well educated and without any cultural background, he had an inborn feeling for that which was beautiful and he looked at life, with the farsightedness of a poet. Dr. Leipoldt said about the Seer: “His rhapsodies came from a deep feeling from within, although he could not, because of a limited vocabulary, totally express himself. He used one word to express more than one meaning and repeated the same phrase with slight modifications, not to emphasize the phrase, but, as though he loved to create association and rhythm .”
In the Afrikaans magazine, Die Huisgenoot of November 1921, a reader gave the following description of the Seer’s character and lifestyle: “A few weeks ago, four of us specially went to visit old Oom Nicolaas. He lives in an old style, flat roofed little house, which is very elementary, but very neat on the whole. When we arrived, he approached and greeted the visitors, of which two were well known to him, with dignity.
One immediately gets the feeling of being in the presence of somebody with a profound personality. His facial structure, clear blue eyes, long beard, well-formed forehead and calmness, all have a bearing on his character and personality. As soon as we entered the little house, we were offered a cup of coffee and after some conversation, one of us asked the old prophet regarding what lay ahead. At first he hesitated, but after a while he started to talk about what he sees on the road ahead. His way of expressing himself is by first referring to an incident from the Anglo-Boer War and how it came about that he became aware of his ability to foresee. Then slowly he will start talking about present situations. While leaning on the table with his left arm, he would slowly and repeatedly touch his forehead and rub his beard and now and again, he would wipe the water from his eyes. It seems as if what he is telling you, creates mental exertion.
The writer then ends his article with the following prophecy of Nicolaas: “I see Ireland being flung from a wagon (England) like a loose sheaf of corn…That means she will gain independence.”
Johannes Meintjes: Seer — The Patriarch
(Author and painter)
Johannes Meintjes, a prominent South African artist and writer, had another interesting opinion regarding Nicolaas and the people of his time.
According to him the ‘Boers’ of the old Republics were typical Biblical characters not just in appearance, but also in their way of life, which was based on the will of God. Just like the Biblical patriarchs, their whole way of life was subjected to the Will of God. Johannes Meintjes saw in the language used by Nicolaas, the same poetic speech in which the Bible was written and is the speech in which the ‘Boer’ prophet revealed his visions. He explained this as follows: “As the years passed and Nicolaas studied his Bible more and more, eventually his speech and description of his visions would be delivered in rich Biblical metaphor .”
Meintjes compared Nicolaas with John who wrote Revelation and it is very interesting to compare some of the symbols used by both, in their visions. It is also significant that many of the symbols used by both prophets, were part of their everyday lives; the plant and animal kingdoms, the heavens, standard utensils and their own environments.
John: The sun becomes black as a hairy sack and the moon becomes like blood. He sees angels holding the four winds of the earth; he sees an incense holder from which voices, thunderclaps, lightning bolts and earthquakes are flung out. Then locusts with the appearance of horses and faces of men appear; there were horses with heads of lions with fire, smoke and brimstone emitting from their mouths. He sees a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns; also a serpent from whose mouth waterspouts and a woman with the wings of an eagle fleeing from the dragon. Then he saw a Man mounted on a pure white horse, clothed with a vestment dipped in blood and from whose mouth emerged a sharp two-edged sword to smite the nations…
Seer: In the pictures that appear during Oom Nicolaas’ moments of clairvoyance, bulls and rams of different colours storm each other and there are often broken bones and horns. Wagons drawn by oxen of different colours rattle past; birds fly out of the mouths of statues, springbok run over a scorched piece of earth in Eastern Europe and in the West (Ottoman Iraq — Mosul, Baghdad, and Basra) the earth is ploughed asunder. From the south swine come running and suddenly change into people. A young Irish maiden becomes an adult in the twinkling of an eye. Sheep droppings fall out of a large barrel and the whole of the earth changes into a place covered in sheep droppings only. A stretch of aloe plants moves towards the north; in the north-west a bucket of blood falls over and spills and he sees the flag of the Boer nation being dipped in blood and this blood flag then flies for the Afrikaner nation.
Carl Jung and the Seer
In another scientific paper published about Seer van Rensburg’s visions (The Prophecies Of Nicolaas “Seer” van Rensburg In The Context of Western Prophecy Carl Jung’s Aion, and Robert Anton Wilson’s “Syncronet”), the author, Jonathan R. Armstrong’s approach is much more radical. He believes that to make sense of Van Rensburg’s visions a study of Near Death Experience is necessary.
“‘Nicolaas “Seer’ Van Rensburg is nearly unknown to the West, yet he is nothing short of a phenomenon to the Afrikaner people of his native South Africa. Close inspection of Van Rensburg’s prophetic visions yields a remarkable consistency with Kenneth Ring’s “prophetic vision” type of near death experience…
“The body of knowledge most applicable to the field of prophetic visions is the study of near-death experiences, or NDE’s. NDE researcher Kenneth Ring documented a particular type of NDE known as a “flash forward”, in which a user was permitted to see segments of a “future life” on Earth. (Ring, 1980). A subtype of the “” type of NDE called the “prophetic vision”, or PV, was further defined as a flash forward of a global or universal nature not specific to the individual. (Ring, 1984) Five characteristics of a PV were described as: violent seismic and geophysical activity, disturbances in weather patterns and food supplies, collapse of the world economic system, nuclear war, and a following era of peace and harmony, often characterized by the return of a Christ like figure. One experiencer describes this eventual restoration of a golden era:
“‘I see a period when those who are good-intentioned and those who have acquired a type of level of spirituality of close bondedness of human relationships, that the being of light, the Christ like figure will be able to swell among us’….” (Ring, p. 204).
“An examination of Nicolaas Van Rensburg’s prophetic legacy shows that his predictions fit into Ring’s PV NDE categorization. Examples fitting each of Ring’s five points are given below:
“1) Violent Seismic and Geophysical Activity — ‘We need not fear Japan, for the Lord will fight it with earthquakes’. While no date is given for this particular prophecy, it is worth noting that an earthquake did kill 140, 000 people in Japan on September 1, 1923. 2872 Japanese people also died in an earthquake on January 17, 1995.
“2) Disturbances in Weather Patterns and Food Supplies — Vision: 3rd October 1918: ‘The maize is green and standing about 2 ft high in the fields, but is sparse. It then disappears and there is nothing. A rough blue stone in Europe changes into a wheel, and when it starts rolling, it falls to pieces’. The sparse two foot high maize indicates waning prosperity, eventually ending in famine and want in Europe, with Germany initially being worst hit (a rough blue stone). This is followed by total collapse of the gigantic money powers (probably also the Wall Street Stock Exchange) which will begin shortly after financial institutions in Europe suffer setbacks that cannot be stopped.”
“3) Collapse of the World Economic System — Vision: 29th September 1919: ‘An empty shop stands in Europe; people flee North in wagons filled with rubbish. Many Americans emerge from Western Europe, and when they disappear, little naked blacks from Africa run North’. A depression that will make all other disasters look like child’s play is facing the world. [See vision: 3rd August 1918.] Nothing will have hard value any longer and there will be no money. It will hit Europe so hard that England will financially go under in the process. America will intervene and try to help, and a starving black Africa, will swarm to Europe (naked little ‘black’).
“4) Nuclear War — Vision: 13th September 1914: ‘Darkness descends. I see two small lights, a massive engine emitting smoke, which covers the mountains and then people come walking across the bare earth. I see a town where the houses disappear. Then people appear. An armed Russian came on the scene; he is surrounded by an army of fierce looking British soldiers. Suddenly it is SO DARK THAT I CANNOT SEE MY HORSE’S MANE. The world is burnt black. The further I go, the hotter I feel the glow of a blazing fire in my face … This indicates a massive power failure countrywide at the same time we as a nation is engaged in our final battle for survival’.”
It seems if a massive explosion will occur at Koeberg (South Africa’s nuclear power station) and everything in the vicinity will be destroyed by radiation (the earth is bare and the houses disappear).
5) An Era of Peace and Harmony — Vision: 29th November 1917: ‘Two large slices of bread, spread with honey, come to me’. Vast riches that were traditionally the property of the Boer nation are repossessed’. Vision: 29th July 1917: ‘This morning I saw a basket full of almost-ripe yellow summer peaches in the west’. This means great prosperity is in the cards for the Boers. However, he did not say when this would be fulfilled…
Reports, Letters and Memories
Today there is still a vast amount of written information available about his character and his visions, largely thanks to his children, grandchildren, family members and others who have preserved them over the years. Numerous newspaper reports, letters and memories from intimate friends about the old prophet’s activities, have also miraculously been retained. Naturally all these things throw more light on his character and person, as well as the remarkable visions he experienced almost daily.
Great Boer leaders and prominent figures visited him on his farm in his little flat roofed house with its clay walls and floors, in the district of Wolmaransstad in the Western Transvaal, and were served coffee and rusks by his daughters Anna and Letta. On many occasions, his children saw him leaning on his cane and looking towards the horizon. He would be talking to visitors, who wanted to know whether he had any interesting new visions regarding the future.
A Joseph Within the Family
Van Rensburg’s son, Kallie, was the one who, like Joseph of old, had the ability to interpret his father’s visions. However, at the time, no outsiders knew about this. In the years following the First World War Kallie had noted down his father’s visions and even studied them long after his father’s death. Kallie died in 1966 and although he was no educated person, his insight into and ability to interpret his father’s visions, even astounded his two sisters, Anna and Aletta.
However, shortly before Anna died in a car accident at Rietkuil in 1981, she and her sister, Aletta, spoke about their elder brother’s ‘gift of interpretation’ for the first time.
“If only our brother was still living”, they proclaimed to a journalist, (the late) Koos van der Merwe: “for he had a wonderful talent to understand and interpret Father’s visions. Like Father, Kallie was not well educated, but read the newspapers regularly and knew a lot regarding politics and world affairs. In uncertain times, he would take the book in which Father’s visions were noted and study it and then say to us look, just like Father saw it in his visions! Do you see? And then, we also saw and understood.”
Kallie never married and his brother, Johannes, only married at a late age during 1953. As a result of this, there was no grandson to continue the family name.
Even though Van Rensburg’ other children could not interpret or understand all his visions, they could talk for hours about what their father saw, especially his two daughters, Anna Badenhorst and Letta Botha.
During their last interview with Koos van der Merwe, Anna told of the following vision her father ‘saw’ just before the Rebellion of 1914. The vision was about Van Rensburg and a stranger called Kerneels, standing in the dark at Park Station, Johannesburg and looking at a brown coloured block being rolled out in front of them. All of a sudden the darkness disappeared and it became bright with light and they were then standing in front of a building that had barred windows.
Everything happened accordingly. During January l915, the Rebels laid down their arms at Upington and Seer and the Rebel officers were sent to the Fort at Boksburg. The Seer was imprisoned there and found his cellmate to be the same stranger he saw in the Park Station vision. His name was Kerneels (C.P.) Nieuwenhuizen. They became very good friends and Kerneels Nieuwenhuizen wrote down all the visions the Seer experienced while in prison. The amazing fact is that the Seer also recognised the building with the barred windows as the prison he had seen in his vision. He also foresaw their release (the sudden bright light and recognising the building from the outside).
He did not experience many visions in which his children were directly involved. Yet during the Anglo-Boer War, he said that two of his daughters would die of measles in the concentration camp at Mafeking, after the English took them and two other sisters and their grandparents captive in 1901. The vision of the death of his two little daughters in the concentration camp, would affect him deeply years later.
Fourteen years after that vision, he had another one in which he saw his eldest son, Willem Jacobus, lying on the wrong side of his coat. He described this vision to Mr. Boy Mussmann and his brother’s son and added that this was a bad omen.
Mrs. Maria James, the granddaughter of Van Rensburg tells the story:
Betrayed
“During the Anglo-Boer War in the year 1901, my grandfather’s eldest son, the late uncle Willem, together with my grandmother and two of her younger children, fled from their farm Rietkuil in my grandfather’s horse-drawn cart and linked up with the camp of a certain Mr. Le Roux. This camp was made up of wagons with women, children and elderly people. They camped the night on a farm, Witpoort, which lay to the north-east of Rietkuil.
“The next morning, as it became light, they were overpowered and taken captive by the English officers and traitors (National Scouts). The horse-drawn carts and equestrians escaped. Part of this group that escaped, were my grandfather, the Seer, my grandmother, Annie, and their daughter Aletta, who later became Mrs. Botha. However the wagons with the women and children were captured and taken to Ottosdal, then called Korannafontein. At Ottosdal, all their belongings were burnt and they were escorted in open wagons to the concentration camp at Mafeking.”
Grandfather’s son, Willem, who herded the sheep and cattle outside the camp managed to escape and stay out of enemy hands. Grandfather saw this in a vision where he saw my mother (Hester Coertze) standing alone and a bustard (symbol of a type of wild peacock, depicting treason) walking all around her and the grass stood high and yellow. This was a sign of impending danger.
Not long after, two of his daughters in the concentration camp would appear in a vision again. This was in October of the same year when he saw Anna Catharina and Maria Elizabeth, together with his deceased sister, standing on a ladder. He then knew that they were going to die.
The death of his two little daughters was one of the most traumatic experiences of his lifetime. He had difficulty in coming to terms with this and mourned their deaths for a long time. But these same two daughters, Anna Catharina and Maria Elizabeth would appear in a vision for the third time, precisely 20 years later (five years before his death in 1926).
His Knowledge of Human Nature
The Seer was not so shy that he could be described as being unsociable. According to Aletta, he loved people and his knowledge of human nature was extensive. The fact that he had the gift of foresight also helped.
“The idea that Van Rensburg was of sombre character, was totally wrong,” said Mr. J. Lategan, a friend of the Van Rensburg family. “I became a friend of Van Rensburg, after his release from prison in Johannesburg in 1916. During the next ten years until his death in 1926, an intimate friendship grew between our families. Despite us belonging to different churches, Van Rensburg being a member of the Reformed Church and we were members of the Dutch Reformed Church, he and his wife, Annie, always stayed over at our house during the time of Holy Communion. Whenever they came to town, they stayed at our home. In this way we grew to know and appreciate him and Annie, as sincere Christians and rugged Afrikaners. People, on whom Church and nation could always rely and nothing would ever entice them to divert from the ways of their nation.
Van Rensburg never took much notice of political talk and would quietly sit and listen while people were engaged in such arguments. Sometimes, he would only nod his head when he agreed with someone. One Sunday, just after Church, while sitting at the table, Van Rensburg dominated the conversation for over an hour. In his soft, almost musical voice, he spoke so entertainingly that we just sat listening.”
(He spoke about the reforms that would take place in South Africa, the bloody wars in Iraq, divorce and death of Pri