Do God’s Words Matter Or Should We Listen To Fallen Angels A Little?
William Marrion Branham (April 6, 1909 to December 24, 1965) is so much revered in Pentecostal, Word of Faith, Dominionism, Latter Rain, Charismatic, Full Gospel Business Men Fellowship circles – including the Deeper Life Bible Church – it is important everyone should know who he was and what he preached.
His teachings are the foundation of much of what you hear in these ‘churches’ and fellowships today.
Kenneth Hagin quoted him as inspiration.
Kenneth Copeland quotes him as inspiration.
Benny Hinn quotes him as inspiration.
Joyce Meyer quotes him as inspiration.
Joseph Prince quotes him as inspiration.
David Oyedepo quotes him as inspiration.
The Full Gospel Business Men Fellowship International (FGBMFI) lauded him as one of their best preachers.
William Kumuyi quotes him as inspiration.
The Bible asks us to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” Ephesians 5:11. The word “reprove” is rendered “expose” in some readings of the Bible. We will continue to draw the attention of anyone who cares to listen to the hidden snake pits in the teachings and beliefs of these ‘churches’ and fellowships: God’s truths are settled forever in heaven, Ps 119:89.
This work is not done with glee or because we need to put anyone down. Your enemy and mine is none of the pastors and leaders of these ‘churches’, ministries and fellowships. Our enemy is the Devil that possessed, deceived and controlled William Branham from his birth to his death. He is doing the same with everyone having Branham as his inspiration or following any of these ‘pastors’. Your duty is to ask the Lord Jesus Christ to guide you to all truths as He promised His own. Jeremiah 29:13 “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”
The Bible is the only valid source of knowledge of God we have in the world: the true Holy Spirit of God is fully in support of this truth.
(Even though almost all the teachings of William Branham is heresy, we put Red Flag in places for particular attention).
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The Teachings of “the Prophet” William Branham
What did William Branham “really” teach and believe?
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“We’re identified with him in Acts 2. We’re identified with them, with the same baptism, same thing. All he was then, and all he is, all he was, and all he is, we are. That’s exactly.”
“Same thing by being a true Christian. You have to be identified with it. Red Flag I preached with Moses and war-with Noah and warned the people of the oncoming judgment, to be a real Christian. I was with Moses at the burning bush; I saw the Pillar of Fire; I saw His glory. I was with Moses up there in the wilderness. To be a Christian, I have to be identified with everything God was, to be a Christian. I seen His glory; I heard His voice. Don’t try to explain it away from me now, ’cause I was there. I know what I’m talking about. I seen what happened. Yes, sir!”
Red Flag
“I was at the Red Sea when I seen the Spirit of God move down and part the water from one side, … through about a ninety foot sea. I seen the Spirit of God. I walked with Moses through that dry ground, across that Red Sea. I stood by Mount Sinai and seen the thunder and lightning falling. I eat manna with them out there. I drank from that Rock; I’m still doing it tonight. I was identified with the manna-eaters. I was identified with them that drunk from the rock.”
“I was with John the Baptist and before them critics. I seen the Spirit of God descending; I heard the voice of God say, “This is My beloved Son in Whom I’m pleased to dwell in.” Yes, sir! I sure was Identified with him. That’s exactly right.”
“I was with the 120 in the Upper Room. I was identified up there with them. Oh, 1-1 feel religious. Amen! I was identified there. I’m one of them. I was identified; I got the same experience they had. I was there when it happened, to be a true Christian.” (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US p.27).
This is how far gone he was in his own revelations. He thought he was there throughout history. Is this rational? Is this Biblical? Is this believable? Nowhere does the Bible teach this! Col 2:18 “Let no one cheat you out of your reward, taking delight in FALSE humility, and the worshiping of angels, intruding in those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his carnal mind.”
Branham said the Church is built on “The Rock of Revelation” (Seven Church Ages, p. 13). Jesus taught that he was the sure foundation, there is no other Matthew 7:24 Paul said “The Rock is Christ” who was in the wilderness (I Corinthians 10:4). Peter says the foundation, the Rock, is Christ (1 Pet 2:5-8) Revelation is never what we build on. Paul says there is no other foundation but Christ.
That William Branham was Elijah the Prophet
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag
“It is all over. (speaking for Jesus) I am going to speak all right. Yes, I am here in the midst of the Church. The Amen of God, faithful and true will reveal Himself and it will BE BY MY PROPHET. Oh yes, that is so. Rev 10:7 ‘And in the days of the voice of the seventh messenger, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished as He hath declared to His servants the prophets.’ …. He is sending a vindicated prophet. He is sending a prophet after almost two thousand years. He is sending someone who is so far from organization, education, and the world of religion that as John the Baptist and Elijah of old. He will hear only from God and he will have “thus saith the Lord” and speak for God. He will be God’s mouthpiece and HE, AS IT IS DECLARED IN Malachi 4:6, WILL TURN THE HEARTS OF THE CHILDREN BACK TO THE FATHERS.” ( W. Branham, THE MESSAGE TO THE LAODICEAN AGE p.28).
“He is sending a prophet after almost two thousand years”? You should note the inflated sense of self importance in that statement. He is so special God had never had anyone like him in two thousand years! Even among the millions of true Christians murdered by the Catholic Church for their faith, none was as special as he! The Bible answered such self conceit more than nineteen hundred years before he was born: God always had witnesses, Rom 11:2-4. Readers should note this inflated sense of self importance is common to everyone who sees Branham as inspiration: they do not accept the Bible as defining the boundary of beliefs and behaviour.
Red Flag
“When that Angel, that you see in that picture over there, come down on the river down there that day, thirty years ago come this coming June or thirty-three years ago, rather, this June, and said, “As John the Baptist was sent forth, (before 5,000 people or more) the hour has come when your Message will stray the world” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.51)
William Branham: The Angel was His guide
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“If you haven’t made preparation yet to meet the Lamb in the air, and by the power invested me by my commission given by Almighty God and ministered to me by an Angel, a Pillar of Light” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.112-113 )
“ Now last evening as we always like in teaching on the Seals, we teach it the same way you do on the church ages. When we got finished with teaching the church age, the last time when I drawed them out here on the pulpit on the board–how many remembers what took place? Red Flag He came right down, went right back on the wall and light and drawed it off Himself, right there on the wall before us all. The Angel of The Lord stood right here before several hundred people. And now He’s doing something real supernatural now, too. So we’re just expecting great things.” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.180)
Red Flag “But in the last days, it will have to be a prophet to take up the mysteries of God, . . . ? . . . because the mysteries would only be known by prophets. So it has to be this fellow coming. Do you see what I mean now? He can’t be a reformer; it has got to be a prophet, because it has got to be somebody that is gifted ; and set there that catches the word. ”(The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.145). Red Flag “ the original Bible faith is to be restored by the 7th angel oh, how I love this! All of the mysteries of the Seals that the reformers never understood fully.”( ibid p.147)
No one ever understood the Bible or the Mind of God before “prophet” Branham! No Christian ever understood God before him!
William Branham: False prophecies
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“I never preached anything in my life under inspiration I had to take back, ‘cause I don’t depend on my own understanding.” (Oneness, 2/11/62, V-10, N-2, sermon page 16-87)
Red Flag“ See, immediately after the coming of THIS Elijah, the earth will be cleansed by hate and the wicked burned to ashes. Of course, this did NOT happen at the time of John (the Elijah for his day.)… .” (THE MESSAGE TO THE LAODICEAN AGE p.13).
Did this happen immediately after he died? Branham believed himself to be THIS Elijah, the earth was not cleansed nor the wicked burned.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag“That this age will end around 1977. …, I base this prediction on seven major continuous visions that came to me one Sunday morning in June, 1933. The Lord Jesus spoke to me and said that the coming of the Lord was drawing nigh, but that before He came, seven major events would transpire. ( W. Branham, THE MESSAGE TO THE LAODICEAN AGE, p.29).
“I still maintain this prediction after thirty years because, Jesus DID NOT say no man could know the year, month, week or day in which His coming was to be completed. So I repeat, I sincerely believe and maintain as a private student of the Word, along with divine inspiration that 1977 ought to terminate the-World systems and usher in the millenium.” (Seven Church Ages Page 322)
“ The revival is over. America had her last chance in 1957. Now the tongues, are God’s sign of impending disaster, even as they were when they appeared upon the wall at Belshazzar’s feast….”(W. Branham, THE MESSAGE TO THE LAODICEAN AGE p.29)
According to revivalists today who endorse Branham’s ministry we are currently experiencing a revival of unprecedented proportions. So is Branham a false prophet according to them or are they false according to Branham?
He Opened the 7 Seals?
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag “And the Angels took me into that pyramid of themselves – the mysteries of God known only to them. And now, they were the messengers that come to interpret that pyramid or that Message of the secret of these Seven Seals which lays with inside the pyramid.”
“We find out that during that time I saw seven Angels in a form of a pyramid that swept down and picked me up. And I was brought east to open the Seven Seals for God.” (Commission By Seven Mighty Angels 1963 “Standing in the Gap” Jefferson, IN V-6N7 Sunday 63-0623m “80”).
It is Jesus who alone is worthy to open the 7 seals. He opens them according to the bible and this even has not happened yet no matter what Branham claims. A number of loyalists to Branham have tried to spin this saying the mystery was revealed to him, but he clearly said he opened because he was the angel ordained to do so.
At the same time he also said “Oh, I want to be numbered as one of them in that day, Lord. And I see the day approaching.” You see these Seals begin to . . . If God will open them to us. And remember, He alone can do it” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p.66) So we have confusion unless one wants to admit Branham was God there is no way to reconcile these statements.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“And when the Seals are broken and the mystery is revealed, down comes the Angel, the Messenger, Christ, setting His foot upon the land and upon the sea with a rainbow over His head. Now remember this Seventh angel is on the earth at the time of this coming.” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals,p.74) This is proof that Branham was not the 7th angel as he thought.
The Famous Pillar of fire Picture
Red Flag During his ministry the light was photographed several times. To question whether this was real or not may be redundant. It was the same Pillar of Fire which had been with Branham since the time of his birth. When praying for the sick he would watch the Pillar of fire move around the building from one person to another, revealing the “thoughts and intents” of the heart, the past, the present and the future.
2 Cor 11:13-15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” To have light effects does not prove whether it is from God at all, It just may prove the opposite. Joseph Smith saw pillars of light and angels constantly. Should we accept his message? Being impressed by the supernatural is the oldest con in the book. Literally! Genesis tells us that Satan came disguised in a Snake.
John the Baptist had no fire above his head. The only ones who did were those in the upper room. It happened only once and it was temporary. It had a purpose to show that God sent the holy Spirit to dwell in people. It started the Church. Just because some guy named William has been seen with pictures of a light taken above his head, this became the convincing proof to the Pentecostal followers. So is the stigmata, the blood coming from the hands and feet of the Catholic mystic to the Catholic. Never mind the false doctrine that he was led into by the angel (of light).
Have you seen the light? I don’t mean the physical one that traveled with Branham, but the light of truth of God’s word compared to the deception from this man. If we accept Branham as genuine, then every person who comes with an experience and exhibits the supernatural will woo us. Whoever has the most power and names the name of Christ wins! If we do this we will have no more denominations just like Branham wanted, instead we will see a one world Church.
We don’t have to look too much further to see what he taught is contrary to what God says. Red Flag Branham taught that the Word of God was given in three forms: the Zodiac, the Egyptian pyramids, and the written scripture.(Al Dager, Vengeance is Ours, Sword, p. 59).
God’s nature explained (modalism) forms and offices instead of distinct and personal identities
In explaining how God is seen by people.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“It could be-cannot be seen, but yet, we know that it’s there. And when He changed His form of the en morphe, which means that He changed from supernatural to natural … and He just changed His mask.
And otherwise, it’s like a drama; He was acting. In-in the Greek when they would change their mask, maybe one play one player might’ve acted in several different parts. And my-daughter (present here) … They just had at the high school a-a drama. And they-one boy, that I knowed, played about four parts, but he would go behind the stage and change his- his mask in order to come out to impersonate another character.( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.6 , June 29, 1964, Philadelphia Penn. Vol.3 no.22)”
Red Flag “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is offices of one God. He was the Father; He was the Son; He is the Holy Ghost. It’s three offices or three dispensations,…” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, p. 392).
“Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has one name, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, p.392).
Red Flag “MY REVELATION by the Holy Spirit is: Christ, and the Holy Spirit is the self same person, only in a different form… I Now, that is one of the mysteries of the last days, how that Christ can be the three persons in One. It is not three different people–Father, Son, and Holy Ghost–being three gods as the trinitarians try to tell us it is. It’s three manifestations of the same Person, or you might call it three offices….Notice now, the Holy Spirit and the revelation and Christ is another form That’s right. ” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p.156-157)
He Denied the personality of the Holy Spirit as well. Red Flag“The Holy Spirit is the ‘Word-Manifested Thought’.” (W. M. Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 155).
Red Flag“Then we find, after His death, burial, and resurrection. He came on the day of Pentecost as Son of God-God, the Spirit, in the form, Holy Ghost. What was He doing? He was changing Himself, making Himself known to His people in a different form. Like the Holy Spirit, which is God, He came to deal through the church ages as Son of God, the Holy Spirit.”( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.9)
“What is God? God is a great Eternal. At the beginning, way back before there was a beginning, he wasn’t even God.Red Flag Did you know that? A god is an object of worship, and there wasn’t nothing to worship him; He lived alone. And in him was attributes. What is an attribute? A thought.” (The Spoken Word, Vol. III, pg. 79) So God, Branham’s God needs to be worshipped or he is not God (this is said by a certain Mormon) And what he is- is a thought. We should think about that.
This becomes a most serious error, “Now, we find, God all ages has had skin on It. See? Red Flag(THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.20) This is serious false teaching which denies the one incarnation fulfilled in the New Testament if he always was a man instead of becoming a man at a certain time.
On the Son Jesus Christ
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“See, He came in three names. He came as Son of man, which was prophet. .. He never said He was the Son of God; He said He was the Son of man. Now, today; He is the Son of God, which He returned back, and now He is in the form of the Holy Ghost, the unseen Person. but yet, God, the Son of God. In the Millennium: He sits upon His Father’s Throne, which He’ll be Son of David He revealed Himself first as Son of man, a prophet this age, through the church age, Son of man … or Son of God; and in the other age, Son of David. Three sons! ( p.7)
”before the promised son showed up, God manifested Himself there at Sodom as a prophet, being a man, in flesh, God. Elohim, as I heard someone speak It a while ago, which the Godhead bodily was in Him. He was the fullness. Elohim is the fullness of the Godhead, bodily.( THIS DAY THIS SCRIPTURE IS FULFILLED , p.7)
Elohim is the fullness of the Godhead, BODILY. That’s not what my Bible says. Elohim is God. this makes God a physical being. As we will see Branham thought God was always flesh.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“ He never called Himself the Son of God. He referred to Himself, the-‘Son of man, because He had to come according to the Scripture.”( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.8)
The BIBLE says- Luke 1:35 the angel says he will be called “the Son of God”. Jn 10:36 Jesus said, because I said I am the Son of God.” Jn 5:25; Luke 22:70; Matthew 27:43; Jn 19:7 ; Jn 9:35 He (Jesus) said unto him, Do you now believe on the Son of God? Once again Branham did not know his Bible.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“Now notice. Now, it must be kinsman. So, you see, an Angel couldn’t do it; a man couldn’t do it; it must be a man, but he can’t be born of a woman-a sex act. So the virgin birth, the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, therefore, Jesus was not a Jew. Jesus was not a Gentile. Jesus was God, exactly. His Blood didn’t come from any sex act. He was the holy created Blood of God. And we’re not saved by Jewish blood, neither are we saved by Gentile blood.” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals, p.88)
The Bible says Jesus was born of a woman and that he was indeed a Jew in the flesh, God came to us “in flesh.” If it wasn’t human blood then his sacrifice would not have counted, he had to come by man made in the image of God. This is a denial of what took place in the incarnation of God in the flesh. In fact the Bible says he was born of a woman “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Gal 4:4).
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag “Jesus was created. When the Holy Ghost came upon Mary He created within her the cell that would multiply and become the body of our Lord. That cell was created. It was the beginning of the creation of God. That is who Jesus is.”( An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p37).
Now we have him telling us God was created, when the very name of God “I AM” means eternally existing.
The Bible –Matthew 1:23 the Virgin Mary, was told she would bear “Emmanuel”, “God with us”. John 1:3 “ All things were made through him and without him nothing was made that was made.”
Col 1:16 speaking of the Son “And he is before all things, and in him all things consist.”
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag “People talk about Jesus being the Eternal Son of God. Now isn’t that a contradiction? Whoever heard of a Son being eternal? Sons have beginnings, but that which is eternal never had a beginning.” (“An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages”p.21)
No biblical understanding, especially for a prophet that would restore the true faith. Jesus says he was with the Father in Jn 17 before the world began, making him the Son who co-existed. In the way Branham spoke, did he consider fathers have a beginning too.
In a speech given October 2, 1957 the prophet said, “See, there cannot be an Eternal son, because a son had to have a beginning. And so Jesus had a beginning, God had no beginning,” (“Conduct, Order, Doctrine of the Church, p.273).
Red Flag “What is God? God is a great Eternal. At the beginning, way back before there was a beginning, he wasn’t even God. Did you know that? A God is an object of worship, and there wasn’t nothing to worship him; He lived alone. And in him was attributes. What is an attribute? A thought.” (The Spoken Word, Vol. 3, p. 79).
Branham promoted confusion on God’s nature. The Bible says God always existed and is the one and only God whether one worships him or not. Now Branham denies God for who he is and reduces God to a thought. I wonder who would be thinking this thought?
Branham denied Jesus was God as the Word, he taught the Word was created.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
John 1:1 states that the Word was “with God” and “the Word was God.” Not so says Branham, “In Jn 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and was God and the word was made flesh , and dwelt among us. Now, in the beginning was the word. A word is thought expressed. In the beginning He wasn’t even God.” (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.11).
Here Branham goes completely against the Scripture that says. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John says the very opposite, in the beginning he was God, since God eternally is, one cannot become God at anytime. Branham again did not know what he was teaching. In the beginning He was and continued to be God.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt with us . . . “ God dwelt with us in flesh. He was the Word. Before a word it’s a thought, and a thought has to be created. All right, so God’s thoughts became creation when it was spoken by a word. That is when He presents it to you as a thought, your thought, and it is revealed to you, then it is still a thought until you speak it” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.242)
Here Branham says the very opposite of the Scripture he just read. This is proof his supernatural (if there was any?) manifestations could NOT EVER be from God. He couldn’t even speak straight about His nature.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“So it (is) tonight when we got the other part of the contract. When God tore His Son in two at Calvary, taken the body up for- a sacrifice, and sent the Spirit down to us, that once lived in’ a man, Jesus (that same God is in veil tonight in the form of the Holy Ghost), those two pieces has to come together; then you are part of the contract. God did this to be better known to man, when He made Hisself man.( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, June 29, 1964 philadelphia Penn Vol.3 no.22 p.7).
“But on the day of Pentecost He changed Himself from being the Son of man to the Son of God. He came, not with the people, He came in the people.” ( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.15)
Can someone who is a prophet speak falsely in this manner and have such abusive theology on the nature of God and still have God do the so called mightiest miracles through him? I don’t think so!
The TRINITY
The fundamental doctrine of the faith was attacked by Branham.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“Why don’t you examine your baptism of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that false ‘trinity’ it’s so-called…” (William Braham, “Revelation Chapter 4, #3 (Throne of Mercy and Judgment).
“The Way of a True Prophet,” Branham stated this view as follows: “Why don’t you examine your baptism of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that false `trinity’ it’s so-called, which is nothing in the world but three offices of one God, titles. Red Flag No, name of Father, there’s no such a thing as name, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.” (In the Days of the Voice of the 7th Angel, p. 41).
Branham explained, “…not one place in the Bible is trinity ever mentioned…It’s Catholic error and you Protestants bow to it” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, Q and A, p. 182).
“Look down on your Bible and see if that says `in the names of…’ Does it? No, sir… It said, `in the NAME…’“ Branham continues further to explain the distinction, “You see, you misunderstand it then. It’s one God in three dispensations…. And when He said, `Go baptize them in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit,’ it was Jesus Christ. And that’s why we baptize in Jesus’ Name.” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, pp. 181, 184).
This is fundamental Oneness Pentecostal teaching. Branham essentially denied the nature of God when he said as a prophet “Thus saith the Lord,” trinitarianism is of the Devil” (Footprints, p. 606). Red Flag Denying the very nature of God in even a greater way than he confused and denied Christ was eternal. This is serious because for one to claim to be a true prophet they must have the nature of God correctly explained or God will not use them. Yet he called the trinity “gross error” (The Spoken Word, p. 79)
Branham’s book Conduct, Order, Doctrine of the Church, (1189 pages) the “First thing is to straighten out you on your ‘trinity’ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Red Flag God is like a three-foot rule… The first twelve inches was God, the Father; the second twelve inches, God, the Son, the same God; the third twelve inches was God, the Holy Ghost, the same God,” (pp.182 and 184). Seems to be an influence of his pyramidolgy. “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost is offices of one God. He was the Father; He was the Son; He is the Holy Spirit. It’s three offices in three dispensations, the Fatherhood, the Sonship, and the Holy Ghost dispensation. But Father, Son, and Holy Ghost has one name, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Conduct, Order, Doctrine, p.392).
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag “How can three persons be in one God? Not only is there no Bible for it but it shows even a lack of intelligent reasoning. Three distinct persons, though identical substance, make three gods, or language has lost its meaning entirely. God— He has three offices or – –a threefold manifestation — of the One Person, Jesus.” This trinity (an absolutely unscriptural word) was based -upon many gods of Rome. The polytheistic religion of the enemy began with the Trinitarian doctrine – – – Our modern theologians – — duped by Satan still believe in three persons in the Godhead.” (W. M. Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Churches, pgs. 18-21,184).
“So, you see, Jesus was God. He was not third person, fourth person, second-person; He was Person. He was God, see. He was God Emmanuel. God came down from His glory, revealed Himself . . .” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.89) .
This should be enough proof Branham was indeed Oneness and an embarrassment to them in his teachings also.
This God Branham said “ lived alone. And in him was attributes. What is an attribute? A thought.” (The Spoken Word, Vol. III, pg. 79) and this thought who is God was also flesh “Now, we find, God all ages has had skin on It. See? (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.20)
The Bible says God is spirit, meaning that is His nature. To say God always had SKIN MAKES HIM A MAN BEFORE HIS INCARNATION. If he always was a man then this denies the one incarnation fulfilled in the New Testament. One cannot excuse this as only one false statement, as he has supported it with others. Nor can one excuse this because he said other things that are right. This is a qualifying statement that cannot be overlooked; because it deals with a core doctrine (of) the nature of God. God is Spirit and did not always have flesh, He took up flesh the first time at the incarnation.
And he (Branham) said, “A word is thought expressed. In the beginning He wasn’t even God.” (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.11) Confused would be an accurate summation of his explanations of God’s nature.
What was He before he was God? The Bible says God ALWAYS was God, He is unchangeable.
God’s nature explained further ( a denial of the tri-unity and adhering to modalism)
Direct Quotes from William Branham
“Then we find, after His death, burial, and resurrection. He came on the day of Pentecost as Son of God-God, the Spirit, in the form, Holy Ghost. What was He doing? He was changing Himself, making Himself known to His people in a different form. Like the Holy Spirit, which is God, He came to deal through the church ages as Son of God, the Holy Spirit.”( THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.9)
He (Brahnam) denied the personality of the Holy Spirit as well.Red Flag ‘The Holy Spirit is the ‘Word-Manifested Thought” (W. M. Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 155).
Branham followers don’t like it but it is obvious that Branham taught what is called modalism.
Direct Quotes from William Branham
Red Flag “What is God? God is a great Eternal. At the beginning, way back before there was a beginning, he wasn’t even God. Did you know that? A god is an object of worship, and there wasn’t nothing to worship him; He lived alone. And in him was attributes. What is an attribute? A thought.” (The Spoken Word, Vol. III, pg. 79)
So God, Branham’s God needed to be worshipped or he is not God (this is also said by a certain Mormon). There goes the eternal God. And what is he- a thought. We should think about that.
Baptism in Jesus Name
William Branham insisted that “believers baptized by a Trinitarian formula must be rebaptized in the name of Jesus only.” (Burgess and McGee, Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 95-96)
“Show me one place where God ever had anybody baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Find those things. And yet we constantly do them.” “You show me one place where one person was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, I’ll raise my hands and say I’m a false prophet.” “… I challenge anybody to show me one place where anybody was ever baptized in the name of Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
Now, are you going to listen to false prophecy or the truth? Search the Scriptures. It’s up to you.”
“But no one in the Scripture was ever baptized in any other way but the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And those who were baptized was commanded by St. Paul who said, “If an angel preached anything else let him be accursed,” commanded to them to come and be rebaptized again in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
(William Branham The Serpent’s Seed September 28, 1958 Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana)
Problem is baptism is not the gospel, Jesus death and resurrection is. So his argument is mute.
Branham thought he could change the Bible because he was more than a reformer but a prophet, the last one.
“This last messenger of the last church age-is ..not a reformer, he is a PROPHET! He is not a reformer! Show me where one prophet ever started a church age! He is not a reformer, he is a prophet! Others were reformers but not prophets. If they would have been-the word of the Lord comes to the prophet, that is the reason they continued on in the baptism in Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and all these other things because they were reformers and not prophets.” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.145)
Manifest Sons of God Teaching
Red Flag
William Branham believed in the manifest sons of God doctrine. This became a main heresy of the Latter Rain movement. He claimed he too was a
“god manifested in the flesh.” (not the God) He said: “When I told this to a man the other day, when this piece had come out about this man being healed, this same minister said, “They make a god out of you, Brother Branham.”
Well, he was a critic,… I said, “Is that too far from the Scripture to be that?” See? I said, “No, it isn’t.” I said, “Because Jesus called prophets gods.” See? That’s right. God … And they say, “Well, you people try to take the place of God.”
“That’s not too far out; that’s exactly what it is. That’s exactly! God manifested in flesh, just as He promised.” (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.20)
“In them days it was God in a man, His Son, Jesus Christ. We believe that. Not just a prophet, not just an ordinary man, ordinary human, It was God In Christ, God, in a man, the fullness of the Godhead bodily in a man. God, in a man; now, it’s God in men. See? The fullness of God in the Godhead bodily in His entire Church, manifesting Himself, fullfilling His Word.” (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.20 ).
Here is the Latter Rain teachings in Branham’s theology. We have a manifest Sons of God teaching in the Latter Rain, that is clearly unbiblical. The Church is not God nor the fullness of God, nor is any one person have God in them as Jesus did.
Red Flag This denies the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son because it makes the Church on equality with him as many sons with the same nature.
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Distortions on the Nature of God
William Branham Direct Quote
Red Flag “Now, we find, God all ages has had skin on It. See? God has been hid behind a veil. (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.20)
“And we find out here that God has always had skin on Him. When Moses seen Him, He had skin on Him; He looked like a man. When God was behind the curtains, He had skin on Him. And God, tonight, in His Church is veiled in His Church with skin on Him. He’s still the same God tonight. We find that.
But now, as ever, the skin veil is what catches the traditions. They just can’t believe that that’s God making them people act like that, See? It’s because God’s veiled in His Church, in skin-skin on It. That’s right. He’s hid from the unbeliever, and revealed to the believer. Yes, sir!
Now, when their tradition veil is–of-of traditions of the elders and the Word is broke through (oh, of course, today), then comes in plain view, we see Him, Deity again veiled in human flesh. Hebrews 1 said so, and also Genesis 18. You remember God was a man, standing there eating and talking with Abraham, and told what Sarah was doing in the tent behind It. And Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man,” Deity veiled again in human flesh. (THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US, p.21)
WORD FAITH Teaching
He (Branham) was meditating on the Scripture, “If Ye say unto this mountain, be thou removed and cast into the sea…” He was thinking how he had never preached on that text, but thought also how is it in the Word.
“Now, Adam could say, “Let this mountain here be moved over there,” and it would do it. Adam could say, “Let this tree, here, be plucked up and planted over here”; it would do it, see, for he had complete, supreme control, as a minor god under God, our Father, because he was a son of God.”(The Revelation of the Seven Seals p.83) Now we know where Benny Hinn was inspired to say Adam could fly.
“(On that side he’s a son of God-he’s an offspring from God. He’s an inheritance of the earth. He can control nature. He can speak into existence. Why, he’s a creator himself. He’s an offspring of God. “(Ibid p.62)
Just as these thoughts went through his mind, a Voice spoke to him and said,
“What do you want now? Say it and you can have it.”Red Flag The Voice repeated, “What do you want now? Say it and you can have it.” he answered, “I’d like to have three squirrels.”( In August 1964, Branham, related these details to Pearry Green. Sidney Jackson”“A young lady who was born with her eyes crossed and who was attending Bible School in Fort Wayne during the meeting there said to Mrs. Bosworth who was back at the book stand, “I can’t see how I can ever get into that healing line, there are so many.” Mrs. Bosworth said to her, “You won’t need to. You just sit back here and ask God to lift your faith to the healing level, and you will pull from the gift the healing virtue.” It is said Branham felt a steady pull of faith from the audience, he felt the pull of faith.
All this is non- biblical, our faith is toward God and not felt, faith means to believe and trust.
(“Say it and you can have it”. Hope the reader can see whatever Voice spoke this was not from God. Things happen because you said it, not because God sanctioned it! That is the witchcraft and occultism now widely taught in these so-called ‘churches’)
“Brother Branham, my two sons are not saved. That is what I want. May they be saved”Red Flag He said, “I give you your two sons in the name of the Lord.” Those boys who before had been laughing and jesting as boys do. They who had no thought of turning to God, nor any desire to serve Him, suddenly turned pale. God’s Spirit came upon them in soul shaking dynamism and they cried out and fell down in repentance before the Lord. “(God’s gift to sister Hattie)
William Branham Direct Quote
“Ye abide in Me and My words abide in you, then ask what you will and it shall be given to you.” Where’s the Church standing at? “Let there be frogs,” and there wasn’t a frog in the country. In an hour’s time, they were ten feet deep in places. What was it? It was God, the Creator, hiding Himself in a simple man.
Now, I want to ask you something. If the blood of a bull or a goat be used for a bleach, which can only cover, could put a man in position to speak the creative Word of God and bring flies into existence, why would you stumble at the Bleach of Jesus Christ’s Blood Who could speak a squirrel or something into existence?
Don’t you do it! Don’t stumble over simplicity. Believe that He still remains God. Oh, my! Pardon the sin. Oh, how I wish I could . . . Then, Mark 11:22: “”You say to this mountain ‘be moved’ and don’t doubt in your heart, but believe that what you’ve said will come to pass, you can have what you said.” (The Revelation of the Seven Seals. p.64)
Serpent’s Seed Teaching
Red Flag
Branham taught that Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) was sexual sin. According to Branham, Eve was seduced into a sexual relationship with the serpent and became impregnated with her son Cain. He explained,
“Here is what actually happened in the Garden of Eden. The Word says that Eve was beguiled by the serpent. She was actually seduced by the serpent. He was as close to being a human that his seed could, and did mingle with that of the woman and cause her to conceive.” (The Original Sin, pp. 2, 3).
Since THREE sons were born from TWO acts of Adam, You know POSITIVELY that ONE of those three WAS NOT the son of Adam – – – The truth of the matter is that eve had two sons in her womb TWO sons (twins) from separate impregnations. She was carrying twins, with Cain’s conception sometime previous to that of Abel’s.” (W. M. Branham, An Exposition of The Seven Church Ages, pp. 98, 100-101).
William Branham said that Eve’s sin involved sexual relations with the serpent, but the “seed of God” were Branham’s followers, otherwise known as “the Bride” or “the New Breed” (The Toronto Blessing, Stephen Sizer, 1990).
The serpent’s seed was Cain and all his descendants. They are predestined for Hell. The Godly seed is Seth and his descendants who have been revealed by their call to Branham’s ministry. A third group, represented by those still in denominational churches have freewill to choose Heaven or Hell. The Godly seed are the Bride of Christ and will be raptured before Tribulation. Denominations are or eventually will be the Mark of the Beast and those who remain therein will go through the Tribulation. (Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, p. 96).
“Here is what actually happened in the Garden of Eden. The Word says that Eve was beguiled by the serpent. She was actually seduced by the serpent. He was as close to being a human that his seed could, and did mingle with that of the woman and cause her to conceive” (William Branham, The Original Sin, pp. 2, 3)
“Eve’s eating was adultery with the serpent, Proverbs 30:20. Remember, he was not a snake at this point. That curse came after the act. … It was not an apple that caused Adam and Eve to realize they were naked. But it was a sex act. …
The serpent was an upright handsome creature. He was, in fact, `the missing link’ that science even in their unspiritual wisdom, can see is missing `between man and monkey.’ … Satan used this creature to get himself into the Human race.” (Was it an Apple? (Lima, Oh: Bible Believers of Lima).
“The serpent is that missing person between the chimpanzee and the man, ’cause, listen, notice this now, that the serpent was not a reptile. 23-4 What did he do? He begin making love to Eve. And he lived with her as a husband. And she saw it was pleasant, so she went and told her husband; but she was already pregnant by Satan. And she brought forth her first son whose name was Cain, the son of Satan.” Now, this serpent, when he stood there… This great big giant of a fellow stood up there. He was guilty of committing adultery with Adam’s wife. Where’s sin lay today? What makes things the way they are today?”
Go read your Bibles to see if this is how it happened.
“Now, Noah and his sons which come out, Ham, Shem, and Japheth, come out in the righteous line. How did the seed ever get over? The seed come over in the ark, just like it did in the beginning through the woman, their wives. They carried the seed of Satan through the ark, just as Eve packed the seed of Satan to give birth to Cain, through the woman. (William Branham The Serpent’s Seed delivered Sunday evening, September 28th 1958 at the Branham Tabernacle in Jeffersonville, Indiana, U.S.A.)
The Bible says, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. (Ge.4:1) He did not say I have gotten a man from Satan, who would know? Adam or Branham?
Distorted View of Women
Red Flag
Branham had a distorted view of woman because of his father which may have led him to misunderstand what occurred in the garden.
“I…This was my remarked then, THEY’RE NOT WORTH A GOOD CLEAN BULLET TO KILL THEM WITH IT.’ That’s right. And I hated women. That’s right. And I just have to watch every move now, to keep from still thinking the same thing.” (William M. Branham, ‘My Life Story’ , p.27 (Spoken Word Publications, undated).
This animosity could have been responsible for his “revelation” that allowed for divorce. ( ‘All Things Are Possible’, p.162)
As well as his fifth vision which he blamed the moral problem of our age, mostly around women. “God showed me that women began to be out ‘of their place with the granting of the vote. Then they cut off their hair,” The lord never told believers to obey his law.
The Zodiac and Pyramids
Red Flag
He taught “The streets of gold have been paved. The gates of gigantic pearls are raised and hinged. Like a pyramid she stands so fair and glorious.”(the Last warning)
Branham taught that the Word of God was given in three forms, the zodiac, the Egyptian pyramids, and the written scripture.”(Al Dager, Vengeance is Ours, P. 59)
The idea that the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt was constructed by Enoch as a memorial to God ( All Things Are Possible, p. 162).
Kurt Koch’s comments
Kurt Koch wrote: “…Branham’s parents believed in fortune telling and he was burdened through occultism at an early age.” Branham, has a pyramid shaped tombstone. So he was very much influenced by paganism
Branham said the ZODIAC AND THE EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS were equal to the Scriptures in the revelation of God’s word. He has a pyramid shaped tombstone in Indiana. (William M. Branham, Adoption (Jeffersonville, IN: Spoken Word Publications), pp. 31,104)
The names of the churches superimposed over the men’s names in the following order: Ephesian-Paul ; Smyrnea-Ireneaus ; Pergamean-Martin ; Thyatirean-Columba ; Sardisean-Luther; Philadelphia-Wesley; Laodicean-Branham (well named since he represents this church age perfectly with being a false prophet of the church) I find it somewhat interesting to assign men to each church when the bible does not, and then to put oneself in the book of Revelation. What humility!
William Branham believed in three bibles. He claimed that in addition to the written bible that we all know, there are two others: “The first one, he put in the sky, the Zodiac…he made the next one in the pyramid, back in the days of Enoch…(Robert Livesay, Understanding deception, new wine press 1989)
This is pure occultism. People involved in esoterism and theosophy have believed this long before Branham.
No Hell
William Branham Direct Quote
Red Flag “Satan – – awaits his ‘time of eternal annihilation – We believe that he will absolutely be done completely away and annihilated. —Is the lake of fire hell Eternal? No, sir. No, sir Anything that was created is not Eternal — If anybody ever tells you that you’re going to burn in an Eternal hell, I want the scripture for it — it was created for that to destroy.”
“Everlasting; does not compare with what is eternal or that which had no beginning or end everlasting means ‘to the vanishing point.’ Destruction– in II Thess.1:9 -Positively mean annihilation – – to destroy to the ending point. His body he uses as the antichrist gets destroyed but not his spirit as the book of Rev. 20 tells us he is incarcerated alive for the 1,000 year period in the bottomless pit.
Now don’t let anyone say that I don’t believe in a lake of fire and in punishment. I do. I don’t know how long it will last, but it will eventually be removed. In Rev.21:8, it says that at those sinners mentioned will have their part in the lake of fire. But the true interpretation of the word is not ‘part’ but it is ‘time’.” (W. M. Branham, The Revelation of the Seven Seals, pp. 28, 48; W. M. Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, pp. 134-135).
Here Branham changes the words of the book of Revelation with no equivocation. No TRUE prophet would change the words of Scripture. The Greek word is meros- a part, due or assigned to one lot, destiny, a measure, to some degree, as respects a part, severally, individually. It has no time limit.
We owe much to the authors at http://letusreason.org/Latrain4.htm
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The foregoing is a general overview of the teachings and beliefs of William Branham. He was a deceived man used by fallen angels to accomplish their purposes of deceiving the people and besmearing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Like his successors in Pentecostal, Full Gospel, Charismatic and Word-of-Faith fellowships and ‘churches’ today, Branham and his followers never cared how they distorted the Bible. The signs and wonders were all that mattered to them. And like their followers today, they never cared that those signs and wonders didn’t come from the Author of the Bible.
If one of the main founders of Pentecostalism, Word of Faith, Dominionism and Charismatic ‘Christianity’, the signs-and-wonders man each one of them wants to be like, was a man who rarely had one view or belief in line with the Bible, no right-thinking person can be appalled at the amount of Satan’s involvement and control of the ‘church’ in early 21st century.
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