In order to illustrate that he was the only prophet with the true Word of God for his day, William Branham often reminded his followers that God never sent two major prophets at the same time:

"There never was in the age, any two major prophets on the earth at one time. There were many minor prophets, but there were one major prophet. And Elijah was the prophet until Elisha came. Then when Elijah was taking off, a portion, double portion, of Elijah's Spirit, Elijah's Spirit came upon Elisha."
Our Hope is in God, 1951 (tape #51-0929)

Now, God always uses a--a prophet, a man. If you use a bunch of men, you get different ideas (See?); each man, two men. Never did He have two major prophets on the earth at one time. He takes one, so the other one can take its place for another day, another message. He never has two; He has one at a time.”
The Evening Messenger, 1963 (tape #63-0116)

"God always deals with one individual. Two men's got two ideas. There never was two major prophets on the earth prophesying the same time. Look back and see if there was. No, sir. Too much scrupled up. He's got to get one man completely surrendered and use that person. He searches for that person, but there will be one sometime, somebody who'll listen to Him word by word."
"The Fourth Seal," Revelation of the Seven Seals, 1963 (tape #63-0321)

Mr. Branham was wrong in part because he misunderstood the biblical classification of prophets. Prophets are classified in the following ways:

1. Historical -- those that appear in the historical narratives.
2. Classical -- those whose oracles are preserved in separate books. The classical prophets are further broken down into:
   1. Major -- classical prophets to whom an entire scroll is dedicated (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel).
   2. Minor -- the remaining classical prophets who share one scroll.

Prophets are not classified according to the importance of their messages. Historical prophets’ messages were as much from God as the Major prophets’ were.

But Mr. Branham was wrong for another reason. Many historical prophets did indeed prophesy at the same time as others. Several minor prophets did as well (e.g., Hosea & Micah; Haggai & Zechariah. Ezra 5:1,2 actually says, "Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak set to work to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them." See also, Numbers 11:25-29). In fact, some Minor prophets prophesied at the same time as Major prophets (e.g., Hosea & Micah were contemporary with Isaiah; Habakkuk was contemporary with Jeremiah). But Mr. Branham's most obvious error was in saying that God never sent two Major prophets at the same time. Of the four Major prophets, Daniel, Jeremiah and Ezekiel were all contemporaries during the years 595-587 BC.

Mr. Branham reasoned that if God sent two prophets at the same time, their messages would get "scrupled up." He said that God would find only one truly surrendered man for an age and use him to bring forth the message. According to his reasoning, one would conclude that several biblical prophets were not truly surrendered to God and got His message wrong! Of course, since we know they were not wrong, it is evident that Mr. Branham was.

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