David Schoch, a prophet of God

If there's one thing the Latter Rain Movement of 1948 is known for - it's prophecy (but, of course, there is more than one thing!) The LRM was used to restore to the Church the kind of prophecy that strengthens, encourages, and comforts (1 Cor. 14:3) and the kind that confirms gifting in a person's life (1 Tim. 4:14).

The late David Schoch (1920-2007) was a man used mightily in both forms and had a most effective ministry for decades.

Charisma magazine's obituary reads this way:

"David E. Schoch, a prophetic minister who became prominent in the Latter Rain movement of the 1950s and 1960s, died July 19 in his Benbrook, Texas home. Schoch founded what is now known as City at the Cross in Long Beach, Calif., and ministered around the world during 60 years of ministry.... He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Audene; a brother, daughter, son, eight grand children and five great grandchildren."

Schoch experienced the Latter Rain Movement at Immanuel Temple in Los Angeles (pastored by A. Earl Lee) back in 1948. Then in July 1950 he had this dramatic experience at Immanuel Temple:

"A prophet from Ireland named Adam McKeown was in the congregation on the morning that the Lord spoke to us. Pastor [Fred] Poole was speaking. There were about a thousand people in that morning service. The word of the Lord came to this Irish prophet, who began to call different ones by name and he set them into office. I didn't know this man and he didn't know me, but God knows who you are. All of a sudden the word of the Lord came, and he called my name. He didn't even mispronounce it.


McKeown and Poole

"He said, 'I've called my servant David Schoch to be a prophet to the nations, and I'm setting him apart and calling him out from secular life.' And then he prophesied something that was completely a surprise to me. He said that when I was born, my mother had received a phenomenal visitation which had to do with my calling and my ministry. I questioned him, asking whether he had any understanding or any knowledge of what he had prophesied. He said that is all he had received from the Lord. After the prophetic word came, they set us aside and ordained us to the ministry of the Lord.

"I took this man, Brother McKeown, home with me at one in the morning. I awakened my mother, who was living in Pasadena, and said, 'I must talk to you.' She said, 'Alright.' Then I brought Brother McKeown in, and I said to her, 'Tell me what happened when I was born. Did God visit you? Was there something that happened to you concerning my birth?' And my mother started to cry. She said, 'Who told you? I have said nothing to anyone except your father.' My father had died about three years prior to that. I explained to her how the word of the Lord had come to Brother McKeown. Then she told me about a vision God had given her in relationship to the call of God. I prefer to leave that just between the Lord and myself." [Schoch's full account - with much more detail about the LRM at Immanuel Temple - can be read on John Adams' blog, Latter Rain Movement).

Schoch's Pentecostal roots go all the way back to Azusa Street as his parents were baptized in the Spirit in that revival. His brothers Ray and Paul were also Full Gospel preachers.

Adam McKeown's word to David Schoch definitely came to pass as Schoch went on to become a

Dick Iverson and David Schoch

prophet renowned for his accuracy and integrity. Sadly that cannot be said of everyone that prophesied back then. Dick Iverson, the founder of Bible Temple and Portland Bible College in Oregon, wrote the following:

"David Schoch ... and Pastor Reg Layzell ... were two sincere men of God who came out of the 'latter rain' movement dedicated to protecting and keeping pure the fruit of that outpouring. While others twisted, distorted, and indulged in various chicanery, these men among a handful of others, preserved the essence of the Holy Spirit's great gifting" (The Journey: A Lifetime of Prophetic Moments)

Schoch was not a minister who just gave prophetic utterances, though - the man could preach! But often as he paced back and forth across a platform boldly proclaiming the word of God he would suddenly stop and say something like, "If you'll permit me - I've got a word for this couple ... seated right back there behind the man with the yellow shirt ... yes, you - the Lord says ....", and then he would go on to spell out what the Lord was showing him.

Sue Curran

Sue Curran, who founded Shekinah Church in Blountville, Tennessee in 1973 with her husband John, knows that experience:

"We were still in the earliest stage of developing our property and constructing our buildings, and we had only a small congregation working with us. John and I went for a visit to the church in Virginia Beach, pastored by our friends, John and Anne Gimenez. It turned out to be a fortuitous visit, indeed.

"We were entirely incognito in the congregation while Prophet David Schoch was ministering. We had not been introduced. Suddenly, he interrupted his message to point to my husband and me, and he began to speak to us personally in an authoritative, yet comforting, voice. I will never forget his words:

I have a word for the young couple that is standing near the drummer boy. You have begun a work that is very unusual. It is a church, but more than a church. You have land and buildings ... it is more like a community. And the Lord wants you to know that when you return to your charge you will find that He is sending responsible people to help with your ministry. You will find that he has gone before you to prepare for every need. It's going to be a new day for you from this moment.

"That prophetic word of encouragement began to be fulfilled shortly after we returned to our home, and it has continued to be true to this day. God sent professional people who embraced the vision, helping with their skills and financial resources, as well as with their commitment to prayer and to living the commandments of Jesus.

"From that time, Prophet David Schoch and his wife, Audene, became personal friends who ministered with us in conferences and mentored us. We grew to deeply appreciate the accurate, godly prophetic ministry of David Schoch that edified our lives and ministry. Some in our congregation have described his godly character as liquid love flowing over every life he touched, bringing the healing power of God to them" (Define Your Destiny Through Prayer: Your Journey to Divine Revelation).

Once at the Bethesda Missionary Temple during the dark days of recession early in Ronald Reagan's presidency, Schoch challenged the leaders and congregation to band together in intercessory prayer every Sunday morning until the economic stranglehold on Detroit was broken. That was in November 1982 - the very month that economists like Jimmy Pethokoukis tell us the Reagan Recovery began.

In 1961, a young man named Dennis Balcombe believed that the Lord told him that he was going to be used in ministry in Red China - remember that was 1961 he heard that! The prospects for ministry in Red China were not very promising in 1961, not very promising at all.

Two years later, Balcombe started attending the church David Schoch pastored in Long Beach, which was then called, Bethany Chapel:

"The Bethany church conducted occasional prophecy sessions during which prophets would take turns to pray over individuals according to the word they received from the Lord. In one such meeting a prophet said that I had been called 'into full-time ministry'; a second one noted that I was 'to leave the United States and go overseas.' Yet another added that I would be 'ministering to people who have yellow skin and black hair.' And then David Schoch prophesied, 'I see this young man is going to Red China.' What confirmations! Pastor Schoch went on to release spiritual gifts into my life, gifts that included prophecy, healing, and words of knowledge."

In 1966, Balcombe was drafted in the U. S. Army, which was then engaged in the Vietnam War.

"Before I left Long Beach for my inductive courses, David Schoch delivered another prophetic prayer over me, 'You will go [to Vietnam] and you will come back because God is going to send you to Red China to preach the gospel. Not one hair on your head will be harmed'" (China's Opening Door: Incredible Stories of the HOLY SPIRIT at Work in One of the Greatest Revivals in Christianity).

In 1978, Balcombe did begin ministering in Red China! You can hear Dennis tell that wonderful story in this video (including the David Schoch part of the story).

Lastly - though there would be no difficulty writing more - there is the startling word Schoch gave to Dick Iverson's Portland, Oregon church years ago. Iverson writes:

"David Schoch came to Bible Temple for our 'prophetic assembly' in April, 1973, and one morning when he began to prophesy, his word was almost a rebuke to us. 'Rise up and don't profane my word. Knock out these four walls and build as I said.' Then he prophesied that we should go back and listen to what the Lord had already said to us.

"Even as he spoke I thought to myself, 'There's no way we can knock out these four walls.' We had attempted to buy the remaining land behind us and to the side of us but it was not available. Now the Lord was saying to rise up and knock out the four walls.

"Brother Schoch continued, 'Even now the walls are falling.' I thought to myself, 'I sure hope you are in the Spirit, Brother Schoch, because there's no way we can build any more here.' Also, I worried that what he'd said would bring confusion to the people who had supported my efforts to buy out in the suburbs.

"The very same day of the prophecy, one of the Bible college students came to me and said, 'You know, the home that joins our property in the back of the building?' I said, 'Yes,' knowing it quite well as that particular piece of property was critical if we were ever to build more in that neighborhood. The house was on a very large lot and I'd tried to buy it many times. However, since the owners hated the church, they had absolutely refused to sell.

"'Well,' the student went on, 'last night something strange happened. We heard this loud crash like a car wreck and when we went outside to investigate, we discovered that the retaining wall on that property had fallen down.'

"The full length of that retaining wall which had stood in front of the house for probably fifty or sixty years had fallen over onto the sidewalk for no apparent reason. Suddenly I remembered the prophecy, 'even now the walls are falling.' And, of course, the prophet had spoken with no knowledge of what was going on outside.

"I went back into the office and asked our administrator, Warren Steele, to write a check for ten thousand dollars. He looked at me with amazement and said we didn't have ten thousand dollars in the bank. I told him to write the check anyway and I would make sure it was covered. I knew the Holy Spirit had spoken to us and that God was doing something supernatural.

"I walked over to the neighbor's house and knocked on the door. I'd talked to him many times in the past, and he'd always mocked the church while refusing to sell. This time, though, when he came to the door and I asked him again he agreed to sell. Of course, he wanted more than it was worth - fifty thousand - but I gave him the ten thousand as earnest money and within thirty days we'd raised the additional forty thousand from among the congregation. The wall falling down as confirmation of the prophetic word was a rather dramatic testimony as to what the Lord wanted us to do." (The Journey: A Lifetime of Prophetic Moments)

Now, it may appear that I have taken up quite a bit of space merely writing about a man - David Schoch - and the gift of prophecy. That perception will get you accused in some quarters of "lifting up Man" and "being more focused on gifts than on Jesus". To those prone to leveling such criticism, I would gently remind that:

"It was he [Jesus] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers" (Eph. 4:11, NIV)

and

"the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10, NIV).

We praise God for all that he is ... and we thank him for his gifts!

[The video below has the audio of David Schoch prophesying and preaching at Gospel Temple in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the church founded by Fred C. Poole who was mentioned above. This recording, though, was made in 1967 after Fred Poole was deceased and his son John was the pastor. NOTE: the video is distorted in some places, but the distortion does not last long.]

Schoch and Spiers - Latter Rain rally with Layzell ... 1951 · Wed, Aug 29, 1951 – Page 7 · The Chilliwack Progress (Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada) · Newspapers.com David Schoch, Omar Johnson, Max Wyatt (1952) 14 Nov 1952, Fri The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon) Newspapers.com Poole, Fox, the Schochs, Kelso Glover (Sept 1958) 27 Sep 1958, Sat Independent (Long Beach, California) Newspapers.com David Schoch at Elim (Jul 1959) 04 Jul 1959, Sat Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) Newspapers.com 1964 CONVENTION - Fox, Gentile, and Schoch 31 Oct 1964, Sat The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California) Newspapers.com Beall and Gentile w/Schoch (Oct 1969) 04 Oct 1969, Sat Press-Telegram (Long Beach, California) Newspapers.com 3 Schoch brothers together (1970) 27 Jun 1970, Sat Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com Charles Green, Leonard Fox, David Schoch (Oct 1975) 11 Oct 1975, Sat The San Bernardino County Sun (San Bernardino, California) Newspapers.com Presbytery convention - Layzell, Schoch, Schuetz (Dec 1976) 04 Dec 1976, Sat Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com Pemberton, Schoch, Lea, Boschman, Flowers (Jul 1980) 19 Jul 1980, Sat Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) Newspapers.com David Schoch in Arizona in 1981 18 Apr 1981, Sat Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona) Newspapers.com Schoch "modern day apostle and prophet" ... Boschmans ... Joseph and Florence Rowe (1983) 14 May 1983, Sat The Sun (Biloxi, Mississippi) Newspapers.com Beall, Meares, Schoch in Charlotte (Oct 1986) 11th anniversary 11 Oct 1986, Sat The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, North Carolina) Newspapers.com Paino, Schoch in Nashville (Apr 1987) 04 Apr 1987, Sat The Tennessean (Nashville, Tennessee) Newspapers.com Schoch in MS (1988) 12 Mar 1988, Sat Hattiesburg American (Hattiesburg, Mississippi) Newspapers.com Hayford with LR ministers (Jan 1988) 20 Jan 1988, Wed Monrovia News-Post (Monrovia, California) Newspapers.com David Schoch and H. L. Chesser ministering in NY (1999) 04 Aug 1999, Wed Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York) Newspapers.com

The restoration of prophecy in the Latter Rain revival

The Latter Rain revival that began in North Battleford, Saskatchewan in February 1948 was refreshing and restorative. Pentecostal historian Vinson Synan explains,

The Pentecostal movement was at a low ebb in 1948, with a growing dryness and lack of charismatic gifts.  Many who heard about the events in Canada believed that it was a new Azusa Street, with many healings, tongues and prophecies (emphasis mine; quote is from An Eyewitness Remembers the Century of the Holy Spirit).

Ernest Gentile

Ernest Gentile is a veteran author, pastor, and prophet (M. D. Beall referred to him as "a seer"), and summarizes well what is meant when we read about prophecy in the New Testament:

"Explained simply, prophecy occurs when a prophetically inspired person extends his or her faith like a spiritual antenna, receives some divine thoughts from God and then speaks them forth by the power of the Holy Spirit to an individual or group for the glory of God" (from Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy: Prophetic Gifts in Ministry Today).

Gentile's book is a tremendous resource. In the book's foreward, the late C. Peter Wagner wrote, "Your Sons and Daughters Shall Prophesy is one of a kind - a book that anyone who wants to be thoroughly informed about prophetic ministry today should read and digest. It is loaded with excellent research on biblical foundations, prophecy through Church history and the prophetic movement today."

Gentile, who co-pastors in New Mexico with his wife Anna, has also helpfully made available free of charge a 10-page compendium of prophecy references in the New Testament. That document can be accessed at this link.

"Local church prophecy springs from the same anointing and inspiration that causes a person to speak in tongues," Gentile writes in Your Sons & Daughters. "Fluency in personal, devotional 'spiritual language' greatly facilitates the ability to experience inspiration and speak with prophetic unction. Tongues and prophecy are closely allied and have an overlapping effect, since they are both inspired utterance."

Many Christians have been taught to be wary of the type of prophecy that was restored in the Latter Rain revival - the type that Gentile is talking about. Their teachers have told them that it is dangerous because, among other things, it is an attempt to add to God's Word, the Bible. In the following three-paragraph passage from Your Sons & Daughters, Gentile pastorally corrects this erroneous thinking,

I contend (here and throughout the book) that we should expect actual prophecy - that is, direct statements of God's immediate thoughts for a given situation and people, delivered under the impetus of the Holy Spirit. The prophetic anointing brings an electrifying, edifying effect not achievable with ordinary preaching and teaching.

Prophecy comes as a "now word," the present expression of a contemporary God who is truly present and concerned. The truths and principles of the Scripture suddenly focus on a specific audience at a specific place at a specific time. This was brought home to me when a teenage girl told me after a prophetic service in her Oklahoma City church, "Although I've gone to church, I never realized before that God was really that interested in me...."

Prophecy is not meant to replace or supersede the Bible, but when used properly it does make Bible truths more relatable by awakening people to realize God is interested in them, both now and in their future.

Charles Green speaking a Word

A prophecy I heard back in the mid-1970s in New Orleans, Louisiana illustrates perfectly what Gentile is saying. It was at a convention at Word of Faith Temple, pastored by Charles Green.

The prophecy was not a recitation of the events of Luke 5:1-11, but the prophecy's theme was based in that Biblical passage. With many pastors present in the large gathering, Green prophesied to the effect that: many ministers had toiled all night and were discouraged ... and wondered if they should give up their nets ... but the Word of the Lord was coming to them that they should launch out into the deep and let down their nets ... because the Lord was going to give them a great catch (I have not put any part of my greatly-abbreviated account of the prophecy in quotes, and have had to make use of ellipses because four decades later I cannot quote it verbatim, but its highlights, eloquence, and dynamism remain with me to this day - and, no doubt, also to any pastors who came to the convention discouraged but went home and experienced a "harvest" of souls).

In that prophecy, Pastor Green was not in any way adding to the Word of God, but the Spirit was inspiring him to link Luke 5 to the situation of discouraged pastors present. In effect, the same words that motivated Peter to "launch out into the deep [waters]" were now being used to motivate and re-energize a specific group of 20th-century pastors for their task.

Here are links to two more prophecies given by ministers with Latter Rain revival backgrounds (just as Gentile and Green have):

• Charlotte Baker 
• Moses Vegh

In addition to congregational prophecy, personal prophecy (as in I Timothy 4:14) was restored during the Latter Rain revival. Commenting on the initial Latter Rain outbreak at the church M. D. Beall pastored (Bethesda Missionary Temple), the pastor's daughter, Patricia Beall Gruits, wrote, "Although there had been a revival that began years earlier at Bethesda, this Sunday [December 5, 1948] marked the beginning of what would be known as a Latter Rain Revival - a revival marked by a new sound of worship and the laying on of hands with prophecy" (included in her mother's memoir, A Hand on My Shoulder).

Three examples of this type of prophecy, delivered in prophetic presbyteries, are included below:

• David Schoch prophesying
• Moses Vegh and Phil Stern prophesying
• Elim Fellowship ministers prophesying

A DRAMATIC TESTIMONY

Charles Green and David Schoch both delivered prophecies at Bible Temple in Portland, Oregon back in 1973 that dramatically underscore the validity and blessing of prophecy (today, Bible Temple is known as City Bible Church).

Dick Iverson was senior pastor of Bible Temple and president of Portland Bible College at the time and in his book, The Journey: A Lifetime of Prophetic Moments, he recounts how Green had prophesied that Bible Temple should begin a much-needed building project. However, Iverson and his congregation did not seem to be able to get the project off the ground. The following lengthy quote from the book picks up the story where Schoch arrives and was prompted to give a follow-up prophecy to Green's.

David Schoch came to Bible Temple for our "prophetic assembly" in April, 1973, and one morning when he began to prophesy, his word was almost a rebuke to us. "Rise up and don't profane my word. Knock out these four walls and build as I said." Then he prophesied that we should go back and listen to what the Lord had already said to us.

Even as he spoke I thought to myself, "There's no way we can knock out these four walls." We had attempted to buy the remaining land behind us and to the side of us but it was not available. Now the Lord was saying to rise up and knock out the four walls.

Brother Schoch continued, "Even now the walls are falling." I thought to myself, "I sure hope you are in the Spirit, Brother Schoch, because there's no way we can build any more here." Also, I worried that what he'd said would bring confusion to the people who had supported my efforts to buy out in the suburbs.

The very same day of the prophecy, one of the Bible college students came to me and said, "You know, the home that joins our property in the back of the building?" I said, "Yes," knowing it quite well as that particular piece of property was critical if we were ever to build more in that neighborhood. The house was on a very large lot and I'd tried to buy it many times. However, since the owners hated the church, they had absolutely refused to sell.

"Well," the student went on, "last night something strange happened. We heard this loud crash like a car wreck and when we went outside to investigate, we discovered that the retaining wall on that property had fallen down."

The full length of that retaining wall which had stood in front of the house for probably fifty or sixty years had fallen over onto the sidewalk for no apparent reason. Suddenly I remembered the prophecy, "even now the walls are falling." And, of course, the prophet had spoken with no knowledge of what was going on outside.

I went back into the office and asked our administrator, Warren Steele, to write a check for ten thousand dollars. He looked at me with amazement and said we didn't have ten thousand dollars in the bank. I told him to write the check anyway and I would make sure it was covered. I knew the Holy Spirit had spoken to us and that God was doing something supernatural.

I walked over to the neighbor's house and knocked on the door. I'd talked to him many times in the past, and he'd always mocked the church while refusing to sell. This time, though, when he came to the door and I asked him again he agreed to sell. Of course, he wanted more than it was worth - fifty thousand - but I gave him the ten thousand as earnest money and within thirty days we'd raised the additional forty thousand from among the congregation. The wall falling down as confirmation of the prophetic word was a rather dramatic testimony as to what the Lord wanted us to do.

Brother Schoch had also prophesied that we were to go back and listen to what God had previously said, and, when we did go back to Charles Green's prophetic word we found it very interesting. The word of the Lord that came through Brother Green was that we were to rise and build for the Lord was going to make us a praise in the city. We then realized our searching for acreage outside the city limits had not been intended by the Lord. We were to be a praise in the city! So we committed ourselves to building where we were.

We immediately launched a fund raising project and began to buy up other properties in the general area, both for parking and for the Bible college. We also began to draw up plans for a new auditorium to seat fifteen hundred people (in The Journey: A Lifetime of Prophetic Moments).

Finally, in the videos below, David Cannistraci and Robert Morris give teachings on prophecy.