Hagin Branham Prophecy

William Branham and His Message

Home / Controversial Prophecies / Controversial Teachings / Issues & Events in WMB’s Life / Key Message Scriptures / William Branham Quote Book / The Gospel

Was Kenneth Hagin’s Prophecy of Wm. Branham's Death from the Lord?
On pages 165-166 of his 1973 book, He Gave Gifts Unto Men, Kenneth Hagin recalls a prophecy he made during a prayer session in January 1964. The prophecy said,

“At the end of ’65, he who now stands in the forefront of the healing ministry as a prophet will be taken out of the way. He’ll make a false step and Satan shall destroy his life, but his spirit will be saved, and his works will follow him. Ere ’66 shall come, he shall be gone.” (as quoted in, “The Enigma of William Branham”, by Andrew Strom, http://www.harvestnet.org/lookback/wmbranham.htm)

Many people, including Hagin, claim this prophecy was a prediction of the death of William Branham. Was this prophecy inspired by God? Many believe it was. However, I believe there are many reasons to disregard this prediction as nothing more than one false prophet predicting the death of another false prophet. I believe it is important to note that according to Hagin this prophecy was not made public until after William Branham was killed in a car accident in 1965. There remains, therefore, a lack of concrete evidence as to what Hagin actually predicted before WMB’s death. All we have is Hagin’s after-the-fact rendition of what this prophecy allegedly said. Although he says in his book that he brought it to WMB’s former campaign manager, Gordon Lindsay, we have no independent corroborating evidence of what it actually said. Freda Lindsay, Gordon Lindsay’s wife, wrote the only known account affirming the prophecy’s existence before WMB’s death in her 1976 book, My Diary Secrets. On page 152, she does not quote the prophecy but only states that she was present at the time Hagin approached Gordon Lindsay in his office with the prophecy two years before Branham’s death. She described the prophecy as indicating that “the leader of the deliverance movement was soon to be taken in death because he was getting into error and the Lord was having to remove him from the scene for that reason.” She said that after Hagin left, she asked her husband if the prophecy referred to William Branham. He exclaimed, “Yes, It is Branham. He is getting into error. He thinks he is the messenger of the covenant.”

I would like to take this time to analyze the content of this prophecy and comment on it one segment at a time.

Segment 1: “At the end of ’65, he who now stands in the forefront of the healing ministry as a prophet will be taken out of the way.”

The prophecy never identifies the prophet’s name. It seems obvious that it referred to William Branham based on his reputation as a mighty prophet among those in the Pentecostal movement of the day. Hagin and Lindsay later agreed that it referred to WMB.

Segment 2: “He’ll make a false step . . .”

According to the prophecy, the reason for the prophet’s death would be some particular unidentified transgression that he had yet to commit. If the prophecy indeed refered to WMB, then his death would not be because of anything he had done up to that point in time. In other words, if it referred to WMB, then it could not have meant that anything concerning WMB’s role as a prophet was an issue since the prophecy predicted a future "false step" which hadn't yet happened. That means that WMB’s self-identification as Elijah, the nature of any of his prophecies, and all of his unorthodox teachings were not the cause for his early death as predicted in the prophecy since all those issues were characteristic of WMB and his Message for decades prior to Hagin’s prophecy. As far as this prophecy was concerned, WMB was still in good standing as a prophet of God at the time Hagin pronounced it.

Segment 3: “. . . and Satan shall destroy his life, but his spirit will be saved . . .”

Apparently, God would give Satan permission to end his life, but this prophet would be taken into the presence of the Lord upon his death. This would suggest that WMB was a born-again believer of Jesus Christ. This is problematic since WMB preached a different Jesus Christ than the Scripture reveals (see http://people.delphiforums.com/johnk63/teachings.htm#deity). WMB therefore did not know the true Jesus Christ, and we have no indication that he ever repented of preaching his heretical view of God and Jesus Christ. On what basis would the Lord allow him into heaven? This prophecy would indicate that one can teach a false Jesus and false Gospel and still be saved, against wht Paul wrote in his letters to Corinth and Galatia.

Segment 4: “. . . and his works will follow him . . .”

What does that mean? It would seem to indicate that whatever he did which would cause his removal would also come to an end, or have no further influence. Of course, WMB’s influence has increased and continues to increase throughout the world, not only through active churches and ministries which follow and spread his “Message”, but by so many false teachers and movements which look to him as their inspiration to venture out on their own (such as, the various modern false teachers and false prophets in televangelism, as well as such movements as the "Latter Rain," and the Word of Faith and various unorthodox Charismatic revivals). If Hagin's prophecy referred to WMB, then what did this segment even mean? I don’t know if anyone has an explanation for it.

Segment 5: “Ere ’66 shall come, he shall be gone.”

William Branham died as a result of a car crash in December, 1965. It is interesting to note that in the same book that allegedly quotes the prophecy verbatim, Hagin recalled when he first heard that WMB was involved in a serious car accident:

“On December 27, 1965, my wife was at the beauty parlor, and she called home to say that this minister, who was the leading prophet at the time, had been in an automobile accident. He was unconscious, and doctors said he would never regain consciousness.

“I told her, ‘There is no use praying. He’ll be dead within two or three days,’ I said that because I remembered what the Lord had said in that prophecy. Then the Lord explained to me, ‘I had to permit him to be removed because of the damage he was causing in the Body of Christ.’”
(as quoted in an article by “Believe the Sign" on Hagin's so-called prophecy).

The problem with Hagin’s account is that WMB’s car crash happened on December 18, 1965. He died on December 24, 1965, three days before Hagin claimed to have heard about his accident. Furthermore, Hagin predicted his death would occur in 2 or 3 days after that point, which would have been 5 or 6 days after his actual death. We know that the dates in this account are wrong. Can we trust that the original wording of his prophecy were more accurate?

Based on this analysis, it would seem that only segments 1 and 5 actually came to pass (both say essentially the same thing). Segment 2 is not applicable to WMB, since he was involved in several heretical teachings, as well as making many blasphemous statements regarding the nature of God long before the prophecy was given. WMB did nothing after this prophecy that can be construed as being more serious than anything else he believed and taught in 3 decades. Segment 3, if applied to WMB, implies that a false prophet who taught a different Jesus than Scripture could be saved. And segment 4 cannot be interpreted because nobody knows what it even means. Hagin’s prophecy is therefore false, and the Church should have nothing to do with it.
It is suggested by some that perhaps God inspired Hagin to accurately predict WMB's death to get the attention of WMB’s followers. However, that would imply that God is responsible for giving to Hagin a prophecy which contains a mixture of truth and error. The suggestion alone could be considered blasphemous because it makes God the author of a lie. Also, one might wonder if it were a legitimate prophecy given to Hagin by God, why would he not make it public?

Kenneth Hagin was at best a false teacher and at worst a false prophet. His prophecy in question is demonstrably false. On that basis, according to Scripture, we are not to even listen to what Hagin has to say or predict, much less offer this prophecy as evidence that God has spoken. Hagin's prophecy does not make clear why it was being made, to whom it referred, and how it came to pass. None of these can be definitively answered. There is nothing in this prophecy of any substance which would be helpful to the Church in understanding anything about WMB and his teachings, or knowing Jesus Christ or the plan of God any better. Rather, this prophecy only leaves more confusion about WMB and what he taught that was serious enough to supposedly cost him his life.
Can God use a false prophecy to bring a follower of the Message to doubt WMB? Yes. I know people who left the Message on account of this prophecy. However, just because we have an example of where someone was alerted to the problems in WMB's ministry through believing a false prophecy, it does not mean we should direct others to the same false prophecy to try an draw others out of the Message. The ends do not justify the means, and false prophecies are never to be used as counsel to those following false teaching. That is pragmatism, and God does not instruct us to use pragmatic means for calling people to Christ. No, our job is to preach the Gospel and make disciples by teaching what He said through His Word.

Back
Home / Controversial Prophecies / Controversial Teachings / Issues & Events in WMB’s Life / Key Message Scriptures / William Branham Quote Book / The Gospel