1961–1963Which one of these two quotes represents the sincere Message of the hour? Of course, we all know WB was committed to the view he expressed in the first quote, which was preached at Branham Tabernacle. But pertaining to the second quote, which was preached in Los Angeles, CA, was it the Holy Spirit who led "the prophet" to say those same denominations were actually fine? And that they were all respectable to the prophet? Or that, "It isn't the denomination I'm kicking against"? What kind of prophet would say that denominations are of the devil at his home church, but say they are completely respectable on the campaign trail?
WB:
He said to Noah back there, as we're getting into this morning, "It's going to rain." Why, there wasn't—never was a cloud in the sky. The biggest stream of water was a branch where God irrigated the land, a little spring somewhere. That was the biggest stream of water there was.
Now, people say, "How in the world is there going to come any water down from up there? Show me where it's at up there in all that hot sun (See?), if be any up there."
"If God said build an ark, that it's coming, it's my business to build the ark and get ready, 'cause it's coming. He's Jehovah-jireh; He can provide water up there."
And the only thing He done was let men, foolish, silly men, do exactly with his science, to bring to pass that what He knowed would come. God never destroyed the world; man destroys the world. God don't destroy nothing; God tries to preserve everything. Man destroys himself by his knowledge, like he did in the garden of Eden at the tree, so forth. And so some fanatic got ahold of some atomic power somewhere that... They had it.
They—they could work with it then, 'cause they could do things then with it that we have never learned yet. We are not that far advanced. Maybe take three or four years yet or more, 'fore we can do it, to do what they did. They built the pyramids and the sphinx and so forth. We could never do that. We couldn't reproduce that; there's no way for us to do it, only 'less we can get an atomic power. Gasoline power, electric power, wouldn't lift one of them boulders, wouldn't move it off the ground. And some of them are a city block high, up in the air, and weighing a billion tons. How'd they get them up there? See, they knowed.
And they let that loose; somebody let one of them atomic bombs fly into the screen of some other, back in the days, 'cause 'As it was in the days of Noah,' as it was, that kind of a civilization, that kind of a smart people. 'As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be, so will it be in the coming of the Son of man,' a repeat of what it was.
("Revelation Chapter 4, # 2 (Twenty-Four Elders)," January 1, 1961, message #61-0101)Comments:
Here the self-proclaimed prophet of the age, William Branham (WB), said that God Himself didn't destroy the world by a flood. That directly contradicts what God said in Genesis 6:13 where we read, "And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." Furthermore, WB also said God never destroys, but "tries" to preserve things. I suppose that since the flood actually happened, it means God didn't try hard enough! The fact is, God is the one who cursed the earth way back in Genesis 1. He builds up where He wills, and He destroys where He wills: "So that people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no one else, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating disaster; I am the Lord who does all these things." (Isaiah 45:6-8, NASB) WB was quite wrong.
Finally, another problem we see is that WB actually adds something to the Word of God when he said that man destroyed the earth himself with atomic power. Also, he said that the pyramids existed before the flood. If that were true, that would mean that the Egyptians pre-existed the flood (See, "God's Provided Way," message #53-1201, paragraph 56), and that they came back again after the flood, even though the Bible says that it wasn't until after the tower of Babel that God dispersed mankind into separate nations. Why would God allow a true prophet to make such egregiously false comments on His Word? He wouldn't, and that's why we know William Branham was a false prophet.
WB:
Now, my precious brother, I know this is a tape also. Now, don't get excited. Let me say this with godly love. The hour has approached where I can't hold still on these things no more: too close to the coming. See? "Trinitarianism is of the devil." I say that THUS SAITH THE LORD.
("Revelation Chapter Four, #3 (Throne of Mercy and Judgment)," January 8, 1961, message #61-0108)Comments:
William Branham just said that God tells us, "Trinitarianism is of the devil." As a Christian, that is a horrifying thing to hear someone say. Would a true prophet of God say something about God that denies what is so definitively revealed in the Bible? There are three passages in the Bible where, if we read them one after the other, there is no denying that God is One and revealed in three distinct, interrelational persons.Those 3 passages are:--Matthew 3:16-17Did WB make that God-denying statement because he sincerely believed it? I have no doubt. But his belief was not based on what the Bible says, but on what he thought the Bible meant when it says, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is indeed One; one in essence which is Divine. But in the Divine, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which are distinct in Persons, yet each defined in the Bible as being God. The human mind has a hard time trying to understand that because we have nothing in our natural experiences that we can compare Him to. All we have are His Word and our faith to believe His Word to convince a true Christian that the doctrine of the Trinity is an accurate summary of the biblical revelatioin of God.
--John, chapters 14-17
--Matthew 28:19
WB:
I believe the hour will come when they'll actually find out that the world don't even run. I believe that with all my heart. I don't believe—how much they scientifically prove it or anything more. They done a lot of scientific proving they had to take back. See? God said the world stopped... The sun... I mean the sun stopped instead of the world (See?), the sun. I actually don't believe the sun... I—I—I don't believe the sun does what they say it does. I know the moon travels, and I believe the—the sun runs also. See? But some of them say, "He looked at the ignorance of Joshua (See?)," and said "He stopped the..." said, "It was..." Well, he said, "He stopped the world." I said, "Then you told me, 'if the—if the world would ever stop, it would just shoot like a comet through space.' See?" I said, "Then, what happened then?"
("Questions and Answers," January 12, 1961, message #61-0112)Comments:
So it seems that William Branham is saying that the earth doesn't rotate, but the sun, moon, planets, and stars all move around the earth. It almost seems that the next thing he'll say is that the earth is flat. Keep reading. He gets to that in 1965! I sincerely wonder how many Message believers agree with him on this. No wonder he said that science and education is of the devil (he said that in 1965, too)! He didn't want his followers to believe science when it contradicted his misinterpretations of the Bible.
WB:
Now, the star does not reflect its own light. The star reflects the light of the sun. Is that right? [A brother says, "No."—Ed.] Huh? ["In a sense. The moon does; the stars reflect their own light."—Ed.] Yeah, the moon... Yeah, really... I really mean that the moon reflects just the light. Yeah. Now, if a—if a star reflecting its light, then its light would have to come from the—from God, because it is a glacier of some sort. Isn't it? [The brother says, "Sun."—Ed.] Huh? A sun of itself, off of the sun. ["The suns farther away than our sun."—Ed.] Yeah. And they... We're told that those suns come from the big sun. The sun throwed these missiles off and they're little burning missiles like the sun. So they're amateur suns to us. Is that right? Amateur lights. ["Some are... Most of them are bigger than our sun."—Ed.] I mean to us, to us. See? We're talking about ourselves here. All right.
("Questions And Answers," tape, number 61-0112)Comments:
This quote actually makes me embarrassed for William Branham. It's obvious that he doesn't know what he's talking about as far as astronomy is concerned. Maybe he was trying to emphasize his lack of education and scientific knowledge since he believed that both are literally of the devil (see, "God's Power to Transform," message #65-0911). A member of the audience makes one correction after another as WB can't quite make his reflected sunlight analogy work. WB's deficient understanding of the difference between how stars and other heavenly bodies relate to the sun has given occasion for atheists to mock God: "How could a prophet of your God compare Him to a representation of astronomy that is not even close to reality?" This is one reason why we don't follow false prophets—they make God and Christians look bad to an unbelieving world for all the wrong reasons.
WB:
Seeing our Pentecostal women dress in dresses that looks like they're skin tight. A woman said to me the other day, said, "But Brother Branham," said, "well, they don't make anything different from that." But they got sewing machines and goods, so there's no excuse. Jesus said, "If you..." Jesus said, "If you do that, you'll be guilty at the day of the judgment for committing adultery ." The Bible said, "Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart." And you dress like that and a sinner looks at you, he's going to answer at the day of judgment, and you're going to answer for presenting yourself that way to him. So you're going to be guilty of committing adultery whether you went through the act or not, because said, "Whosoever looketh," and you present yourself.
("Expectation," February 7, 1961, message #61-0207)Comments:
I certainly cannot disagree with William Branham's view on modesty. It is in the Bible (1 Timothy 2:9). But one thing that is certainly not biblical is his assertion that an immodestly dressed woman is guilty of committing adultery because another man looked at her in lust. A woman who presents herself immodestly is responsible for her own sin, but to say she is guilty of adultery with another man because that man lusted for her is to make her guilty for the man's sin. Not only that, WB is himself guilty of putting words in Jesus' mouth that He never said: "If you do that, you'll be guilty at the day of the judgment for committing adultery." Jesus didn't say or even imply any such thing.
If WB's convoluted interpretation of Jesus' statement were true, then the most modest woman on earth would be guilty of adultery when a man lusts after her. That is ridiculous. More importantly, it is evidence that WB could not have been a true prophet if his so-called Message of the hour contains such unbiblical condemnations.
If you are a follower of the Message, please repent and put your faith in the true message of the hour, the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
WB:
But He said, "I am El Shaddai. I am the breasted, mother God."
("Abraham's Grace Covent," March 17, 1961, message #61-0317)Comments:
That's actually a bit unsettling, and for good reason. God never said or even implied He was a "breasted, mother God!" El-Shaddai is one of the names of God that is usually understood as, "God Almighty," or "God the All-Sufficient One," or "God the Provider." The word "shaddai" does contain the word "shad" which a very few scholars say could imply that El-Shaddai depicts God as one who provides for us with nourishing breasts. Most think that is very weak and unlikely since both the words El and Shaddai are masculine in the Hebrew. To say that God is a "mother" is also outside any Bible depiction of His nature. My pastor in the Message used to justify it by saying that Jesus once said He would have gathered Jerusalem as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But Jesus was making an analogy by saying His desire to care for Israel was like a hen's for her chicks, not to say that He was a female bird with feathers. The imagery William Branham's statement evokes is crass and unnecessary.
WB:
Remember, let me tell you, THUS SAITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD that's on me, this is the last sign to the Gentile church before the rapture. THUS SAITH THE WORD OF GOD, THUS SAITH THE HOLY SPIRIT that speaks, that, knows the secret of the heart, THUS SAITH THE LORD, you are receiving your last call. Call me fanatic if you wish to and blaspheme the Holy Ghost.
("But It Wasn't So From the Beginning," April 11, 1961, message #61-0411)Comments:
What exactly is William Branham saying? What did he mean when he said, "this is the last sign to the Gentile church before the rapture"? Most people would agree that he was referring to the supposed supernatural signs in his ministry. But we know he often prophesied falsely, incorrectly "discerned" the personal details of those who entered his prayer lines, and that the most remarkable miraculous events he testified as having experienced throughout his life were witnessed by nobody but himself. Are we to believe that WB's imperfect ministry and Message, which were fraught with errors and inconsistencies, was God's last sign to the Gentile Church?He said, "you are receiving your last call." It's been 60 years since he died, and there are still Gentiles repenting of their sins and trusting in the Savior. God is still saving people without the Message after more time has gone by since WB's death than when he was alive on earth!
Finally, he said, "Call me fanatic if you wish to and blaspheme the Holy Ghost." However, Jesus said, "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matthew 12:31-32). Paraphrasing WB, he just told us, "Whoever speaks a word against me, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come." If a prophet believes that his reputation is greater before God than was Jesus', than that prophet is not only false, but he has made himself greater before the eyes of the world than Jesus Christ Himself.
WB:
[Speaking on Revelaion 5:4, William Branham said the following]: Now, someone, as I said last week, they said, "John wept because that he could find nobody worthy." It wasn't that. A man under the influence of the Holy Ghost wouldn't weep for that. Thought that, "'Cause he wasn't worthy," maybe John himself wasn't worthy. There's nobody worthy. But he didn't weep because of that. I believe he was weeping for joy because that he had seen the whole plan of redemption was wrote in this Book here. It wasn't because there wasn't nobody worthy, because there stood a Lamb right there was worthy. So he was weeping there, he said, "Oh, glory to God." Listen at him directly when he goes to shouting. Now, but we find him here weeping because that he was so happy because that the Lamb had taken the Book out of the hand of Him that set upon the throne...Then John started weep.
("Revelation Chapter Five," June 18, 1961, message #61-0618)Comments:
In this quote, William Branham directly contradicts the Bible where it specifically says in Revelation 5:4, "And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon." In fact, he contradicted what he said himself exactly a week earlier when he said the following:No wonder John said he "wept bitterly," for he could find no man who was worthy to redeem it. The man must be worthy. John said, "I wept bitterly when no one was able to take the Book or to look on It or loose the seals thereof." He said, "Not...No man in Heaven, no man in earth, no man beneath the earth, no man everywhere."So, on June 11, WB correctly said that John wept bitterly because no man was found worthy to take the book. But a week later, on June 18, he said that John didn't weep because of that. Instead, he said John was weeping tears of joy because the Lamb came to take the book. What could make a prophet of God teach something the Bible actually said in one sermon, then one week later, totally contradict the Bible? What could cause that?
("Revelation, Chapter Five Part I," June 11, 1961 message #61-0611)William Branham once said, "Your spirit, in you, will punctuate 'amen' to every Word of the Bible. Outside of that, if it—if it shakes its head on one, you get rid of that spirit. It's not the Spirit of God that would dispute the Word of God" ("God's Provided Place Of Worship," #65-0425). What spirit led WB to contradict himself and the Bible in the span of one week, thereby disputing the very Word of God? This should be a red flag to anyone tempted to believe WB was a prophet with a Message from God to our age.
WB:
Get away from your Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian ideas, your Pentecostal, Assemblies, oneness, threeness, and fiveness, whatever it is, Church of God, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Church of Christ: all antichrist movements. And I realize this strikes the world. All wrong, all of the devil... There's godly men in every one of them, godly people in every one of them movements, but the organization in itself is not of God, and God will never bless it. He never has done it.
(Gabriel's Instructions to Daniel," July 30, 1961, message #61-0730M)Comments:
But in another part of the Message William Branham says, Don't be satisfied with being a Baptist, a Methodist, or Pentecostal, or whatever you might be. That—that's all right, I...them denominations are fine. See? I respect every one of them, every denomination. I—I send people back to their home church. That...It isn't the denomination I'm kicking against, it's how worldly we've gotten in here. See? Come, be a Christian, then go to any church of your choice. That's the thing. It's be a Christian is what we're talking about. If you like the Baptist church, go at the Baptist church, be borned again in the Baptist church; if you're Catholic, be borned again, and be in the Catholic church; Presbyterian, do the same thing; but first, before you go back, get the Holy Ghost, be borned again, and you'll be an enlightenment, you'll help others to come, if you just believe it.
("Thirsting For Life," April 14, 1959, message #59-0414)
"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."
See also,
I've always been against an altar call. Might as well say it. I don't
believe in them. There's no such a thing in the Bible. How can any
man come 'less God calls him? You couldn't keep him away. You
don't have to call anything if God's called him. Altar call's a Methodist
idea. That's right. Altar call... They get ahold of them, say,
"John, you know, your mother died a long time ago..." Comments:
Comments:
The earliest Christian document outside of the Bible that describes how a baptism should take place is the Didache, believed to have been written somewhere as early as 50 AD to 120 AD. It is the earliest known document which describes a Christian baptism:
Comments:
Comments:
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh...
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel...
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He also affirmed His Deity when he said in Philippians 2:6-8, "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."
William Branham did not know his Bible, nor did he understand the Bible's revelation of the nature of Jesus Christ, who was truly man and truly God!
Comments:
WB contradicted the Bible to his followers, which is something a true prophet of God would not have done.
Comments:
Comments:
In order that you might know that I am God's prophet; you don't belong to this type of church . . .
I am not a prophet, I don't claim to be any prophet . . .
Comments:
First, he said when people die, they don't immediately go up with God. But in the Bible we read where Jesus told one of the criminals on the cross, "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). And Paul said, "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8). That puts the 6th dimension up into the 7th dimension!
His second problem is that the Bible doesn't say a thing about different dimensions in the afterlife. That isn't to say there might not be something to such a concept; it's just that the Bible doesn't discuss it. Where the Bible is silent, we have no right to speculate (much less create a whole system defining it). WB both added to and contradicted the Bible with this teaching. That is something a true prophet would not have done.
Comments:
Comments:
Or how about Bill or Billy? (Who would ever name their child after Billy the Kid?) Well, they are both nicknames for William. William comes from 2 Germanic terms which together can mean, "resolute protector," "strong-willed protector," or "will-helmet."
WB might well have chastised Rebekah in the Bible for naming her son, Jacob! But the fact is, the Bible doesn't say that parents ought to give their children names with any particular meanings, or any meaning at all. Nor does it prohibit names with possible negative connotations. In the Bible, the Israelites usually gave their children meaningful names for one reason or another, but not because it was a commandment in the Mosaic Law (it wasn't).
It was really only WB's personal opinion that families not name their children Ricky or Elvis mainly because of their connection to Rock and roll singers who were popular in his day, not because of what their names meant. Certainly, naming children Ricky, Elvis, or Billy is not a "THUS SAITH THE LORD" restriction.
Comments:
(James 1:8)
WB:
Even our altar
calls that we have, in bringing people up around the altar, they didn't do
that in the Bible time; that's a tradition of our people, originated formally
in the Methodist church. But look, it's a good thing. I don't like
this dry eyed repentance. I like to see somebody get up and really be
sorry for what they done, and really mean it.
("Will I Find Faith When I Return?" May 8, 1951, message #51-0508)
"Oh, boo hoo; yes,
brother; hoo hoo." That's not conversion.
("A True Sign That's Overlooked," November 12, 1961, message #61-1112)
So which is true? Did William Branham endorse altar calls, or did he condemn them? Which view is part of the Message?
WB:
THUS SAITH THE LORD. The baptism using the title of "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" is false. THUS SAITH THE LORD.
I command every one of you, on here or on tape, that hasn't been baptized in the Name of "Jesus Christ," be baptized again in the Name of Jesus Christ.
("A True Sign That's Overlooked," November 12, 1961, message #61-1112)
After Jesus was raised from the dead, He commanded His disciples, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:19).
Now about baptism: this is how to baptize. Give public instruction on all these points, and then baptize in running water, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit... If you do not have running water, baptize in some other [water]. If you cannot in cold, then in warm. If you have neither, then pour water on the head three times in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Before the baptism, moreover, the one who baptizes and the one being baptized must fast, and any others who can. And you must tell the one being baptized to fast for one or two days beforehand.
My point isn't to say this is the only established perscribed way a baptism must be administered. It is to say that the very early Christian church was baptizing believers, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," just as Jesus instructed His disciples. Why would William Branham claim that, "THUS SAITH THE LORD. The baptism using the title of 'Father, Son, Holy Ghost' is false"? Jesus said otherwise, and the earliest Christian document outside of the Bible which spoke on baptism agrees with Him. WB said that because he didn't believe in the triune nature of God as presented in Scripture. He didn't believe Jesus Himself was God, but he did believe God used Jesus incarnate as His means of redeeming mankind through His death on the cross, then establishing His church in spirit form, which WB said was the Holy Ghost. Therefore, WB had to reinterpret Matthew 28:19 in such a way as to disavow any notion of a triune God. Consequently, he had to make the claim that when the Apostles made the call to believers to be baptized in some form of Jesus's name, they were affirming Jesus' . See, Jesus According to William Branham.
WB:
And when I can prove to you by written Word out of the Bible, exactly the days and years, that Peter never did leave Palestine but one time, and went to Babylon down by the Euphrates. Never was in Rome, by the Scriptures, THUS SAITH THE LORD. It's all a pagan idea.
("Christianity Versus Idolatry," December 17, 1961, message #61-1217)
Actually, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates Peter either did or didn't go to Babylon or Rome. There is also no historical evidence that proves he went to either city. There are many scholars who believe there is historical evidence that Peter probably went to Rome, but no proof. Roman Catholicism would like to think he did since they hold Peter to be the first pope. I agree with William Branham that Peter was not the first pope. However, since he doesn't have any solid biblical or historical evidence to prove Peter couldn't have been to Rome, thereby debunking the RCC's view that he was the first pope, his best option is to play the "THUS SAITH THE LORD" card. WB's record for verifiable "THUS SAITH THE LORD" proclamations is far below 100%, making this statement by WB unreliable at best.
WB:
Jesus was neither Jew nor Gentile. He was God. That's right. God Himself created a body that He dwelt in. That was His Son, Jesus Christ. That holy, virgin birth brought forth this human being, immaculate conception by the Holy Ghost. Woman had nothing to do with it, neither egg nor blood cell. The man has the blood cell. The woman has the egg.
("Forsaking All," January 23, 1962, message #62-0123)
Interestingly, according to WB's understanding of Jesus, He couldn't even have been a true human being. Why? Because He wasn't born from Adam's race. He was specially created, spoken into existence in Mary's womb. That's why WB said He was neither Jew nor Gentile. However, he forgot to study the Bible before coming up with his doctrine of the Incarnation. Here is a series of New Testament verses which correct his view that Jesus was not a Jew:
(Galatians 3:16)
(John 7:42)
(Romans 1:3)
(2 Timothy 2:8)
(Acts 2:29-30)
According to the Bible, Jesus was a direct descendant of both Abraham and David. If He were created in Mary's womb, He would not truly be of their "seed." And furthermore, since He was descended from Abraham and David, He was indeed a Jew. Paul defined His Jewishness when he said "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law" (Galatians 4:4).
WB:
My daughter back there, Rebekah, was saying, "Daddy, in school we proved that the...that there are millions and millions of years this world is old. Then isn't that contradictory to the Bible?"
"No, sir," I said. "It isn't."
"Well," said, "if the—the different study of rocks and formations, and stalactites and stalagmites and so forth, prove that, dripping, of millions of years, and God said He made the heavens and earth in one twenty-four hours, doesn't that misprove, disprove the Bible?"
I said, "No." If you'll notice, God telling Moses about the Bible, He said, "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth." Period! How long it took, that's none of our business. Then He goes ahead and begins to bring in His time of putting seed in the earth. But, "In the beginning," might have been hundreds of billions of trillions of years, aeons of time, but, "God created the heavens and the earth." Period! That settles that. That's the first step. See? He makes no mistakes.
("The Spoken Word is the Original Seed," March 18, 1962, message #62-0318)
WB didn't teach the Bible very well to Rebekah. Here's what he just said about the age of the earth:
"In the beginning," might have been hundreds of billions of trillions of years, aeons of time, but, "God created the heavens and the earth." Period!
But here is the rest of what God told Moses:
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
(Exodus 20:11)
According to the Bible, Rebekah was right. God created the heavens and the earth on the first of six 24 hour days. But the supposed prophet said the Bible does not say what we just read in Exodus 20:11. WB compounded his error by preaching it from the pulpit in the sermon we just quoted him from. What's more, WB actually defended what science is trying to teach the world rather than what the Bible says. Didn't he say that science was of the devil? Yes. Yes, he did.
WB:
Then, "Except a man be born again." Why must he be born again? He's dead with, the flesh he's in. He's a hybrid. He's got to be born again. Why? He was born in sin, from Eve's sin, shaped in iniquity; come to the world, speaking lies.
("The Spoken Word is the Original Seed," March 18, 1962, message #62-0318)
Why does a person need to be born again? Because he is a hybrid, according to WB. Eve created a hybrid of the human race by doubting God's Word and having sex with the serpent:
God set forth His crop of human race, and Eve hybreeded it. See what happened? So there's a judgment for Eve.
("The Spoken Word is the Original Seed," March 18, 1962, message #62-0318)
WB's version of the depravity of man is based on two sins he said Eve committed in the Garden of Eden. First, she doubted God's instructions to Adam when the serpent told her she would not die if she ate the fruit. Second, she partook of the fruit, which WB said was having sex with the serpent. Mankind was plunged into sin and death and became a hybrid race because of Eve's affair with the serpent:
Do you realize it was one Word that Eve doubted, that caused all the trouble? One spoken Word of God, Eve doubted to be the Truth, and it caused every sickness, every disease, every suffering baby. Caused every hospital to be built, every operation was ever performed, every death that ever died, for one person to believe one . . . disbelieve one Word. There you are. What did Eve try to do? Hybreed It, mix It with something.
("The Spoken Word Is The Original Seed")
But what does the Bible say about why we must be born again?:
Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. . .
(For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
(Romans 5:12, 18–19)
The Bible doesn't blame Eve for the fall of man. It doesn't blame Eve for the sin and death in the world. God placed the blame for the depravity of man on Adam because before Eve was yet taken from Adam's side, God said to him, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It is the result of Adam's sin that people are born in sin, pay the wages of sin which is death, and therefore must be born again!
WB:
Listen. Do you believe me to be His prophet? I haven't confessed that
before. But I believe by saying it, the people will understand and know what
I'm trying to get to you. There's people in here that's professing
Christianity should be right here. Come, won't you? Let me ask you, how are
you ever going to? You'll never receive another sign. This is it. THUS SAITH
THE LORD. Would a prophet of God make a statement like that if it wasn't true?
You're receiving your greatest sign, and your last sign, before the appearing
of Christ.
("Jehovah-Jireh #3," July 7, 1962, message #62-0707)
Note that WB said he never confessed that he was God's prophet before this. Now compare that with what he said in the following 2 statements which he made before the above quote:
All right, lady. I want you to look this way. I want you to believe that I am God's prophet.
("As I Was With Moses," May 3, 1951, message #51-0503)
("God Testifying Of His Gifts," July 13, 1952, message #52-0713E)
So he definitely had confessed that he was God's prophet, and he wanted his audiences to know and believe that! Here are 2 more statements, also made prior to our opening quote:
I challenge you in those wheelchairs to look this way, and believe that I am God's prophet, or, excuse me, God's servant. Please, you see, that word scatters, and beats people, I'm not a prophet, I am just His servant. You believe that with all your heart.
("A Greater Than Solomon Is Here," April 12, 1961, message #61-0412)
("Fellowship," May 19, 1962, message #62-0519)
So now he says he's definitely not a prophet. Which is it? Was he a prophet with "THUS SAITH THE LORD," or wasn't he? Given WB's uncertainty of whether he was a prophet or not, how could anyone be convinced that his Message was our greatest sign before the second coming of Christ? Remember, Jesus said to beware of false prophets!
WB:
Well, see, when people die, they—they don't immediately go up with God. . .
And when a Christian dies, he goes into the sixth dimension.
And God is in the seventh dimension.
("Present Stage of My Ministry," September 8, 1962, message #62-0908)
WB had an excellent response for someone making this kind of assertion: "If it ain't in the Bible, keep away from it."
Nothing he said regarding his supposed revelation of "7 dimensions" can be found anywhere in the Bible. Let's break things down here a bit.
WB:
You get
it? These people who died in here [Hebrews 11:32-40] are depending and
waiting on us. So this church has got to come to perfection in order to
bring the resurrection, and they're under—souls under the altar, waiting for
this church to come to its perfection.
("The Stature of a Perfect Man," October 14, 1962, message #62-1014M)
In another place, WB said:
Christ can't come until that Church is perfectly right. He is waiting on us. I believe we're at the end.
("And Knoweth It Not," message #65-0815)
WB seems to think that the Old Testament saints are waiting on the Church to make herself perfect for the Lord to return. Hence, the OT saints are waiting for us to make ourselves perfect so they can be perfect. We are indeed to make ourselves ready for the Lord's return, but that's not what the writer of Hebrews is talking about. Hebrews 11:39-40 says:
And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
In other words, the saints of the OT cannot be made perfect until we who are saved by the final finished work of the cross (the promise) are made one with them as an entire body of believers. That perfection does not result from the members of the Church making herself more holy or righteous in any way. The perfection is the final assembly of the entire elect, born again Church. John Gill, an 18th century Baptist theologian, put it very well when he said,
[T]he Old Testament saints are perfectly justified, perfectly sanctified, and perfectly glorified; but their perfection was not by the law, which made nothing perfect, but by Christ, and through his sacrifice, blood, and righteousness; and so were not made perfect without us; since their sins and ours are expiated together by the same sacrifice; their persons and ours justified together by the same righteousness; they and we make up but one church, and general assembly; and as yet all the elect of God among the Jews are not called, and so are not perfect in themselves, or without us. Jews and Gentiles will incorporate together in the latter day; and besides, they and we shall be glorified together, in soul and body, to all eternity.
(https://biblehub.com/commentaries/hebrews/11-40.htm)
The Hebrews 11 saints are not waiting to be made perfect by the future Church's perfection. They are made perfect when every person whose name is in the Lamb's Book of Life are finally born again! Message believers, beware! Wm. Branham believed that all the saints from days gone by are waiting for Message believers to make themselves perfect by believing and practicing the Message. What a burden you have to bear if you believe him to be the end time prophet! You will never become perfect in the flesh (Galatians 3:3). Perfection only comes when we are born again in Christ and the Father declares us righteous! Repent and believe in the Gospel!
WB:
And
did you ever notice, our young boys has become Ricky and Elvis. You got a
child named that, change it right quick, call him number one or two, or
something. Don't... That's a horrible... You say, "What difference does the
name mean?" Why, sure, it means something. Your name characterizes your life.
"Now, Brother Branham, you're on numerology." No, I'm not. I'm on THUS SAITH
THE LORD. Why was it when Jacob, he lived to his name as—as deceiver,
supplanter, Jacob. And when God changed him, He changed his name. God changed
Saul to Paul, Simon to Peter. Certainly, it has something. And Ricky and
Elvis, and such names as that, is the modern American name which throws a
child automatically right into that.
("The Voice Of God In This Last Days," January 20, 1963, message #63-0120M)
Here's something interesting. Ricky has no meaning, but it's a nickname for Richard. Richard means, "strong ruler," or "brave leader." Elvis means, "all-wise," or ironically, "white" or "rock"!
WB:
When man sinned, he separated himself from God and crossed a great chasm and put himself in death on this side. He left; there's no way back. Exactly. There's no way for him to get back. But then when he did, God accepted a substitute which was a lamb, or a goat, or a sheep, or something for blood, which Adam spoke of—or Abel spoke of on the other side of the chasm.
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.
("God In Simplicity," March 17, 1963, message #63-0317M)
WB:
In the Old
Testament when a man had been sold to slavery, there come a year of Jubilee
every fifty years (forty-ninth year and then the year of Jubilee). And
when a slave heard this, and he wanted to go free, there's—there isn't
nothing that can keep him from going free. He can throw down his hoe and
say, "So-long," go back home. The trumpet sounded. That's right.
But
if he don't want to go, and he's satisfied with his slave master, then he's
taken into the—the temple, and they take an awl (you know what an awl is),
and they pierced his ear, and put a hole in his ear. And it's a mark
that he can never go back. Is that right? He has to serve this master
for all time. I don't care how many more times the Jubilee sounds, whatever
happens, he's absolutely has—has sold out his birthright of being
free.
And when a man turns down the Gospel Truth, Satan marks him.
Where? At his ear. He deafens him so he can't hear the Truth no
more. And he's finished. My. He stays with the group that
he's with, if he won't hear the truth.
("The Second Seal," March 19, 1963, message #63-0319)
WB:
Now, there was
a natural bride in the garden of Eden. (You remember last night?) That natural
bride, she was Adam's sweetheart, not yet his wife, 'cause he hadn't knew her
yet as a wife. Just like Mary was Joseph's wife, but he never knew her yet.
She was found with a child. See? Now, before Adam knew his wife, she was just
a bride to him.
("The
Third Seal." March 20, 1963, message #63-0320)
WB:
Now,
remember, before there was a grain of—of seed on the earth, before there was
a sun that ever struck the earth, your body was laying on the earth, 'cause
you are the dust of the earth. See? You are. God's the Contractor.
Now,
the way He was going to do it was reach down and get like He did Adam, a
little bunch of calcium, potash and cosmic light, and, "whew." [Brother Branham makes blowing sound—Ed.] Say, "There's
My other son." See? Then He'd bring up some more and, "whew" [blowing sound—Ed.], "There's another one."
But what
did Eve do? She corrupted that way, and she brought it through a sexual act;
then death struck it.
("The Fourth Seal," March 21, 1963, message #63-0321)
Compare with Genesis 1:27-28 Where God
tells Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the earth.
WB:
I was talking to a
person not long ago. He was trying to discuss with me and saying,
"Aren't you ashamed to say that God created the heavens and earth in three
days—or in six days?"
I said, "That's what the Bible said."
Said,
"Well, we've got evidence and can prove that the world is millions of years
old."
I said, "That didn't have anything to do with it. In Genesis
1:1, it said, 'In the beginning God created heavens and earth' period.
See? That's all. Now, the world without form and void." And
I said, "I believe every seed was laying right there from some other
civilization or something, and as soon as the water lifted off and the light
struck it, up come the trees and everything."
("The Fourth Seal," March 21, 1963, message #63-0321)
WB:
Jesus
and the Father was the selfsame Person, just the same as the Holy Spirit in
me. You're looking to me preaching, but it's not me. It's not me
can speak a word that could bring, as you know, an animal; set there and
looked at it, and kill the animal and eat it. That's creative
power. That doesn't lay in a human being.
It's not me could take a
little boy here laying—the doctors laying him on his back, with heart trouble
tonight, and say, "Thus saith William Branham..." No. "THUS SAITH THE
LORD, it's finished." And bring him down to the doctor the next day and
it's all gone.
A kid with leukemia, till its eyes were bulged out, and
yellow all over, and its stomach... until they taken it to the hospital to
give it blood and things to even get it here; and in five minutes time, cry
for a hamburger, and take it back to the doctor the next day and can't even
find a trace of it. That's Thus Saith William Branham? That's THUS
SAITH THE LORD. Yet He is an individual different from me, but the only
way He's expressed is through me. See
That's how Jesus and the Father
was. Jesus said, "It's not Me that doeth the works, it's My Father that
dwelleth in Me."
("Questions and Answers on the Seals," March 24, 1963, message #63-0324M)
WB:
And now, today we are trying to educate people to that—to the scientific approach to God, and you can't do that. God is known not by science, but by faith we know God. And I'd say this, that—that a man can set down and look at a bunch of flowers, a bouquet, and study that thirty minutes sincerely with all of his heart, and know more about God than he did if he know—had all the degrees that a Bible school could give him.
("God Hiding Himself in Simplicity," April 12, 1963, message #63-0412E)
WB:
You know, sin is unbelief. You know... Did you know lying is not sin?
Committing adultery, that's not sin. Drinking whiskey, smoking cigarettes,
cursing, using the Lord's Name, that's not—that not sin. That's the
attributes of unbelief. You do that because you're not a believer. There's
only one thing... I said that one night in a Methodist church. And an old
sister standing there, you know, with her collar up high, she said, "Reverend
Branham, pray tell me, what is sin?" I said, "Unbelief." That's right. You do
that because you're an unbeliever. If you do that, you're still an unbeliever.
That's right. There's only two things: you're either a believer, or not a
believer. So then, the—the Bible said, "He that believeth not is condemned
already," See? So sin is... The only thing that it's the attributes of
unbelief.
("Be Not Afraid," June 7, 1963, message #63-0607)
WB:
I
said the people... I've never regarded myself... Anybody knowing this... But
people have said, "Brother Branham, the Lord called you to be His prophet."
Well, I—I've never regarded myself as that, but I begin to get to the time
that I was about ready to do it: to think, "Well, maybe I am. If I am, I'll
live back in the wilderness. And if I live back in the wilderness, then
I'll—I'll—I'll be His prophet."
("Standing in the Gap," June 23, 1963, message #63-0623)
WB:
Oh, how it was
He that said in prophecy to the vision, "It shall come to pass." It was
He that said, "If one among you prophesies or sees a vision and tells it, and
it comes to pass, then remember it's not him; it's Me. I am with him."
Oh, my. What could I go on and say, it's He, it's He, it's He.
("Why Cry? Speak!" July 14, 1963, message #63-0714M)
WB:
Just what I've seen in my own ministry, seen Him done, you couldn't pile the volumes on this platform here, if I wrote it in details, what I seen Him do, just in my own ministry—seen Him do it. See? He had more success in my ministry, than He did in His own. Now, remember, He had more success now, not me; He had. Glory. Hallelujah. He had more success in Jeffersonville, than He did in Nazareth. He did. In that wicked city and this wicked city... Amen. Glory. 'Cause He could perform no miracles there, but He did here. He finally broke through here. He got it done here.
He might've had to get people from somewhere else, but He got it done anyhow. So He had more success right here, than He did in—in Capernaum, or—or Nazareth in that... He done more miracles right here in this Tabernacle, than He did in the entire ministry on earth. That's right. He did it.
("The Token," September 1, 1963, message #63-0901M)
WB:
I've always felt... You... And all the people that's knowed me all these years knows I've always wanted to go west. You know how it is. It's always been something to the west. But because an astronomer told me one time the same thing, that I should go west... The stars, when they cross their cycles and so forth, I was born under that sign, and I'd never be a success in the east, I'd have to go west. And last year I took off west to—to fulfill what a lifetime's desire has been (See?) to—to do it.
("Souls That Are in Prison Now," November 10, 1963, message #63-1110M)
WB:
Do you know,
God Almighty could command dinosaurs to come upon this earth; in the next
hour, they'd be forty miles deep. You know, God could destroy this world
with fleas? He could call for fleas. Where do they go when they
die? What happens to the housefly? Whatever happens to the
grasshopper? Wintertime comes and goes forty below zero; and go out the
next spring, grasshoppers all over everywhere. Where did they come
from? He's the Creator that speaks it into existence. He's
God. Nature obeys His Word.
("He That is In You," November 10, 1963, message #63-1110E)
WB:
Like by
the same means that the mother Eve corrupted the whole world to a physical
death, the mother Eve... (Listen.) Mother Eve corrupted the whole human race
by physical death. How? By rejecting the Word and accepting something almost
like It. She caused all physical death because she left the true Word, and
believed the true Word all but just a little bit. One little disagreement with
the full Word of God caused every heartache, every death, and everything
that's ever been on the earth. Eve done it, the mother of death. Now, you see
where we're coming? The mother of death... Notice, she just disbelieved the
Word.
("What Shall I Do With Jesus Called Christ?" November 24, 1963, message #63-1124M)
WB:
It's not easy for a person to go to hell. A man fights his way to hell. The first lie you ever told, you know it was wrong. The first cigarette you ever smoked, you knowed was wrong. The first evil you did, you knowed was wrong. But in your conscience told you it was wrong, but you continually run through the red light, run over the barricades. You're reckless; you want to do it anyhow; show you're some big guy. See? But remember, you fight your way to hell. It's not easy to go to hell.
("What Shall I Do With Jesus Called Christ?" November 24, 1963, message #63-1124M)