William

Branham:

20th Century Charlatan

by John Collins

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the

spirits to see whether they are from God, for
many false prophets have gone out into the
world.
1 John 4:1

Table of Contents

The Facts and the Fiction ..................................... 5
The Basics ................................................................ 10
Toddler Prophecy ...................................................... 11
Bridge Prophecy ......................................................... 14
Ohio River Baptism ................................................... 16
Prophecies of 1933 ................................................... 18
The Flood of 1937...................................................... 21
Faith Healing ................................................................ 24
The Halo ......................................................................... 26
Mystery Cloud ............................................................. 28
Marks of the Beast ..................................................... 30
Ground Rules ............................................................... 32
Jehovahs Witness ...................................................... 35
Stuck in the Elevator ................................................ 36
Easy Questions ....................................................... 38
The Cloud ...................................................................... 39
The Bridge .................................................................... 42
The Church Ages ........................................................ 46
Columba ......................................................................... 47
The Man From Windsor .......................................... 48
The Tragedy of Donnie Morton ........................... 51
Driverless Eggcar ....................................................... 52
California: Still Standing ......................................... 57
Twisted Scripture ...................................................... 60
Dig A Little Deeper ............................................... 66
Birth ................................................................................. 67
Childhood ...................................................................... 69
Fatherless ...................................................................... 71
The Commissions ....................................................... 72
Moving Targets ........................................................... 75
Franklin D. Roosevelt ............................................... 77
John F. Kennedy .......................................................... 86

Reverend Jim Jones ................................................... 93

Deep Study .............................................................. 96
Physical Abuse ............................................................ 97
Hybreeding ................................................................... 99
Creation ....................................................................... 105
Enoch ........................................................................... 109
Job .................................................................................. 110
Moses ........................................................................... 112
Balaam ......................................................................... 116
Elijah ............................................................................. 120
The Prophets ............................................................ 124
Back To The Bible .............................................. 128
The Gospel ................................................................. 129
The Achievement Of The Holy Spirit .............. 135
Divorce Your Wives ............................................... 138
Pretending To Be God ........................................... 140
King James Only ....................................................... 143
Temporary Hell ....................................................... 148
The Evening Light ................................................... 150
Branham Vs. The Bible ..................................... 157
About The Author .............................................. 225

The Facts and the Fiction

As a person who was born and raised in the

Message of the Hour, or M.O.T.H as some like to
call it, one gains an interesting perspective into
the world of United States Pentecostal cults. One
cannot claim to have knowledge of every cult
that has been birthed by the religious system of
the nations past, but having been a part of this
particular cult, it seems that one can truly claim
greater insight.

There is a great pride in being part of any
movement that claims absolute truth, and an
even greater pride in considering yourself
different. Some in the cult following of William
Branham pride themselves in being oddball,
taking the word from the title of a famous
sermon preached in the commune that became
the skeleton in the Message cults closet. A
follower feels a sense of achievement to be
different in this world while longing to be like
the other oddballs in the world to come. So
much, in fact, that invisible fences are placed
between the cult member claiming to be
Christian and other Christians who are not part
of the following.

Living in blind faith, believing every word
spoken by the cult leader or the elders
appointed, one could easily claim an undying
faith and devotion to the following. When there
are no obstacles in the way of faith, one starts to
mistake faith for truth.

But truth is a fixture, one that cannot be moved.
Truth is based upon facts, and facts are based

upon solid information. Faith in truth is

incredibly easy as more information presents
itself, there is an increase of facts that lie in favor
of truth. No matter which viewpoint is taken, if
the information is accurate, the end result of
researching facts will end in proving truth.

Facts themselves cannot change. They are the
solid foundation of truth. If one tries to hide the
facts, then one also hides the truth. If one tries to
move or change a fact, then one also moves or
changes the truth.

When this becomes necessary for faith, then
ones faith cannot be considered faith in truth.

For the first thirty-something years of my life, I
had faith in the Message Of The Hour. My faith
was built upon facts, but they were built upon
facts that were given to me. Each fact I claimed
as a foundation pointed to what I believed to be
truth, and with the facts collected, it was
undeniable truth.

When I discovered that facts were hidden from
the followers of William Branham, I grew
concerned. If a fact presented to my collection
exposed an angle hidden from view, the picture
might look very different. But this did not shake
my faith. I believed that every fact including
those hidden from view would support the
knowledge that I considered to be truth.

It wasnt until I discovered that some facts were
changed that my faith was shaken. When

changed, a fact is no longer truth. A changed fact

becomes fiction, and faith in fiction cannot equal
faith in truth.

This was not an overnight process, although my
journey out of a religious cult happened rather
quickly. The events leading up to my exit was
not based on time or situation. It was based
upon the number of facts collected.

When a child is collecting the pieces to a puzzle,
the picture painted on the entire set of pieces is
not obvious. If the child were to be given only
the blue pieces, and told that these puzzle pieces
were that of an ocean, he or she would have no
reason to question. All the pieces are blue, all
show only one small portion of truth, yet each
piece in of itself is a fact.

When the child is suddenly given a brown or
green piece of the puzzle, a question would
quickly form: what in the ocean is green? Is it an
island? Is it a piece of debris? When given a full
set of pieces of earth and sky, the child can no
longer believe they have a puzzle of an ocean.

In the case of the Message, not only was the child
given a set of blue pieces, it is evident that some
pieces were spray-painted blue to hide actual
fact.

The broad scope of these facts would consume
several series of books, each from the different
viewpoints of the different divisions in the cult
itself. No two churches in the following can

agree on doctrinal points or spiritual secrets, and

each of these divisions are based on the conflicts
in the cult leaders sermons and discrepancies
between recorded history and his tales of the
supernatural. But there are a series of facts that
most can agree upon, and those are the facts
presented in this book. Each of them
fundamental elements to the beast that grew into
the M.O.T.H, and when removed, cult doctrines
cannot stand.

The Basics

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"The Message" is the religious movement that

follows the teachings of William Marrion
Branham, which originated in the small city of
Jeffersonville, Indiana, in the United States.
Through various outreach programs, this
movement has spread into all parts of the world.
Between two and four million people are
involved with this movement worldwide. It is
largely unorganized, based simply on Branham's
recorded sermons, which have now printed and
digitized into several types of media.

While this religion claims to be founded in
scripture alone, it will not take you very long to
realize that followers are asked to adhere to a
combination of scripture and William Branham's
recorded words. These include accounts of
Branham's personal life and events he claimed to
be spiritual. These events are believed by his
followers to be another "chapter" of the New
Testament.

Toddler Prophecy

Followers of William Branham believe that as a
toddler, young William became the mouthpiece
for God to his parents, telling them that they
were to move near a city called 'New Albany'. In
the accounts given on recorded tape, Branham
claimed that a voice spoke to him from a tree and
gave him this prophecy. According to Branham,
this event happened at the early age of fifteen
months -- a time when most children are

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learning motor skills and attempting to grasp the

basics of language.

As you will find with the descriptions of many of
Branham's prophecies, the details of this
prophecy change over time, and it was not a
gradual progression of change; the changes in
detail seem to differ from telling to telling. While
sometimes he claimed this vision came to him at
fifteen months, in other sermons he described
this prophecy being given around age four. And
while age four would seem more likely at an
age when the language skills would have
developed enough to correctly communicate this
prophecy to his parents -- The Branham family
had already been in Indiana for almost a year.
The birth of William's younger brother, Melvin
Branham, took place after their move.

If we examine the birthdates of his siblings,
combined with Branham's descriptions of the
toddlers in the log cabin, we find several conflicts
with the idea that Branham had sufficient
language and motor skills to properly relay this
vision to his parents, or to even understand what
a 'city' meant. Branham would often describe
himself as wearing a toddler's dress, and
described "Humpy" as crawling around in the
same outfit. According to Branham, this vision
took place while Humpy was still crawling on the
floor in that dress. Humpy was born in Kentucky
on May 12, 1910. During these life stories
Branham would claim to have been born April 6,
1909. He claimed that the family moved less than
a year later, which would place the family's

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relocation around May 12, 1912 -- assuming

Humpy was walking by the age of one year. The
next brother born into the family, Melvin
Branham, was born in Indiana in 1912. Only
William and Humpy were born in Kentucky.

But if we bind these prophecies to a 'toddler
prophet,' we create other major conflicts with
the life stories. Branham claimed to have
supported his poor mother and siblings after the
death of his father, Charles, and this support
came through hunting and trapping to sell the
skins of his prey. While it would be a
phenomenon for a toddler to have the language
skills necessary to understand and relay a
prophecy from God, it would be an impossibility
for his tiny arms to carry the rifle as he
wandered through the wilderness. These stories
of his childhood included accounts of his other
siblings in the log cabin, but with only Branham
and "Humpy" being born in Kentucky, the other
children in the story did not yet exist.

As this prophecy is tested, we find several major
issues. And unlike with the prophets of the Bible,
this prophecy was not written down by scribes,
handed down through time until the event
happened. This prophecy was not tested
according to the vision's accuracy. The only way
we have to test this particular prophecy is
through Branham's accounts of the vision, which
would imply that we are studying a fictional
prophecy.

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Bridge Prophecy

William Branham claimed to have been given a
vision by God concerning the construction of the
Clark Memorial Bridge that joins Southern
Indiana to Louisville Kentucky over the Ohio
River. In his descriptions of this vision, Branham
claimed to have seen the deaths of sixteen men
as they fell from the bridge and drown. It was a
prophecy of destruction, similar to other
prophecies given by Branham to his followers --
a proclamation of death from God through this
prophet without reason or a plea for repentance.

The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge began
construction in June 1928, and was finally
opened to the public on October 31, 1929 as a
toll bridge. According to government records,
William Branham was 20 years old during the
final stages of the bridge's construction. This
would have given plenty of time to warn the
authorities of the men whose lives would
otherwise be lost and their families. We find no
record of warning, only the description of what
he claimed to have been a vision from God.

But history tells a much different story. During
its construction, the United States Coast Guard
monitored the operations. Their observation of
the construction is recorded in a series of
logbooks. The logs were entered every two hours
of every day, and those logs recorded everything
from the daily barometric pressures to the
groceries and other supplies used by the men at
work. While the logs do record deaths, none of

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them were caused by drowning. Instead, they

describe several rescue operations and only two
fatalities. History does not record sixteen men
falling from this bridge.

It is common knowledge that several men died
by falling from a bridge that spans the Ohio River
from Kentucky into Indiana. Those events have
been recorded in the historical records of
Jeffersonville. There were over thirty fatalities
during the construction of the Big Four Bridge.
Twenty of these fatalities occurred in a single
incident. The Big Four Bridge was built in
sections placed upon pillars, and during severe
winds one section was damaged. Forty-one
workers were standing on this section when it
fell. New construction came to a halt when the
bridge was repaired with additional support.

The subject of William Branham's vision, Clark
Memorial Bridge, was not constructed in this
manner. According to the local bridge
authorities, the method used during its
construction is the same method used today, and
this type of bridge construction has endured due
to its increased safety. The Clark Memorial
Bridge was seen as a huge success with a limited
number of fatalities, none of which were a result
of drowning.

This prophecy is clearly the result of the words
of a man, not the Word from the Lord. Some have
claimed that he was mistaken about which
bridge the prophecy described, but the Big Four
Bridge ended construction in 1895, long before

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William Branham was born. In addition, there is

no record that this prophecy was given before
the event. It would seem as though William
Branham claimed an event in the history of the
city as a new 'prophecy,' but like the other
prophesies we will examine, the facts do not
match its declaration. The prophet has spoken
presumptuously.

Ohio River Baptism

William Branham claimed to have held a
baptismal service in the banks of the Ohio River
that drew international fame. According to the
story, thousands attended and over five hundred
were baptized. As Branham was immersing the
seventeenth person, a light shone from the
heavens and God Himself spoke from the
heavens. In a story that parallels Jesus' baptism
by John, Branham claimed that the Father
announced his ministry by saying, "As John the
Baptist was sent forth to forerun the first coming
of Christ, you have the Message that'll now
forerun the second Coming of Christ."

This supernatural event, according to Branham,
gathered a very large crowd in Jeffersonville.
Five hundred people were baptized, the local
news arrived, and the Associated Press quickly
picked up the story. And according to Branham,
these reporters printed the story of the mystic
light in an article that quickly spread throughout
the United States and Canada.

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Those who study this event quickly find great

difficulty, due to the fact that the Associated
Press archives contain no such article. And while
one would assume this edition of the newspaper
would be found on display in the ministry
headquarters, Voice of God Recordings, it is not
to be found. We can only rely on the statements
made by William Branham himself, along with
the actual story that was printed in the
newspapers -- which seems to have not gained
national attention. The reporter who described
the baptismal service did not take notice of a
massive gathering, an unusual number of
converts to Christ being baptized, a light shining
from the heavens nor a voice announcing
William Branham's ministry. In fact, according to
the reporter on the scene, there were not even
seventeen converts, no mention of the baptism,
and even more interesting, no mention of the
tabernacle which supposedly held the meeting.

A scan of the article:

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Prophecies of 1933

Around 1951, William Branham started claiming
to have had a series of prophecies in 1933. From
events in the World War to the rise in technology
to the complete destruction of the United States,
some of these prophesies were proclaimed as the
coming future for mankind while others were
abandoned by Branham in the latter part of his
ministry.

As a follower of William Branham you are asked
to believe in a partial list of these prophecies,
which consist of the following:

1. Roosevelt (later changed to Hitler) would take
America into a second world war
2. Mussolini would invade Ethiopia and that
would be his last invasion
3. The Maginot or Siegfried Line would be built
4. Cars will become shaped like an egg (later
changed to automatic guidance systems)
5. The United States would be ruled by a woman
(later changed to President Kennedy and the
Catholic Church)
6. A progression of decay in the morality of
women
7. The United States would be smoldering and
burning

Towards the end of his ministry, two additional
prophecies were added to this list, both of which
are required by the followers of William
Branham. Branham claimed that in this same
series of visions, he saw the Pope leaving Rome,

18

and the Protestant churches abandoning their

belief systems to join into Catholicism. Also, he
claimed to have seen women reducing the
amount of clothing they wore to nothing more
than a fig leaf, and pointed out that the fig leaf
garments were already displayed in Life
magazine.

Additionally, Branham appended another two
prophecies, claiming that they were also given to
him in 1933, and thankfully these added
prophecies are not required in his following.
Branham claimed to have given a warning from
the Lord to avoid eating eggs, and another
prophecy as warning against living in valleys.
Branham himself did not participate in these
warnings that he claimed to have received from
God, eating eggs frequently and living in the Ohio
River valley for most of his life.

Many of his followers also believed these
prophecies would all come to pass by the end of
1977, based on a prediction he made in 1963.
Since then, the followers of William Branham
ignore all references to the year 1977.

Although William Branham himself claimed to
have had only six (or seven) prophecies, if we
combine all of the accounts of these prophecies
he claimed had been given to him by God in the
year 1933, and separate them by internal
conflicts, we end up with a much larger list:

1. Roosevelt would take America into a second
world war

19

2. Hitler would take America into a second world

war
3. Mussolini would invade Ethiopia and that
would be his last invasion
4. The Maginot would be built
5. The Siegfried Line would be built
6. Cars will become shaped like an egg
7. Cars will have automatic guidance systems
8. The United States would be ruled by a woman
9. The United States would be ruled by the
Catholic Church
10. The United States would be ruled by
president Kennedy, whose wife was the "Jezebel"
for this "age."
11. Women will wear fig leafs
12. United States would be destroyed
13. Do not eat eggs
14. Do not live in valleys

Branham claimed that these prophecies were
written in the flyleaf of his Bible in some of his
sermons, while in others he said that they were
in a notebook in his desk drawer. Towards the
end of his ministry, these claims changed to an
account that he buried the paper containing the
description of these prophecies in the
cornerstone of the Branham Tabernacle in
Jeffersonville. This cornerstone was purportedly
placed in the year 1933, so the tale is plausible,
and some followers accept this statement. In
other instances of his retelling of these
prophecies, however, Branham specifically
claimed to be reading from the original piece of
paper, pronouncing and spelling the words as
though he were having difficulty in reading his

20

own handwriting. But in fact, that the deed to the

Tabernacle was not issued until years later, and
the newspapers describe William Branham
preaching from tents in 1933. Branham himself
claimed to have been pastoring from a Masonic
Temple during this time, and when combined
with the 1936 deed, there are several
discrepancies.

Those familiar with Mormon apologetics will
recognize this strategy. As the Mormon faith
cannot produce the Word from the Lord that
Joseph Smith claimed were inscribed on the
metallic plates, the following of William
Branham cannot produce the original copy or
copies of the written Word from God to William
Branham.

The Flood of 1937

Followers of William Branham believe that the
1937 flood in Southern Indiana was the result of
the wrath of God against him for heeding his
mother-in-law's advice and refraining from
associating with the Pentecostal movement that
was taking the nation by storm. According to
Branham, his wife Hope's mother was strongly
opposed to her daughter becoming associated
with those "holy rollers," and Branham did not
heed the calling by God.

Branham claimed that because of this, God was
angered, and He sent the 1937 flood as
punishment. In a tragic tale, Branham described

21

being marooned on an island while his wife was

caught in the storm, unable to reach her and
protect her. Branham then described Hope and
his daughter Sharon Rose dying in his arms in a
hospital. This horrific turn of events became the
turning point in his ministry: Branham's
conversion to Christ by joining the Pentecostal
faith.

It would seem that this emotional story was
given to produce an overwhelming feeling of
compassion in his listeners, because very little of
the story matches historical fact, and Branham's
accounts of this life-changing event do not match
in his numerous versions of his life story.

He describes a dying Hope speaking to the nurse,
who happened to be a life-long friend of the
family, instructing her to find a man like
Branham. However, the name of the nurse
changes between different recitations of the tale.
One might expect that he would not forget the
identity of this nurse, considering her supposed
close association with his family.

But the most conflicting information to be found
on this subject concerns the period of time that
William Branham was the assistant pastor to Roy
E. Davis. In many of his sermons Branham
mentioned that Davis was a Baptist minister.
However, according to contemporary newspaper
advertisements, Hope was an active leader in the
youth ministry in Davis' church, which was
already affiliated with the Pentecostal
movement.

22


After Davis left the scene, Branham started his
own fellowship, and it was not called the
"Branham Tabernacle" as his followers assume
Branham's church was the "Pentecostal
Tabernacle" at the corner of 8th street and Penn
street.

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Faith Healing

Partnered with Ern Baxter, William Branham
travelled the world to pray for the sick. While
Baxter filled tents, auditoriums, and open spaces
with people eagerly listening to his preaching,
Branham would follow up with prayer lines for
those in need of healing. Through the
widespread reach of the Apostolic Faith
Missions, the Baxter-Branham campaigns quickly
spread into South Africa, which would produce a
large number of followers in the southern
regions of the African continent.

Joining them was Frank Francis Bosworth,
whose background to the faith healing ministry
would become a fundamental element to the
religious teachings of William Marrion Branham.
Bosworth himself was a depression-era "faith
healer," receiving his doctrinal teaching from the
world-renowned faith healer, the late John
Alexander Dowie. Through Bosworth, Branham
became familiar with Dowie, his teaching, and
his once great following in Zion City, Illinois.

Branham's own faith healing-ministry was in full
swing in 1945, as described in a pamphlet, "I
Was Not Disobedient To The Heavenly Vision." In
this pamphlet, Branham described a vision that
he claimed was been given to him by God, in
which he saw a large group of people in white
robes -- which represented his followers. In
1949 Branham updated this commission to
include the story of an angel visitation, which

24

Branham would later claim was the beginning of

his faith-healing ministry.

Through the years, the description of this angel
and the description of the surroundings
frequently changed, from a clean-shaven man to
a man with a long, black beard or a long, white
beard, sometimes wearing a turban. This life-
changing event happened, according to
Branham, in either a cave, a cabin with a
window, or some other unknown location, but all
described the same underlying story: An angel in
the form of a man instructing Branham to elevate
the people's faith in William Branham. Branham
would often quote this angel as saying, "If you
can get the people to believe in you, then nothing
will stand in your way, not even cancer."

Branham's campaign would issue "prayer cards"
to the sick and afflicted, asking them to describe
their illness and give their name and address.
These cards were taken up by the ushers and
would then be given to Branham for prayer, and
Branham would call the numbers associated
with each prayer card. As people approached the
pulpit, Branham would claim God had revealed
the information written on those same cards to
him, a gift Branham called "discernment."
Though it is not often mentioned in the churches
in this movement, during the early part of his
ministry Branham claimed to have experienced
vibrations in his hand as a person approached
the platform. These vibrations, Branham
claimed, would cause the color and the
temperature of his hand to change. This "gift,"

25

according to Branham's story about the angel,

was a parallel to God speaking to Moses.
Branham would often describe the words of the
angel, "As Moses was given two signs, so are you
given two signs." Because of this, pastors in the
Branham movement teach that of the three signs
given to Moses, only two of them were truly
"signs," the other was simply another plague.
(God's signs to Moses included the staff of the
serpent, the leprous hand, and the turning of the
water of the Red Sea into blood.)

The Halo

In a January 1950 meeting in the Houston
Coliseum, a photograph was taken of William
Branham as he stood behind the pulpit,
preaching. The photograph contains a streak of
light above William Branham's head, and the
Branham's followers believe that the
photographer captured the same "Pillar of Fire"
that led the Children of Israel out of Egypt
though the photographer and those seated in the
photograph did not see it themselves. According
to Branham, this was the same light that the
Apostle Paul witnessed in the desert, and God
allowed it to be photographed as a supernatural
sign to his followers.

Followers believe that this picture was
authenticated by the "head" of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, sent immediately to
Washington, DC for verification, and hangs still
today in a place called the "Religious Hall of Art."

26

Branham claimed that George J. Lacy, the man

who examined the photograph, was called in
from California specifically to examine the
photograph. Though Lacy was not employed by
the FBI and was local to Houston, he did sit on
the board for The American Society of
Questioned Document Examiners, which was
engaged by the Bureau from time to time.

In his examination of the photograph, Lacy
confirmed that the photograph had not been
altered, but did not confirm the source of the
light. And though the photograph is similar to
other pictures taken in the Houston Coliseum,
followers of Branham believe that the source of
this light was a supernatural being. Though
William Branham claimed that this photograph
was the only one God allowed to develop, other
photographs of the event were printed and
published in the local newspapers.

After taking this particular picture, however, the
photographer would not release it until the
photo was copyrighted by the Library of
Congress. Because of this delay, an issue of
Branham's magazine, The Voice of Healing, was
held back until the photo was released.

27

Voice of Healing, December 1950

Houston Press, January 1950

Mystery Cloud

In late February of 1963 a strange cloud formed
over Northern Arizona. This cloud slowly formed
into a ring, floated across Arizona from west to

28

east, and drew nationwide attention as scientists

tried to determine its origin. Though
examination of his recorded sermons prove that
he was in Houston, Texas at the time, followers
of William Branham believe that he was standing
underneath this cloud as it passed by. According
to Branham, he was hunting javelina during this
angelic visitation, and he witnessed the event as
it took place. However, hunting season fell in
March that year not February when the cloud
occurred. Nevertheless, followers of Branham
are taught to believe that this cloud formation is
actually a photograph of angelic beings. Branham
claimed that seven angels visited him on the day
the cloud appeared, and that the cloud was a trail
of water vapor they left behind as they exited the
Earth's atmosphere.

Incidentally, Branham's first mention of this
cloud did not take place until June, when he was
given a copy of the Life magazine article that
described the cloud formation. Prior to seeing
the magazine article, Branham claimed that
these seven angels met him in his room in
Jeffersonville to give the revelation of the Seven
Seals. After the publication, the story of the cloud
and hunting trip became integrated into his
sermons with descriptions of his seeing this
cloud form in the skies as the angels made their
ascension.

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Marks of the Beast

Followers of William Branham are trained to
believe that the parable of the "foolish virgins" in
Matthew 25 is referring to the churches of the
twentieth century, the followers of Branham
being the virgins who kept their lamps trimmed,
and all other Christians who did not accept
William Branham's teachings being the foolish
virgins who were caught unawares. According to
Branham, those who believe in the "prophet for
their day" will be raptured before the tribulation,
while all other Christians will suffer torment.

In the early part of his ministry, William
Branham claimed that communism was the Mark
of the Beast, and claimed that he prophesied of
the rise of communism in his prophecies of 1933.
But in the latter part of his ministry, Branham
claimed that all denominations that rejected his
message had already taken the Mark of the
Beast, promoting the idea that there were two
classes of people: us (those who did not have the
Mark), and "them" those that rejected his
ministry and had taken the Mark of the Beast.

Branham's timeline for this event to take place is
difficult to pinpoint due to his varying thoughts
on the subject. In some places, Branham
promoted the idea that the Mark of the Beast
would come after the Bride had been raptured
and the Great Tribulation had begun, while other
places Branham claimed that all other
denominations had already taken the Mark.
When Branham started promoting the Jewish

30

Mysticism teaching of "Serpent's Seed," Branham

began to promote the idea that the Mark started
in the Garden of Eden, and those that were from
the seed of Abraham were the only ones who did
not have the Mark within them.

Throughout his ministry, Branham taught that
one or more of the following was the "Mark of
the Beast":

Communism
Apostasy
Union of Churches
Unbelief
Catholicism
Rome
Not having the Gift of the Holy Spirit
To blaspheme the Holy Spirit
Any denomination of faith other than
Branham's
Not descending from the seed of Abraham

Over time, this teaching resulted in a strong
separation between Branham's following and
other Christians. While Branham claimed that
the Mark of the Beast would happen after the
rapture, he began to promote the idea that
denominational churches had already taken the
Mark of the Beast. Those inside the churches
were already condemned to eternal separation.

The churches Branham name specifically as the
"evil ones" were: Pentecostals, Presbyterians,
and Baptists.

31

Ground Rules

William Branham promoted the idea that an
ascetic lifestyle would produce "rapturing faith."
Throughout the course of his ministry, Branham
listed several forms of entertainment, articles of
clothing, sports, and other forbidden pleasures
that he believed true Christians should refrain
from. Though many of these are no longer
required in the denomination of faith that
follows William Marrion Branham, some isolated
churches remain who mold their lives to these
extra-biblical doctrines. Since Branham's death,
those who firmly support this doctrine include
additional requirements for their members and
expand upon Branham's rules to create a stricter
code of conduct.

According to William Branham, the following are
not permitted. Some of the items listed bind
closely to his latter description of the "Mark of
the Beast":

Entertainment
No watching television
No watching movies
No comic books
No rock music
No telling jokes

Dress Code For Women
No trousers of any kind
No shorts
No low cut, sheer or form fitting clothing

32

Any garment that shows the knees is

forbidden
No painting fingernails
No fake fingernails
No "booster" bras
No high-heeled shoes
No open-toed shoes
No earrings
No cosmetics
No haircuts, trimming, or split-end
removal
No dying your hair
No wearing "dime store jewelry"
No wearing the latest fashion

33

Dress Code For Men
Must wear pants
No shorts
No suede shoes for men
No sideburns for men
No bangs
No flat-top haircuts

Eating Rules
No eating hybrid food
No eating eggs
No soup suppers
No drinking alcohol

Women In General
No washing machines
No dishwashers
Women are forbidden to work
Women are forbidden to vote

No birth control
No loving dogs
Must be divorced if they cut their hair
THUS SAITH THE LORD

Men In General
Naming your son "Ricky" is forbidden
Naming your son "Elvis" is forbidden

Aging In General
False teeth are forbidden
Dying your hair is forbidden

Sports And Recreation
No baseball
No basketball
No bowling
No ball games in general
No "bodily exercise"
No pool games
No bingo
No bunco
No dice
No cards
No dancing
No parties
No sunbathing
No hula hoops
No swimming parties
Men swimming in the same pool with
women is forbidden

Dating Rules
No kissing (before marriage)

34

No marrying a woman who has been

kissed
Interracial marriage is forbidden
Breaking a marriage engagement is
forbidden

Household Rules
No Easter bunny
No Santa Claus
No animals in the house
Putting fuel in your vehicle on Sunday
No living in valleys

Jehovahs Witness

William Branham promoted the idea that Jesus
Christ of the New Testament was Jehovah of the
Old Testament, which is the fundamental
teaching of Charles Taze Russell. While Branham
taught that Jesus was the fullness of God, he also
taught that Christ was not eternal.

According to Branham and Russell, Jesus was the
archangel Michael, who fought the angelic wars
in heaven. Satan, who was equal in rank to
Michael, became consumed with his beauty and
was cast down from the heavens. While Michael
remained at the side of the throne, Branham
taught that Satan designed women, caused her to
fall, and turned the entire earth into his own
"Eden."

Branham taught that Christ was born by
Immaculate Conception, yet was nothing more

35

than a man. It was not until his baptism that God

"poured Himself" into the man, Jesus Christ, and
according to Branham, this is when Christ
became the "god-man."

But this "god-man" was limited in power.
According to Branham, Christ did not have the
power to heal unless first having seen a vision
from the Father. And at an ultimate showdown in
the Garden of Gethsemane, angels sat around
watching as the "god-man" was changed again
into a mortal human being. Jesus, according to
Branham, died as nothing more than a man.

Stuck in the Elevator

Before the climax of his ministry was completed,
and before Branham's visions concerning his
own ministry were fulfilled, God removed
William Branham from the scene. A tragic car
accident claimed his life in December of 1965,
leaving the recorded sermons to the control of
his sons. It was an atomic bomb that scattered
the sheep, leaving each group in a state of limbo
as they struggle to reconcile the unfulfilled
visions with the removal of their leader. Some
are forced to believe that Branham will rise from
the dead to finish the prophecies, while others
believe that viewpoint is heresy and do not
attempt to reconcile. Some claim that they alone
have the mystery behind the "Seven Thunders of
Revelation," which Branham never declared,
while others claim that these mysteries were
never meant to be known until after we enter

36

New Jerusalem. Some claim that Branham was

misleading in his teaching concerning the last
messenger, and have elected a new leader in
Branham's place. Others claim that William
Branham was the complete fulfillment of the
return of Christ, and that we are now living in
eternal bliss. But all are pillars in the foundation
laid by William Branham, and all are upholding
the same body of members that stand firmly on
the idea that one must believe in William
Branham to merit salvation and enter the
rapture when Christ returns.

It is an elevator that started to rise, but did not
make it to the top. The door is open, the people
are peering outside, but none are willing to
accept the fact that this lift will not make the
next floor. You are asked to stand with them,
peering outside the open door, holding hands of
faith and watching with eager eyes to see if it has
budged even a single inch.

37

Easy Questions

38

When you first stumble onto your first

discrepancy in the doctrines, prophecies, or life
stories of William Branham, it can be
overwhelming. One false statement exposes
another, and another after that. Very soon, you
find yourself digging through mounds of
information to find very little that is not fiction.

Sadly, there are many who start digging only to
find themselves consumed with questions that
have no answers, and they quickly return to their
former state in a worse condition than when
they started. Without a clear plan of action, these
people are not willing to dedicate the time to
untangle the mess that is lies beneath.

It's best to start with the easy questions. We've
lined up the topics that are easily proven fiction
by Scriptural truth, historical fact, and
Branham's own words. As you gradually start to
untangle the truth for yourself, the easy
questions will give you breadcrumbs to follow as
you dig deeper into the deceptive teachings and
fictional stories. For example, when you listen to
a man claiming all other men are going to hell for
wearing shorts, it's very easy to identify the false
doctrine when you catch the man wearing the
shorts himself.

The Cloud

William Branham claimed to have had a vision
describing the need to travel west and meet with
five angels. Five, according to Branham, had a

39

significant meaning in the spiritual realmsince

the English word for "grace" had five letters. So
he travelled west.

But in later telling this spiritual event revolved
around seven angels, not five. And according to
Branham, these seven angels instructed him to
return to Jeffersonville, Indiana, to receive the
"revelation of the seven seals." During the
meeting, Branham claimed that each of these
seven angels met him in his room each day, and
that he knew absolutely nothing about the
sermon on the day prior. This description of
seven angels (not five) continued until a
magazine article describing a mysterious cloud
was handed to him.

After several sermons, and now having a
photograph of a cloud, Branham started to claim
that he was standing directly underneath the
cloud when it had drifted overhead. In fact, he
claimed that he watched this cloud being formed
as the seven angels broke through the earth's
atmosphere directly overhead.

This event was supposed to have happened
during his javelina hunt in the mountains of
Arizona. And though Branham did travel west to
hunt, he arrived prior to hunting season. Before
the season started, Branham was asked to travel
to Houston, Texas to help create support for a
photographer's son who was in prison and had
been sentenced to die. Ironically, that
photographer is the same person who took the

40

other iconic photograph used in the following of

William Branham: the "halo" picture.

Branham preached a sermon entitled "An
Absolute" in Houston, describing his upcoming
hunting trip. According to Branham, the hunting
trip was in the future, and his agenda was to
return to Arizona to hunt javelina hogs until it
was time to return home to Jeffersonville for an
upcoming meeting.

There's just one problem: This Houston sermon
was given on March 4, 1963, and the cloud had
already passed through Arizona on February 28,
1963!

The cloud was formed at Vandenberg Air Force
Base. According to research, the most likely
cause of the formation was due to a T.H.O.R.
missile detonation which commonly produced
clouds similar to the one displayed in the Life
magazine. It floated from west to east over 320
kilometers north of Branham's hunting location,
and was sighted several times along the northern
part of Arizona in the evening of February 28,
1963.

The location does not match Branham was out
of state. The timing does not match; Branham
claimed to have seen the cloud in the morning
instead of in the evening. And the hunting season
that year did not begin until March 1st, creating
an impossible situation.

41

James McDonald carried out research to testify

in the United States Senate on behalf of
Unidentified Flying Object researchers in the
United States. His investigation is key to the
identification of the origin of the cloud, and
because this situation proved to have been
caused by humans instead of Martians,
McDonald abandoned research on the
mysterious cloud in Arizona.

With his abandoning study, followers of William
Branham use the lack of investigation as proof of
the unknown. Not knowing that McDonald was
on his way to becoming an outcast in his peer
group, they assume McDonald was a top scientist
whose only purpose was to study this cloud.
Sadly, McDonald was unable to prove the
existence of little green men, and ultimately
committed suicide after humiliating himself in
the United States Senate chambers.

The Bridge

When God allows a prophet to see into the
future, the events made known cannot be wrong;
God Himself cannot be wrong. For this reason,
the Bible tells us that we are to test the prophets
if any single prophecy given does not come to
pass exactly as the prophet has spoken, than the
prophet was not speaking from the authority of
God. Instead, we are instructed to avoid the
prophet, because they are attempting to lead us
astray.

42

Do not despise prophecies, but test everything;

hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form
of evil.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-22

But the prophet who shall speak a word
presumptuously in My name which I have not
commanded him to speak, or which he shall
speak in the name of other gods, that prophet
shall die. And you may say in your heart, how
shall we know the word which the LORD has not
spoken? When a prophet speaks in the name of
the LORD, if the thing does not come about or
come true, that is the thing which the LORD has
not spoken. The prophet has spoken it
presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy. 18:20-22


William Branham claimed to have been given a
vision by God concerning the construction of the
Clark Memorial Bridge that joins Southern
Indiana to Louisville Kentucky over the Ohio
River. In his descriptions of this vision, Branham
claimed to have seen the deaths of sixteen men
as they fell from the bridge. It was a prophecy of
destruction, similar to other prophecies given by
Branham to his followers: a proclamation of
death from God through this prophet without
reason or a plea for repentance.

As Christians, we should examine every
prophecy, no matter how big or small, and learn
what God is trying to tell us. What was the
importance of this prophecy? Did God issue a

43

warning of judgment without a call to

repentance? Does this prophecy lead us closer to
God, or simply closer to William Branham as the
"seer?" Did this prophecy come to pass as
Branham claimed?

The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge began
construction in June 1928, and was finally
opened to the public on October 31, 1929 as a
toll bridge. According to government records,
this would place William Branham at an age of
20, which would place Branham at an age to give
the warning to the target of the prophecy the
men whose lives would be claimed and the
families that would lose their loved one.

But history tells a much different story. During
its construction, the United States Coast Guard
monitored the operations. Their observation of
the construction is recorded in a series of log
books in logs that were entered every two hours
each day, and those logs record everything from
the barometric pressures to the groceries and
other supplies needed by the men at work. The
logs do record deaths, but not from a fall from
the bridge. While they describe several rescue
operations, they only describe two fatalities.
History does not record sixteen men falling from
this bridge.

It is common knowledge that several men died
from a bridge spanning the Ohio River from
Kentucky into Indiana, however, and that history
can be found in any of the historical records of
Jeffersonville. There were over thirty fatalities

44

curing the construction of the Big Four Bridge,

twenty of which occurred during a single
incident. The Big Four Bridge was built in
sections placed upon pillars, and during severe
winds one section was damaged. Forty-one
workers were standing upon this section when it
fell, and the construction came to a halt while
they repaired the bridge with additional support.

The Clark Memorial Bridge, on the other hand,
was not constructed in this manner. According to
the local bridge authorities, the method used
during its construction is the same method used
today, and this type of bridge construction has
endured due to its increased safety. The Clark
Memorial bridge was seen as a huge success with
a limited number of fatalities, none of which
were a result of a worker falling to his or her
death.

This prophecy is clearly the result of the words
of a man, not the Word from the Lord. The Big
Four Bridge ended construction in 1895, long
before William Branham was born. Since there is
no record of this prophecy being given before the
event, it would seem as though William Branham
claimed an event in the history of the city as a
new 'prophecy,' but like the other prophesies we
will examine, the facts do not match the
declaration of prophecy. The prophet has spoken
presumptuously.

45

The Church Ages

William Branham taught that the Seven Churches
of Asia Minor found in the book of Revelation
were symbolic of seven church "ages," starting
with the time of the Apostle Paul, and ending
with himself as the "messenger" for the final age.
According to Branham, he was given divine
revelation as to these ages, dates, and
messengers, and followers of Branham's
ministry believe this doctrine to be scriptural
truth.

This teaching is loosely based upon the doctrines
of John Darby, well known to be the "father of
dispensationalism." The teaching seems to have
originated with a mystic named Jane Leade, who
established a religious group that called
themselves "The Philadelphia Society." Leade's
teachings on the "dispensations of the ages"
became more widely known through members of
her following, and was ultimately spread by
Cyrus Scofield and his Scofield study bible.
Interestingly, Leade's prophesies were found
among the possessions of Charles Price, a Los
Angeles pastor whose church Branham
frequented.

Branham's timeline for the "church ages" seems
to be identical to the drawings of Clarence Larkin
in his work entitled Dispensational Truth. The
same dates that Larkin used for his drawings are
used in Branham's teaching, with the exception
of the last age, which Branham pointed to
himself. And while Larkin did not list messengers

46

for each age, Branham chose messengers to align

with these ages, picking one messenger that was
not alive during his church age.

Columba

The most obvious error in this "revelation" is the
examination of the supposed fourth age
messenger . William Branham claimed that the
Thyatirean Church Age lasted from A.D 606 to
A.D. 1520, and that the messenger for the age
was St. Columba. These dates align with those in
Larkin's Dispensational Truth but with the
addition of messengers to each age, Branham
failed to examine the lifespans of the men he
claimed to be the messengers.

St. Columba (521-597) was not alive during any
portion of his "Church Age". He was one of the
so-called "Twelve Apostles of Ireland", taught
under Finnian of Clonard, who is said to be one
of the fathers of Irish monasticism.

Columba became a monk, and was later ordained
a priest. Tradition has it that around 560,
Columba got in a harsh quarrel over a psalter
(scroll of Psalms). Columba copied the psaltery,
intending to keep the copy, and St. Finnian
disputed his right to keep it. This eventually led
to the Battle of Cul Dreimhne (561) during which
many men lost their lives.

47

Afterward Columba devoted his life to saving as

many men as had lost their lives in that battle,
and exiled himself from Ireland.

The main source of information about Columba's
life comes from his writings of the Vita
Columbae, which are essentially three books:
One of prophecies, one of miracles, and one of
apparitions. Interestingly, these books are the
first mention of the Loch Ness Monster.

Some followers of Branham claim that
messengers can live "outside" of Branham's
(Larkin's) "ages," however this is in direct
disagreement with William Branham:

"Each age has had its message and messenger.
God has seen to that. Every... Even in the church
ages, we find out that each one had a messenger,
and each one lived their age"
63-0116 - The Evening Messenger

The Man From Windsor

William Branham told many stories of the
awesome power of God that offered him
protection, and on the surface, it seems to be just
that. God loves and cares for His own.

But when you examine these tales in
chronological order, details were added that
seem to give the story a slight adjustment in
purpose. Over time the stories changed from
amazement in God's mighty power to

48

amazement that any would question Branham's

authority. The best example of this is the tale of
the "Man from Windsor," who suffered several
different tragedies for pretending to enter
Branham's prayer line without actually having
the diseases written on the back of his "prayer
card."

During the early stages of Branham's ministry,
the Branham campaign would require patients to
fill in "prayer cards," a small piece of paper that
contained the person's name, address, affliction,
and other information. These cards were handed
in to the ushers, and given to Branham for
"prayer." Then, during the course of the lengthy
prayer lines, Branham would guess what each
person wrote on the backs of the cards
claiming that God had given him this revelation
in a vision he called "discernment."

To question this awesome power was forbidden.
Followers of William Branham are trained to
believe that questioning the "prophet" is to
question the Holy Spirit, and by doing so they
can mistakenly drive the Holy Spirit from their
presence.

But according to Branham, this man questioned.
By heeding the instructions in the Bible to test
the prophets, Branham claimed that God smote
this man to the ground, paralyzed.

But this was just one version of the story. In
other telling the man suffered different
consequences, fates that included death, running

49

from the platform, a bedridden condition, pain,

and suffering at the hand of Almighty God.

Here is the list of fates that Branham claimed this
man to have had:

1. He fell to the floor and began screaming
(1950)
50-0110 MOSES_ HOUSTON.TX TUESDAY_ E-41

2. He received the diseases that were written on
his prayer card and was still afflicted (1953).
53-0508
GOD.COMMISSIONING.MOSES_
JONESBORO.AR FRIDAY_ E-67 through E-69

3. He died from the diseases written on the card
(1954).
54-0902
SOUTH.AFRICA.TESTIMONY_
NEW.YORK.NY THURSDAY_ E-12 through E-15

4. He was still bedfast "to this day" (1956).
56-0407 BLIND.BARTIMAEUS_ CHICAGO.IL
SATURDAY_ E-66

5. He ran screaming from the platform (1956).
56-1209E JEHOVAH.JIREH_ BROOKLYN.NY
SUNDAY_ E-88 through E-90

6. He died a year later (January 1957).
57-0127E
BLIND.BARTIMAEUS_
LIMA.OH
SUNDAY_ E-66 through E-67

7. He was still in "serious condition" (June 1957).
57-0630 THIRSTING.FOR.LIFE_ CHICAGO.IL
SUNDAY_ E-4 through E-5

50


8. He died 6 months later from cancer (1958).
58-0208
THE.QUEEN.OF.THE.SOUTH_
SOUTH.BEND.IN SATURDAY_ E-85 through E-86

9. He was carried from the platform paralyzed
and was still paralyzed (1958).
58-0330E
CHRIST.KNOCKING.AT.THE.DOOR_
MIDDLETOWN.OH SUNDAY_ E-61

10. He died six weeks later (1961).
61-0212M JEHOVAH.JIREH_ LONG.BEACH.CA
SUNDAY_ E-24 through E-26

11. He died six weeks later (1962)
62-0124 HAVE.NOT.I.SENT.THEE_ PHOENIX.AZ
WEDNESDAY_ E-142-143

12. He received the diseases that were written
on his prayer card (1963).
63-1124E
THREE.KINDS.OF.BELIEVERS_
JEFFERSONVILLE.IN V-3 N-6 SUNDAY_ 203-218

The Tragedy of Donnie Morton

Reader's Digest printed the tragic story of a
father's love for his child as he travelled to one of
the Branham healing campaigns. In 1952, an
article entitled "The Miracle of Donnie Morton"
was published, detailing the account of Arthur
Morton and his four-year-old son Donnie. Donnie
Morton was dying of meningitis when he entered
the prayer lines of the Branham camp. "Your son
is suffering from a serious brain malady... But do

51

not give up hope. With faith in God's power, and

help from the medical world, your little son will
live," Branham said. In a 1953 sermon, Branham
claimed that he saw a vision of the child living
through the disease. Though father was told that
the boy would be healed, Reader's Digest
describes how the boy breathed his last breath
during complications from meningitis and
pneumonia. He died of Meningitis Serosa
Traumatica, the same disease that caused his
father to seek out the faith healer. Though
Branham announced the child would live, sadly,
he never recovered. The publicity of Reader's
Digest was more powerful than William
Branham could overlook. The story of Donnie
Morton would be retold over and over in
Branham's ministry; however, the end result was
often left out of the story.

Driverless Eggcar

In 1933, William Branham toured the World's
Fair Century of Progress International
Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. This fair provided
visitors with a glimpse into the future, walking
patrons through the latest technologies,
prototypes, and future direction.

One of the exhibits in this fair was the Lincoln
Zephyr, which seems to be the foundation for a
prophecy that Branham would claim years later.
The Lincoln Zephyr, originally named "Briggs
Dream Car," was a prototype that was made in
honor of the biggest attraction in the 1933

52

World's Fair: The Pioneer Zephyr. This train was

the early model of what would become the
California Zephyr, a train that would quickly
transport passengers from Chicago to San
Francisco.

The aerodynamics of this train was state-of-the-
art, its front end rounded and angled forward to
allow airflow freely over or to the side of the
engine. Lincoln took the same design with the
cars front-end grille, but took aerodynamics to
the next level with the rounded fenders, rounded
top, and overall shape of an egg. For its time, this
car was sci-fi fantasy, but not long after, it
became reality.

This aerodynamic strategy was employed in
several prototypes by other manufacturers,
including another egg-shaped vehicle on display
in the 1933 World's Fair. The first prototype of
the Dymaxion made test runs at the Fair, and
was involved in an accident that killed the driver
and seriously injured two passengers. The
canvas top of the vehicle did not offer sufficient
protection against impact, and the single rear
wheel did not offer enough stability. After its
accident, the investors abandoned the project.

All manufacturers seemed to be competing to
produce their idea of the future as described by
Norman Bel Geddes, who was quickly becoming
a recognized name in the automotive industry, as
well as many other industries. These "egg car"
schematics were already public knowledge prior
to the World's Fair. In 1932, Norman Bel Geddes

53

published a prophetic book of the advancements

in science that were soon to become reality. In
"Horizons," Bel Geddes describes the car of the
future:

"This form is approximately that of an egg,
though the small end of the drop tapers more
sharply to a conical point. In falling, the larger
and blunt end of the drop is foremost. This is the
shape that creates the least turbulence"
Page 45, "Motor Cars and Buses"

"It is my prediction that within the next two or
three years some farseeing manufacturer will
again turn his attention to making his machine
go, that this time his design will be the result of
what has been learned in this motorized-buggy
era. This means that he will start afresh and that
his objective will be the ultimate form of the
future motorcar. This car will look very different
from those you seen on the road to-day but not
very different from Car Number 8 as illustrated
here."
Page 63, "Motor Cars and Buses"

"Bel Geddes had glimpsed himself as a designer
and planner on a grand scale. He adopted the
stance of an adversary to the irrationalities and
resulting inefficiencies and dangers of present
conventions in highway building and as the
champion of rational engineering and mistake-
proof technologies. A system of 14-lane
highways, on which drivers would respond to
messages from radio control towers and find
their way illuminated at night by an electric-eye

54

controlled system of indirect lighting, would

eliminate most of the accidents resulting from
"human failure."
The Designers go to the Fair, II: Norman Bel
Geddes, The General Motors "Futurama" and the
Visit to the Factory Transformed

In 1956, Branham started claiming to have had a
vision describing this shape of a car. Also, during
sermons, Branham claimed that the shape had
become common reminding listeners of how
the early automobiles were designed. His
original intent was to describe a prophecy that
listeners would see as already fulfilled.

Over time, this motive changed. As technology
increased, and automobiles were no longer
styled like the Zephyr, Branham added
additional details to this prophecy. From
rounded glass tops to self-guidance systems, this
prophecy of a car shaped like an egg began to
take other forms pointing to future innovation.

When the Central Power and Light Company ran
an article entitled "Power Companies Build For
Your New Electric Living, Branham's telling of
this vision now included details of the people
sitting inside of the car. His description closely
matched the scene from the article, from the
rounded glass dome of the vehicle to the family
playing a board game in the cab while leaving the
steering wheel unattended.

Again, Branham claimed that his vision had been
fulfilled. This time, however, it was fulfilled by

55

the driverless car. That same car was on exhibit

in the 1962 World's Fair Century 21 Exposition,
in Seattle, Washington. Branham toured the
exhibits, and described the car as fulfillment of
prophecy.

But like the egg-shaped Zephyr, this technology
has not become mainstream. Followers of
William Branham gather great excitement when
they read of any advancement in the automotive
industry, hoping that these vehicles will
someday become common. Printed in
newspapers, it was already common discussion
by an excited nation.

"Republished in magazines and newspapers,
these designs of Bel Geddes's "prophetic
imagination," one historian noted, "struck a
responsive chord in a public anxiously looking
toward the better environment that was
promised by an enlightened technology"
Page 158, Stage Designers in Early Twentieth-
Century America


With the progression of science, one can raise
many questions surrounding this prophecy
describing an egg-shaped car. Why are cars no
longer in the shape of the Lincoln Zephyr? Why
would God show a vision of a family playing a
board game, when modern families are more
likely to be entertained by a DVD, Blu-Ray, Xbox
360 or PlayStation? Why did Branham claim
prophetic insight regarding something that he

56

saw at a World's Fair and in a magazine, as well

as newspaper ads?

California: Still Standing

The last year of his ministry, William Branham
condemned Los Angeles for rejecting his
ministry, and pronounced judgment against the
city with a punishment of destruction. Branham
claimed to have been given a vision by God in
which the God compared Los Angeles to
Capernaum. In this vision, Branham claimed that
God destroyed Capernaum by pushing it beneath
the sea for rejecting Christianity.

Capernaum

Capernaum was a fishing village at the time of
the Hasmoneans (140-116 BC). It is still located
on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee to this
day. Archaeological excavations have revealed
two ancient synagogues built one on top of the
other. Capernaum was spared by the Romans
during the Jewish Revolt (AD 66-70), and was
referred to as a fertile spring in the writings of
Josephus. Many homes were built in the 4th
century, and one of the homes was greatly
transformed in the 5th century. Evidence shows
a constant transforming city since before the
days of Christ until about the 5th Century. It has
never been under the sea.

It is common knowledge that California sits on a
fault line that produces major earthquakes, and

57

it was common knowledge long before Branham

made the prediction. Los Angeles is particularly
brittle under its foundation, which is a science
William Branham discussed in his sermons
also before the prophecy was given.

Others have recorded predictions that an
earthquake would sink Los Angeles, dating back
to at least 1937. While in a hospital, a 17-year-
old Joe Brandt had an out-of-body experience
that was so clear to him that it was written down
and formed into a book in 1965.

I've been thinking about it all morning. I'm going
home tomorrow. It was just a dream. It was
nothing more. Nobody in the future on
Hollywood Boulevard is going to be wearing
earrings and those beards. Nothing like that is
ever going to happen. That girl was so real to me
that girl with those kids. It won't ever happen
but if it did, how could I tell her (maybe she
isn't even born yet) to move away from
California when she has her twins and she
can't be on the Boulevard that day. She was so
gosh-darned real. The other thing those ham
operators hanging on like that over and
over saying the same thing:

"This is California. We are going into the sea.
This is California. We are going into the sea. Get
to the mountains. Get to the hilltops. California,
Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Utah. This is
California. We are going into the sea." The
Coming Earthquake - Joe Brandt

58

May's Department Store

Branham claimed that he could see nothing past
1977 except devastation, and made that very
clear throughout his ministry. According to a
book by Pearry Green, Branham said he saw that
Los Angeles would be under the ocean before his
son Billy Paul grew to be an old man. He claimed
that he saw sharks swimming in the streets
where they were standing, in front of May's
Department Store. One would conclude by
combination of multiple prophecies that
Branham believed this event would happen
before 1977.

"Billy, I may not be here but you won't be an old
man until sharks will swim right where we are
standing"
The Acts of the Prophet, Pearry Green, page
119

Billy Paul Branham was born on September 13,
1935, meaning he is at a ripe old age of 78 in
2013. Yet William Branham himself claimed to
be an "old man" at age 56. One would also
conclude that Branham's description of the
vision would picture a man much younger than
his own age. Regardless, Billy Paul Branham
outlived the life expectancy for men at the time
William Branham made the claim to this
prophecy.

59

Twisted Scripture

Some might argue that regardless of his failed
prophecy and fictional life stories, William
Branham's objective was to bring the hearts and
minds of the people back to the original faith of
the fathers. He would often make statements
describing "No creed but Christ; no law but love;
no Book but the Bible," however when you
examine his teaching of scripture we find subtle
differences in context.

Rather than examining the entire chapter or
book to read the scripture in context, Branham
would often read one or two verses and claim to
"build his context" upon those few words. Often,
when you examine the subject matter of the
sermon as compared to the subject matter in the
chapter, the two seem to be in direct conflict.
This can especially be found in the final sermons
of his ministry, in sermons that seem to be
promoting himself as our new "high priest."

Branham would often describe the punishment
by God for adding to or taking away from
scripture. The end of Revelation 22 is quoted
often in the following of William Branham,
describing ministers who twist the scriptures to
fit their own agendas:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man
shall add unto these things, God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words

60

of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away

his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy
city, and from the things which are written in
this book.
Revelation 22:18-19


But when we examine scriptures that are most
often quoted by William Branham, we find words
added or removed. Entire verses are combined
with scriptures from other books in the Bible to
invent new bible verses that are repeated and
memorized in the following of William Branham.

The three most obvious:

I will be with you even in you until the end of
the world.

As it was in the days of Noah wherein eight
souls were saved, so shall it be at the coming of
the son of man

This is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased to dwell in.

These three scriptures were the foundation for
three fundamental teachings of William
Branham, and while only a few words were
added, removed, or changed, the entire meaning
of scripture was changed by only minor
alteration.

61

I will be with you even in you

William Branham promoted the Jehovah's
Witness version of Jesus Christ, claiming that
Jesus was just a man until his baptism. At
baptism, Branham claimed that God poured
Himself fully into Jesus to produce the "god-
man," and that Jesus of the New Testament was
Jehovah of the Old Testament. This teaching is
modalism, which denies the triune nature of God,
and was condemned as heresy by the early
church.

Branham claimed that the original translation
included three additional words: "even in you."
These words, though not found in the King James
Version that followers study, are still believed to
be included in the original scrolls by most of the
followers of William Branham. Many are shocked
to find that there are no additional words in the
original translation, and that this interpretation
of scripture does not match the Word of God.

Only Eight Souls

William Branham planted the idea that he was
sent to prepare a "little bride" for the return of
Jesus Christ. According to Branham, all other
Christians outside of his own following were the
fulfillment of the "foolish virgins" in the parable
given by Christ in Matthew 25. Branham's vision
of the future included a world condemned for
failure to listen to his ministry, and as "the final
messenger," God would close the door to the
Branham's ark.

62


To promote this idea of "eight souls," William
Branham combined two scriptures, from two
books, with two different contextual meanings.
The first, Matthew 24, is describing the sudden
coming of Christ that will catch many unaware.

Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not
pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father
only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And
knew not until the flood came, and took them all
away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be
taken, and the other left. Two women shall be
grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and
the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not
what hour your Lord doth come.

The second comes from 1 Peter chapter 3. In this
passage, Peter is describing God's patience and
faithfulness. The entire world can be passing
away, but if you are sheltered in the arms of God,
you are under His protection. He will never leave
you, never forsake you, and even if you are the
last eight souls on the face of the planet, God is
still faithful.

63

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the

just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the Spirit: By which also he went and preached
unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were
disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a
preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water. The like figure whereunto even
baptism doth also now save us (not the putting
away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a
good conscience toward God,) by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ: Who is gone into
heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels
and authorities and powers being made subject
unto him.

"But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the
coming of the Son of man be." was combined
with "wherein few, that is, eight souls were
saved by water" to create the new bible verse
William Branham promoted: "As it was in the
days of Noah wherein eight souls were saved, so
also shall the coming of the Son of Man be."

Born Liars

Taking two scriptures from Psalms, William
Branham blended them together to teach the
idea that we were all born liars. Branham would
often describe our "earthly tabernacles" as being
"born in sin shaped, in iniquity, come to the
world speaking LIES" While both portions of the
combined scripture do come from verses in the

64

Bible, these two scriptures are referring to two

groups of people: The good and the evil.

Psalm 51:5 describes the fallen state of mankind,
how we are born into a sinful state that requires
the blood of a lamb for our forgiveness. It
continues in the next verse describing God's
faithfulness even in our fallen condition, and
how we are to seek truth:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin
my mother conceived me. Behold, thou desirest
truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part
thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Psalm 51:5-6

But according to scripture, it is not the righteous
that are born liars. While the righteous seek
truth, the evil speak lies:

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they
go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Psalm 58:3

65

Dig A Little Deeper

66

Once you come to realization that more than one

of Branham's prophecies have been proven false,
more than one of his life stories have been
proven fiction, and more than one of the spiritual
events he described were nothing more than a
campfire story, it's time to buckle down and
examine the motives behind the deception. At
this point, having been programmed to believe
that this man from Jeffersonville, Indiana was a
humble man who wanted nothing more than a
simple life, most people ask the question, "Why
would our precious brother Branham
purposefully try to deceive?"

This is not a question easily answered without
all of the background information to the
conclusion. On the surface, William Branham
seemed a genuine, humble man from a poor
family and an upbringing that sounds more like a
Mark Twain story than reality. That reality is the
part in question.

Birth

Starting in 1952, William Branham told a story
about a mystic woman, a fortune-teller, who told
him that his birthdate was significant in the
world of astrology. According to Branham, the
woman quickly recognized his "spirit," and asked
him, "Sir, did you know that you were born
under a sign?"

Using this theme, Branham started promoting
the idea that "before God does anything on earth,

67

He declares it in the heavens," using the star that

the Magi followed as his example. He then
claimed that the same star that led the Magi to
Christ is that which announced the arrival of
William Branham to this earth.

This story was tied to the birthdate that he
started using in August of 1950. According to
Branham, April 6, 1909 was his birthdate, and a
supernatural being visited him as he entered into
this world. He claimed that the "being returned
to tell him that he was chosen to spread the
"message of Divine healing to the peoples of the
world."

There is just one problem: this was one of three
different birthdates he gave, all having different
years, and two of which were tied to spiritual
events. Only one birthdate can be correct, which
would indicate that one of the spiritual events
could not be accurate.

In a 1949 sermon given to followers of false
prophet John Alexander Dowie, Branham
reminded the congregation of Dowie's prophecy
regarding the coming revival. In this sermon,
entitled "I Was Not Disobedient To The Heavenly
Vision," Branham promoted the idea that he was
to bring the revival that Dowie promised would
come. Two years later, addressing Raymond T.
Richey, Branham reminds Richey of Dowie's
prophecy. In this sermon, Branham makes the
claim that Dowie "died on one day, and I
[William Branham] was borned on the next."
Both Richey and F. F. Bosworth were taught

68

under the ministry of Dowie, though Bosworth

had co-founded the Assemblies of God under
which Richey was ordained as a minister. To
these men trained under Dowie, Branham's
claim to be born the day after Dowie died would
have been very appealing. Dowie died on March
9, 1907, placing Branham's claim of birth to be
March 10, 1907.

But this was not the second date Branham gives
for his birthday though it was the second
claim to a supernatural event. On his marriage
certificate, William Branham claimed to have
been born April 8, 1908. Thus, we have three
different years, three different days, and two
different months for Branham's birthdate all
given by William Branham himself:

March 10, 1907
April 8, 1908
April 6, 1909

Childhood

Many in the following of William Branham are
familiar with his captivating stories of his
childhood days, roaming the hills of Kentucky as
he supported his poor mother and siblings by
hunting, trapping, selling the skins, and eating
the meat. Most of Branham's claims to spiritual
events involve the wilderness, and in his
descriptions of the great men of the Bible,
Branham was quick to point out their "love" for
nature.

69


Believers dedicate songs to the memory of the
"Cabin's Location," a small one-bedroom log
cabin where his mother poured coon grease in
the matted eyes of the eight other children
packed into the structure. Interestingly, the
Branham family moved to Indiana before
William was age three, and it is very unlikely that
he would have retained any memories of the
place. But the reality is that only two siblings
occupied this cabin during the time William lived
in it.

The 1930 Census gives the birthplace for both of
the parents, and each of the siblings. At the time
of this census, Melvin was 18 years old, while
William was 21. The record also shows that
William was born in Kentucky, and that Melvin
was born in Indiana. According to this census
report, William Branham would have been three
years old when Melvin was born in Indiana. The
records for the rest of the siblings also show
Indiana as the state of birth.

Ultimately, census records place all of Branham's
childhood stories in the category of fiction. The
hunting, trapping, selling skins, and other
activities of a young adult would be impossible
when you consider the fact that William
Branham would have been under age three.

70

Fatherless

Combined with Branham's childhood stories was
a claim that his father died at a very early age.
According to Branham, after the death of his
father, he was not able to finish grade school.
Everything from his poor grammar to his
childhood poverty was blamed upon the death of
his father, forcing a young Branham to enter the
wilderness to provide for his siblings. It was this
death and these wilderness experiences that
enabled the supernatural. According to Branham,
he met God in burning bushes, whirlwinds in
trees, and more. In most accounts, Branham
describes God telling him "not to drink, smoke,
or defile your body in any way, because there
would be a work for you to do later."

But when you consider the fact that Branham's
father, Charles, did not die until after William
was a Pentecostal minister, these supernatural
experiences are placed into question.

Because William Branham was also untruthful
about his own birthdate, we cannot have an
exact age for "young William" who "supported
his widowed mother and siblings" - but the date
of his father's death places his age at between 27
and 29 years old. Branham was married to Hope
at the time, and had two children. They were
living in Jeffersonville, and he was working one
of three jobs depending upon which life story
Branham told. To say that his grammar skills
were the fault of his drinking father is nothing
less than a slap to his father's face. If he did not

71

receive an education as a man who is almost

thirty, it is no fault but his own.

Both the newspaper and the death certificate
clearly state that Branham's father died as the
result of a ten-month illness. His father did not
"drink himself to death" according to Dr. Sam
Adair, one of Branham's closest friends. Charles
died of rheumatic heart disease that
progressively worsened until the last ten months
of his life.

The Commissions

William Branham claimed to have been given
several commissions throughout his life. Many
times Branham describes an angel, or a "being,"
present during these events, though not all of
them include descriptions of a supernatural
presence involved. Some of these commissions
are strikingly similar to stories found in the
Bible, though in some cases the scriptural
versions were focused upon Jesus Christ rather
than mortal men.

According to Branham, these angelic visitations
or commissions happened:

Before his birth
During his birth
1915 (at seven years of age)
1920 (at 12 years of age)
1923 (at 14 or 15 years of age)
1930

72

1931
1932
1933
1936
1944
May 6, 1946
May 7, 1946 (or on May 6, 1947)
1950 in Houston, TX
1963 in Arizona

Chronologically speaking, the earliest account of
a commission by God given by William Branham
is in a 1945 tract entitled "I Was Not Disobedient
To The Heavenly Vision," the same title given to
the sermon preached to the followers of the false
prophet John Alexander Dowie in Zion, Illinois. In
this tract, William Branham claimed that he
received a vision by God, and this vision started
his rise to fame in the Divine Healing movement.

Later in June 1947 in Vandalia, IL, William
Branham held a divine healing meeting under
the alias of Henry Branham. In an interview with
the Associated Press, Henry [William] Branham
claimed that his commission had been given to
him 11 months prior (August 1946), and this is
when he began his divine healing ministry.
Elements of his story are similar to those given
in recorded sermons between 1947 and 1965,
although the dates would later change and
additional details would be added. Ultimately,
this version of the commission story would
replace the first published in his religious tract.

73

In Chicago, almost seven years later, Branham

claimed that this gift of divine healing and the
commission to heal the sick came much later, on
May 6, 1947 less than two months prior to his
Vandalia meeting. According to Branham, this
date was significant, because at that time
Branham believed it to be the same exact day
that Israel became a nation restored to their
homeland. Though Israel was actually
established as a nation on May 14, 1948,
Branham maintained that his ministry was tied
to the Jewish nation throughout the rest of his
time on earth.

And a strange thing of that, that you might not
know, the very day the Angel of the Lord called
me out, May the 6th, 1947, and issued the gift to
pray for the sick, was the very same day that
Israel become a nation for the first time for
twenty-five hundred years. Oh, I believe there's
something in it. I just can't keep from believing
that we're near the end of time. That's right.
54-0718A
THE.GREAT.COMING.REVIVAL.AND.THE.OUTPO
URING.OF.THE.HOLY.SPIRIT

There are many other commissions, visitations
from angels, and other supernatural events
described throughout Branham's ministry, but
ultimately, this version of the start to his divine
healing ministry would be the one referred to by
his followers. According to Branham and
depending upon which story was given, this
angelic visitation during Israel's restoration took
place in either a house with windows, a cabin

74

with an old drum stove and wood floor, or a cave

with a dirt floor.

Moving Targets

William Branham's claim to be the return of the
prophet "Elijah" is based on a series of
prophecies that he claimed to have given in
1933. Though some of these prophecies seem to
be fulfilled, the successful accounts of the
predictions do not always match the original
predictions.

The Bible says that we are to test the prophecies.
God knows the beginning and the end because
God IS the Beginning and the End. If a prophet's
words do not come to pass, then this is not a
prophet of God:

If we examine the "Prophecies of 1933"
according to Branham's own words, we find that
adjustments to their descriptions were made to
align the prophecies with recorded history.
William Branham made the adjustment to his
own words; the Word from the Lord would need
no adjustment:

And you may say in your heart, how shall we know
the word which the LORD has not spoken? When a
prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing
does not come about or come true, that is the thing
which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has
spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of
him.
Deuteronomy. 18:21-22

75


Prophecy of World War II:

Original: Roosevelt would cause the whole
world to go to war

Repositioned Target: Hitler would cause the
whole world to go to war

Prophecy of World Powers:

Original: One of the three world leaders would
rise into power (Mussolini, Hitler, or Stalin)

Repositioned Target: Mussolini and Hitler will
die.

Prophecy of Automobiles:

Original: Cars will be shaped like an egg.

Repositioned Target: Cars will have automatic
guidance systems

Prophecy of American Government:

Original: A woman will be president.

Repositioned Target: President Kennedy will
be president

Prophecy of Breakfast:

Original: Do not eat eggs in the last days.

76

Repositioned Target: Pray for your food; eat

your eggs

Prophecy of Homestead:

Original:

Do not live in valleys in the last days.

Repositioned Target: Live where you want

Franklin D. Roosevelt

When you examine William Branham's
statements regarding government officials and
those running for candidacy, it is very evident
that there were political motivations behind
some of the statements in the sermons. Though
Branham claimed that he was "neither democrat
nor republican, I'm a Christian," his rants against
political leaders would seem to say otherwise.

While we do not have any recorded statements
concerning president Roosevelt during his run
for president or his time during office, we do
have expressions of memories describing this
time period by Branham on recorded sermon. As
we've shown in other places, these memories are
not always found to be truthful, however we can
find a thread of truth in-between the lines of
fiction. And this thread of consistency seems to
be one having ties to Branham's former pastor,
Rev. Roy E. Davis.

77

Branham describes his being at a Roosevelt rally

as the election campaign made its way through
Southern Indiana:

Well, it's just too bad. Well, we just have to put
up with... Our day's coming. That's right. Our
day... This this is the day of man. The day of
the Lord will come. That's right. That's when... I
stood one time to watch the late President
Roosevelt when he came into a little city of ours,
in New Albany, Indiana. I was working out there
on high lines as a lineman.
53-0907A

His memory of this rally was not a good one. He
would often describe being upset because he had
to stand in the back of the crowd with the
"common people":

One time in New Albany, Indiana, when our late
President Roosevelt was coming down to make a
speech, and he came down by the train, and they
stopped down at the river, I tell you, every place
was filled up. And two or three of us preachers,
little, what we call Holy Ghost preachers... I tell
you, talking about a back number, we was. They
wouldn't even let us get nowhere. So we had to
stand way back up somewhere. But I thought,
"Yeah, this is the day of man. But wait till the day
of the Lord comes." Amen.
56-0403 SHEPHERD.OF.THE.SHEEPFOLD

When the late Mr. Roosevelt come to the little
city (my city's too small for him), but when he
come to New Albany, just below me... I think we

78

got about twenty-one thousand; they got about

twenty-seven thousand. But he stopped there in
one of his elections and electioneering, and, oh,
my, everybody just filled the whole country
around there to see Mr. Roosevelt. Well, I was
like Zacchaeus, I was too little. So I... to look over
the crowd, so I got way up on top of the hill. And
the train stopped near the river. And he stood on
the back po or the back part of the train to
make a little speech. And so I backed my truck up
to a shed and climbed up on top of the shed to
look. I thought, "Well, you know, nobody knows
I'm here now; probably Mr. Roosevelt doesn't
either." Doesn't make much difference. But I
want to live so that when Jesus comes, that He
will say to me like He did to Zacchaeus, "Now,
come down off of that shed." I'm sure we all feel
that way, don't we?
56-1002E ELISHA.THE.PROPHET

I came down, and I thought... Well, they told us
we could go down and hear him. He was going to
make just a little whistle stop like when he came
through the city. And oh, how everybody
gathered out. Well, time us workmen got there,
well, I had to get on top of a shed way back up
here to even see the man walk out.
53-0907A

Before Branham started promoting the idea that
he prophesied regarding president Roosevelt, his
statements concerning the late president would
clearly display his political viewpoints. Some of
them were with mixed emotion, but generally
speaking, they were negative:

79


But let me tell you, when Mr. Roosevelt... The
man is dead. Let him rest; I trust he is. Come in,
and run in three or four terms, and taken over,
just a preliminary dictatorship. I can prove to
you, that in the Scripture, where That said it'd
take place. That's right. We haven't got no more
constitution. She is broke to pieces. Everything is
all smattered. The Republicans is just as bad. It's
six of one, and a half a dozen of the other one.
204 For, every kingdom is going to be smashed,
but the Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall stand and
reign forever. That's right. Upon... Daniel saw the
Rock hewed out of the mountain, and hit the
political world back there and mashed it into a
grinding powder like that, like the wheat on a
threshingfloor of a summertime. But that Rock
grew into a great mountain that spread over the
hea-... filled the whole heavens and earth. That's
it.
54-0509
THE.INVASION.OF.THE.UNITED.STATES

Why is it each day you make a mistake, each day
you do wrong? But if you're borned again, man
or woman, as soon as you make the mistake, God
knows you're sorry for it. You'd stand in the
Presence of of President Roosevelt or
anybody else and say, "I'm wrong; God forgive
me for this thing." Why? And there's where the
Blood atonement... You notice that s-i-n-s. A
sinner is a sinner; he does not commit sins. But
the church commits sin, does wrong, gets a
wrong thought, wrong impression, makes
scruples, wobbles like a little child walking,

80

trying to learn how to walk. He just don't know

how to walk good yet, 'cause he's a little boy. But
we have a hand that reaches down if we gets
us and steadies us, and say, "Make this step this
a-way, son." He doesn't pick us up and spank us
because we made a mistake; He doesn't beat us
to death because we're trying to walk. He loves
us like we love our children.
60-0522M ADOPTION.3

Over time, Branham starts to claim that he was
speaking against Roosevelt during his time
under Pentecostal pastor Roy E. Davis. Like other
recorded statements regarding Branham's
personal opinion, these negative statements
against Roosevelt later turned into a description
of what he called "prophecy." But remember,
there is a thread of truth that can be found
between the fiction. Branham started claiming
that he "prophesied" of the downturn in
Roosevelt's policy:

The president which now is, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt... (Now remember, this is twenty-
eight years ago.) will cause the whole world to go
to war; and the new dictator of Italy, Mussolini,
shall make his first invasion towards Ethiopia,
and he will take Ethiopia; but that'll be his last.
He shall come to his end.
60-1113
CONDEMNATION.BY.REPRESENTATION

The irony is found in Roy E. Davis himself. Davis
was Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan, recorded
in the United States Senate giving testimony in

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his establishment of the White Knights

throughout the Midwest. Branham was Davis's
assistant pastor.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for office under
the disguise of a Klan supporter, and even
pushed Klan agendas from time to time.
Roosevelt is viewed negatively for nominating
Hugo Black for the Supreme Court while it
was public knowledge that Black was affiliated
with the Klan.

While we do not find recorded statements to
confirm this, it is this authors opinion that WMB
supported Davis during a portion of his run for
election. Simply based upon his memories of
Roosevelt, there was a combination of
supportive statements and very negative
emotions. Generally speaking, the Klan itself
supported Roosevelt until they realized that he
was using them as a tool for election.

Towards the end of his run for election,
Roosevelt started making decisions that angered
the Klan. He started accepting the support of the
Catholics, Jews, blacks, and union organizers.
Trying to sway the vote against Roosevelt, the
Klan issued this statement:

"Don't be fooled. Farley is ROOSEVELT;
Tammany Hall, Catholic controlled, is
ROOSEVELT.... EVERY PROMINENT ROMAN
CATHOLIC YOU CAN FIND IS FOR ROOSEVELT.....
The Underworld is a unit for Roosevelt. The
gangsters of Chicago, St. Louis... and New York

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are for Roosevelt.... Roosevelt, their subservient

tool, will turn our country over to Tammany and
thus we will have CATHOLIC CONTROL OF
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND LIFE, if he is
elected.... BE AWARE OF THE 8TH OF
NOVEMBER!"
Wade, The Fiery Cross: The Ku Klux Klan in
America

This statement, issued by the Klan, pretty much
sums up Branham's political agenda for years to
come. One can easily take this same statement,
change the name "Roosevelt" to "Kennedy," and
apply the same position towards any of the
politically minded statement Branham made
concerning President Kennedy before, during,
and after his presidency.

The problem is that Branham tied these
politically motivated statements to what he
called "prophecy."

1933, one morning going to the Baptist
tabernacle, I went into a trance, saw a vision. I
saw President Roosevelt was going to help lead
the world to a world war, told it that morning.
They was going to lock me up for it.
61-0312 JEHOVAH.JIREH

As time progressed, and a better understanding
of the war was given to the public, Rev. Branham
would change his views on the instigator. In later
accounts, Branham would proclaim that he had
prophesied that Hitler was the one in his vision
that caused the whole world to go to war. The

83

vision was said to have even predicted the

country of origin for Hitler, where he would
become a dictator, and the mystery around his
death.

The next vision foretold that an Austrian by the
name of Adolph Hitler would rise up as dictator
over Germany, and that he would draw the world
into war. It showed the Siegfried line and how
our troops would have a terrible time to
overcome it. Then it showed that Hitler would
come to a mysterious end.
BRANHAM, LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE

Now, look what happened now. In... President
Franklin D. Roosevelt took America to England's
tea party. That's right. Germany never picked on
us; we picked on them, throwed the whole world
into a war, to cause a world war.
BRANHAM,
60-1113
CONDEMNATION.BY.REPRESENTATION

But the truth is that Roosevelt was not the
instigator, and did not lead the world into war.
World War II began in March 1939, and United
States finally joined into the war after over 2
years of battles between world powers in
1941. The United States joined into the war after
several other countries, even major world
powers, had entered into the war.

These are the dates each country entered into
the war:

Australia 3/3/39

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Germany 9/1/39
France 9/3/39
Great Britain 9/3/1939
New Zealand 9/3/1939
S. Africa 9/6/1939
Canada 9/10/1939
USSR 9/17/1939
Italy 6/10/1940
Japan 9/22/1940
Bulgaria 4/24/1941
Romania 6/22/1941
Hungary 6/27/1941
India 12/7/1941
Panama 12/7/1941
Yugoslavia 12/7/1941
Costa Rica 12/8/1941
Dom Rep 12/8/1941
El Salvador 12/8/1941
Haiti 12/8/41
Honduras 12/8/1941
Nicaragua 12/8/1941
Manchukuo 12/8/1941
Netherlands 12/8/1941

Five world powers were already at war as either
Axis or Allied forces. Though it was necessary for
the United States to get involved to stop
Germany as their forces grew, Roosevelt was
hesitant to join the fighting. Instead, Roosevelt
insisted on preventing Japan from becoming a
part of the war or a supplier of military supplies.
It was Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor that
ultimately led to the United States joining the
war, and only as retaliation from a first strike.

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John F. Kennedy

Branham's political agenda continued through is
ministry, and like the statements regarding
President Roosevelt, Branham's agenda towards
President Kennedy turned into prophetic
statements. Many of those statements are very
similar in agenda when compared to the Klan's
issued statement against the election of
Roosevelt, and clearly have a racial bias. This is
quite obvious when we compare the Klan's
statements previously mentioned with
William Branham's statements against Kennedy:

Now, look what happened now. In... President
Franklin D. Roosevelt took America to England's
tea party. That's right. Germany never picked on
us; we picked on them, throwed the whole world
into a war, to cause a world war. The Germans
built the Maginot Line, which there any
veteran here knows what she took there at the
Maginot Line. Women, given the right to vote,
elected President-elect Kennedy with the
woman's vote, the wrong man, which will finally
be to full control of the Catholic church in the
United States; then the bomb comes that
explodes her. There's seven things predicted,
and five of them has already happened. So you
can judge yourself how far away we are. We're
near the end. If them five things happened, these
other two things are bound to happen. It's just
got to happen. I do not think that Mr. Kennedy
will have much effect now, because he'll make a
wonderful president in order to bring in the
others to get a scene set just like they have in

86

England, like they did Mexico, like they did

everywhere else, like that. And the American
people, so unstable, not spiritually; they're
smart, but too smart for their own good.
Intelligence swings backward sometime and
backfires. So they... (I'm preaching on that this
morning, in a little bit.) So we find out we're
we're right on the verge... The reason I said this,
that's the reason I pressed that the other day so
hard the way I did, but it was that that did it.
That's right. Women's vote that put... Did you
notice the rallies on the television? Nixon to be
pretty near all men. All of them wanted to kiss
Kennedy (the women), jumping astraddle the
cars and everything like that, jumping up and
down.
60-1113
CONDEMNATION.BY.REPRESENTATION

One of the greatest mistakes that the colored
race ever made was down in Louisiana and over
in there when they voted for Kennedy the other
night, and put him in.
60-1113
CONDEMNATION.BY.REPRESENTATION


With a group of Pentecostals, William Branham
attended a breakfast that included President
Nixon as a guest speaker. When you follow this
story chronologically, details are added, such as
Branham's personal acquaintance with Nixon, a
visit from president Nixon to Branham's house in
Jeffersonville, Indiana, and more. It is evident,
based upon the statements describing Nixon,

87

that William Branham was a strong supporter. At

the same time, Nixon was also strongly
supported by the Klan. During the televised
debates between Nixon and John F. Kennedy, a
Klan leader publicly endorsed Nixon and gave
full support.

Branham's condemnation of Kennedy did not
end with the campaign, and continued through
Kennedy's time in office and long after his death.
In fact, one of the prophecies that Branham
claimed to have been given by God in 1933 was
reworded and refocused upon President
Kennedy. This "prophecy" was originally focused
upon the lifestyles of women and their growing
freedoms in the United States.

In 1956, Rev. Branham added a prophecy to the
list of his "1933 visions" claiming that God had
let him peer into the future to see that a woman
would be President of the United States
immediately before the End of Days.

I didn't mean that to do any harm, women; I
don't mean you Christian women. But just to see
women coming into politics and everything, it's a
disgrace; it's a breaking of the American morale.
And remember, this is... America will... A a
woman... I I better leave it alone. But just
remember this. I predict this: that a woman will
be president before we're annihilated. That's
right. I said that in 1933 by a vision.
56-0428 GOD'S.COVENANT.WITH.ABRAHAM

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Before the election of Kennedy, this prophecy

was solely focused upon women, describing how
the United States would begin to worship women
as idols. Adding inaccurate statistics to the
statements, Branham would describe the sins of
Hollywood by claiming that the Federal Bureau
of Investigation had documentation in an
investigation of a prostitution ring involving
female actresses. Though some of these stars
were worth hundreds of thousands (and
sometimes millions) in the 1950's, Branham
promoted the idea that any of the women in the
film industry could be bought for as little as $25-
$50 a night for prostitution.

And I predicted that America, their number one
god would be women. That's what it is.
Everything is fashioned after Hollywood. I have
things on records from the FBI file that would
shock you to pieces just to tell you right where,
and the scandal on these movie stars, there isn't
a one of them, hardly, but what's prostitutes. And
the FBI exposed it just recently; I have it from
their own file. And so all of them living out, even
these movie stars, where they've proved they
went in and picked them up, living with men,
twenty-five and fifty dollars a night, of men, all
up and down, in Hollywood and everywhere, had
private homes and men back in there where they
would send them out to these people.
56-0513 TEACHING.ON.MOSES

This continued until it became a "prediction,"
one that he clearly states was not given from the
Lord. In his "prediction," Branham describes a

89

woman rising to President of the United States

before 1977, which he predicted to be the "total
annihilation" of the world:

And then, there'll be a great woman rise up,
'cause America is a woman's nation. And it'll... A
great woman will rise up and be president, or
something like that in the nation, and then there
will come a total annihilation, the entire nation
will be wiped out. And that, I predict now this
is not the Lord saying this the other about the
woman and this, is the Lord. But I predicted in
1933 that the world would be total annihilation
before '77.
BRANHAM, 58-0720M BY.FAITH.MOSES

And I said, "Remember, in that day, before the
end time comes, before the end time comes, that
a woman... Now, you all keep this wrote down.
There'll be a great powerful woman raise up,
either be President, or dictator, or some great
powerful woman in this United States. And she'll
sink under the influence of women. Now, you
remember; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD."
58-0927 WHY.ARE.WE.NOT.A.DENOMINATION

This prediction continued in various statements
throughout his sermons, changing ever so
slightly to include other options. Branham would
begin to entertain the idea that his "prediction"
could possibly include a woman as Vice
President, or even the Catholic Church ideas
also promoted by the Klan. In desperation for
success, the "prediction" changed to include a
man, wrongly elected by a woman. This minor

90

change would ultimately be the grounds for

future statements against President Kennedy.

And so, this... I... I won't have time in this meeting
to tell you. In 1933, this is a woman's nation. It's
the number thirteen. It appears in the thirteenth
chapter of Revelation: thirteen stars, thirteen
stripes, thirteen... Everything's a thirteen.
Everything is a woman. And remember, THUS
SAITH THE LORD there will be a woman rule
before the end time. She'll either be President,
Vice President, or it'll be the Catholic church as a
woman.
60-0716 FROM.THAT.TIME

I said, "Then I seen a... They're going to permit
women and are permitting women to vote. And
by voting, they'll elect the wrong man some of
these days." And you did at the last election. It
was the woman's votes that elected Kennedy. We
know that, see, between the crooked machines
and things fixed up, that FBI exposed.
BRANHAM,
60-1211E
THE.LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE_
JEFFERSONVILLE.IN


It was in the year 1961 that this "prediction" that
had turned into "prophecy" fully exploded.
President Kennedy in office, fear of control in the
hands of the Catholic Church, and a very popular
First Lady was the perfect setting for the perfect
storm. According to Branham, the United States
was watching his prediction-turned-prophecy in
action:

91


And I said, "In voting they'll elect the wrong
man." I'm neither Democrat nor Republican. I'm
a Christian. Both sides is rotten. But they made
their fatal mistake the other day. Women done
the works.
61-0312 JEHOVAH.JIREH

Now, that brings us then to the election of
President Kennedy, and this car coming on the
on the scene, bringing five things out of the
seven that has happened exactly.
61-0806 THE.SEVENTIETH.WEEK.OF.DANIEL_
JEFFERSONVILLE.IN

He give seven things in 1933, would happen. And
now every one of them has come to pass but two
things, perfectly, just exactly. How that even
President Kennedy would be taken in. It's right
in there on my books right now, told thirty-three
years ago, exactly. How that the Maginot Line
would be built, eleven years before it built. How
that Hitler would rise up, and and Fascism,
and and Nazism, and all to bind in
communism, and communism would destroy
Catholicism. And it will, yes, no matter what they
do. And showed, said there would be an
Ecumenical Council, and how that all the
churches would come together and would form
the image called the Mark of the Beast. You see
them right on the road, right now. Exactly right.
It's got to happen, 'cause it's never failed to be.
Anybody that ever knows it, anybody, take them
around the world, it's never failed one time.
Months and years ahead of time, it's just

92

perfectly right on the spot. It's God among you,

people; God in us, the Holy Spirit. Notice, Jesus
said that the royal Seed would be identified by
the same thing, here in Luke the 17th chapter.
"Oh, return, O dispersed, from your
denominations, to your own."
64-0403 JEHOVAH.JIREH.2

As with the other prophecies given by William
Branham, this "vision" is a moving target one
that started as a personal opinion rather than the
Word given by the Lord. Through political
motivation and promotion of theology, this
minor prediction grew into a much larger topic
of discussion. Had President Kennedy been in
office to fulfill his entire term, there is no doubt
that we would have several more "predictions"
made into historical "prophecies." Sadly the
death of President Kennedy took the wind out of
the sails.

What began as a minor prediction that a woman
would be president before 1977 grew into a
political agenda that involved the same anti-
Catholicism motivations promoted by other
extreme organizations in the United States. It
quickly raises the question: Was William
Branham involved with those organizations?

Reverend Jim Jones

When Jim Jones needed a headline act for the
opening of Peoples Temple in Indianapolis,

93

Indiana, who better would fill the bill than

William Branham.

Rev. Branham, a healing evangelist from the
1940's through 1960's, was credited by some for
starting the "Latter Rain" and "Word Faith"
movements as well as other fringe groups. In
March 1956, when Branham announced a new
campaign to be held for four days in June that
year, Jones promoted the event through the
Herald of Faith newsletter, the Open Door
newsletter, local newspapers and mailing lists.
The strategy was successful: Branham's name
attracted some eleven thousand people to the
Cadle Tabernacle, and the evangelist performed
numerous miracles through his alleged gift of
discernment which facilitated healing the sick. In
the months to follow, Jones too, became a
familiar name within the Healing Revival
Movement for possessing the same supernatural
gifts.

Jones, like Branham, claimed to be "The Word.
The Spoken Word. The Living Word." But while
Jones and Branham practiced similar gifts during
their meetings, they did not necessarily see eye
to eye on things. In Jones' taped sermons
recovered by the FBI following the deaths in
Jonestown, the Temple leader alleged that
Branham admitted to not believing the Bible, and
that he advised Jones not to preach from it. In
describing Branham's 1965 fatal car accident,
Jones scoffed at the evangelist's prediction that
he would "be around, while you [Jones] will be in
trouble." Evangelists like Branham were not

94

truthful, Jones added, because the Bible was "the

greatest money train they've ever been on."

From 1960 until his death in 1965, Branham
proclaimed that 1977 would be the year that the
world would end, basing his prophecy upon a
disputed 1933 vision at the Branham Tabernacle
in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The truth of the
prophecy might have been limited to Jones
himself.

On Memorial Day of 1977, when Jones and 600 of
his followers attended a large demonstration on
the Golden Gate Bridge to advocate for improved
suicide-prevention measures, the Temple leader
confessed that he was in a depressive state,
which included suicidal tendencies. "Suicide is a
symptom of an uncaring society," Jones said. "I
have been in a suicidal mood myself today for
perhaps the first time in my life, so I have
personal empathy for what we are doing here
today." It was one of Jones' final appearances in
the US before the mass emigration of 1000
Temple members to Jonestown.

Special thanks to Peter Duyzer, author of Legend
of the Fall for co-writing this section.

95

Deep Study

96

With the prophecies proving to be either failures

or moving targets, we can no longer call William
Branham a prophet of God. With the
supernatural events and "commissions" proven
to be contradictions, we can no longer call
William Branham a man sent by God. With the
scriptures altered to fit the context of the
sermons rather than the Word of God, we can no
longer call William Branham a Bible teacher. And
with the visions of God's healing power failing,
we cannot call William Branham a divine healer.

What we are left with is a motivational speaker,
and one must ask themselves: Did William
Branham motivate you to study the scriptures
for yourselves, or did he motivate you to study
what he himself told you about those same
scriptures?

The only way to determine this is to examine
what William Branham taught concerning
scripture. If his teachings do not match the Word
of God, then we can no longer call William
Branham motivating with regards to our
spiritual growth.

Physical Abuse

Some say that Branham's strongest statements
against women started to surface during the
latter part of his ministry. But if you examine the
messages promoting physical abuse, you will
begin to ask yourself if there were deep-rooted
psychological issues long before his ministry

97

started. All of the statements promoting injury

and molestation have one thing in common: they
are describing the beating of women.

His instructions for abuse went far beyond
normal child correction, and often included
instructions for the wife:

Now, you can take some of these little two-by-
fours if you want to, but that's what God said.
That's what Christ said. Now, that's the truth. Oh,
God be merciful. What must the great Holy Spirit
think when He comes before the Father? You say,
"Why you picking on us women?" All right, men,
here you are. Any man that'll let his wife smoke
cigarettes and wear them kind of clothes, shows
what he's made out of. He's not very much of a
man. That's exactly right. True. He don't love her
or he'd take a board and blister her with it. You
know that's the truth. Now, I don't say that to be
smart. I'm telling you the truth. That's right.
58-0324 HEAR.YE.HIM

Branham would often describe how he would
beat his daughters if they were caught
sunbathing, and offer praise to others who would
do the same to their children. His tool of choice
was a "barrel slat," which is a thick piece of wood
used to construct whiskey barrels. Interestingly,
a company that produces these barrels is within
short distance to his home in Jeffersonville,
Indiana.

He would often describe the after-effects of the
beatings, rendering the woman bedridden for

98

several months or having skin so badly beaten

that they could not clothe themselves. Usually
these statements were followed by either praise
for the beating or telling the congregation that
they should do the same.

Sadly, some have.

Hybreeding

Following Branham's teachings, most churches
in the religious following of William Branham do
not permit couples of a different race to enter
into marriage. Because the teaching was so
strongly against the African-American race
specifically and very rarely used in the context of
other races, some churches make exceptions to
allow marriage between other races. Most agree
that William Branham considered this to be
"hybreeding," or "mixing seed."

Paul says in Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no
male and female, for you are all one in Christ
Jesus." (Galatians 3:28). We are to view other
Christians as one of us, not "us versus them."
This is not limited to what we consider to be
prejudice this saying applies to every single
aspect of life. If we feel that another human being
is any different than us, for any reason, then we
are filled with the sin of pride.

By example, most pastors who promote racism
use the Old Testament Law to push their

99

agendas. Since many in the congregations do not

take time to study and learn the Law, and the
need for a Kinsman Redeemer, they are easily
fooled. Snipped out of context, the Old Testament
seems to be a book filled with racism.

But it was more about nationality than it was
race, color of skin, or even heritage. God was
creating a nationality, using them as an example
for all mankind. The Apostle Paul called the Jews
and the Mosaic Law "A Tutor," showing us that
mankind can never save themselves by
themselves, and needed a Savior. God was
preparing a people to bring His Son into the
world.

And the world was much different than it is now.
Filled with idolatry, temple prostitution, human
sacrifice and more, God gave clear instruction to
keep His people separated from the evil world
and its evil ways. Deuteronomy 7 tells us the
reason God was preparing a nation, and it was
not because of color of skin:

"You shall not be afraid of them but you shall
remember what the Lord your God did to
Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials that
your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the
mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which
the Lord your God brought you out. So will the
Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you
are afraid. Moreover, the Lord your God will
send hornets among them, until those who are
left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.
You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord

100

your God is in your midst, a great and awesome

God. The Lord your God will clear away these
nations before you little by little. You may not
make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts
grow too numerous for you. But the Lord your
God will give them over to you and throw them
into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
And he will give their kings into your hand, and
you shall make their name perish from under
heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you
until you have destroyed them. The carved
images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You
shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on
them or take it for yourselves, lest you be
ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the
Lord your God. And you shall not bring an
abominable thing into your house and become
devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly
detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to
destruction."
Deuteronomy 7:18-26

But remember, God also does not want His
children to fall to the sin of pride. While telling
Israel that they would be more than conquerors
in the Name of the One True God, that their
enemies would fall at their feet, God wanted
them to know that it had nothing to do with
themselves. It wasn't about them it was about
God:

Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your
God has thrust them out before you, It is because
of my righteousness that the Lord has brought
me in to possess this land, whereas it is because

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of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord

is driving them out before you. Not because of
your righteousness or the uprightness of your
heart are you going in to possess their land, but
because of the wickedness of these nations the
Lord your God is driving them out from before
you, and that he may confirm the word that the
Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob."
Deuteronomy 9:4-5

Pastors who try to enforce their racist agenda
through twisted scripture will give you portions
of scripture that seem to support false teaching,
but to teach anything contrary to the Divine Will
of God, you must omit huge portions of scripture.
As Israel plundered the nations, absolutely
everything that they pillaged in the cities of Baal
were theirs for the taking including the
women of the city:

"But the women and the little ones, the livestock,
and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you
shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you
shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the
Lord your God has given you."
Deuteronomy 20:14

"When you go out to war against your enemies,
and the Lord your God gives them into your hand
and you take them captive, and you see among
the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire
to take her to be your wife, and you bring her
home to your house, she shall shave her head
and pare her nails. And she shall take off the

102

clothes in which she was captured and shall

remain in your house and lament her father and
her mother a full month. After that you may go in
to her and be her husband, and she shall be your
wife. But if you no longer delight in her, you shall
let her go where she wants. But you shall not sell
her for money, nor shall you treat her as a slave,
since you have humiliated her."
Deuteronomy 22:10-14

Why would God do this? Is God evil? Did God
want the Jews to become filled with the sin of
pride, while God's Word tells us that pride is
sinful? Absolutely not. Deuteronomy 20 tells us
exactly why God permitted this, immediately
after telling them that the women of other races
were theirs for the taking:

"That they may not teach you to do according to
all their abominable practices that they have
done for their gods, and so you sin against the
Lord your God."
Deuteronomy 20:18

These women, taken into the nation of Israel,
produced mixed race, but not mixed nationality.
Israel was STILL the nation to bring forth the
Christ child though the people of Israel were
made up of what these racist pastors would call
"hybrid people."

There was one part of the law that did
discriminate, but if you study it, you'll find that it
was more for their protection. God does not
discriminate, and the blood of the world came

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through the blood of one man according to

scripture.

God did not want the enemy nations to plant evil
men or women into the nation with the purpose
of overthrowing the Jews. Balaam (who Branham
claimed to have "the same anointing as Moses)
was a sorcerer whose power was used against
the Jewish nation. God protected his children
through the Mosaic Law:

No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the
assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth
generation, none of them may enter the
assembly of the Lord forever, because they did
not meet you with bread and with water on the
way, when you came out of Egypt, and because
they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor
from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you."
Deuteronomy 23:3-4

To the tenth generation.

When confronted with the observation that
Moses, Solomon, and others had black wives,
these racist pastors start quoting Old Covenant
Law in rebuttal. They try to enforce portions of
the Law, while omitting other portions of Law.
They do not uphold Laws concerning stoning
those that disobey, women on their periods,
huge portions of the tithing system, celebrations
of the Sabbath, and more. Yet they try to base
their entire racist agenda on Law, instead of the
New Covenant of Grace that is Christianity.

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There is another passage of scripture that you

will not find preached from behind the pulpits of
churches whose pastors push racist agenda. It is
found in the book of James, and it is concerning
these men who try to enforce part of the Law
while disobeying other parts of the Law:

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the
Scripture, You shall love your neighbor as
yourself, you are doing well. But if you show
partiality, you are committing sin and are
convicted by the law as transgressors. For
whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one
point has become accountable for all of it. For he
who said, Do not commit adultery, also said,
Do not murder. If you do not commit adultery
but do murder, you have become a transgressor
of the law. So speak and so act as those who are
to be judged under the law of liberty. For
judgment is without mercy to one who has
shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:8-13

Creation

According to William Branham, the creation
story in the Bible was written in symbol, and the
full truth was hidden in mystery. Branham
taught his followers to believe that Jesus was
simply an angel, equal to Satan, and God's
creation did not include the female in the
Garden. The woman, according to Branham, was
designed by Satan to deceive, and was nothing
more than a bi-product of man. Because of this

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design, Branham taught the original sin as being

the fault of Eve instead of Adam though she
was deceived, she was constructed by Satan for
that purpose.

While he promoted the idea that Irenaeus was a
"messenger" sent from God, and Irenaeus
condemned the doctrine, Branham's version of
the creation story included teachings found in
Kabbalah regarding the original sin. Though the
book of Genesis describes the trees as being
good "for food," Jewish mysticism describes the
original sin as being sexual intercourse between
the serpent and Eve. According to Kabbalah, this
union between man and beast produced the "evil
son (Cain), while Adam's relations with Eve
produced his brother (Abel). Without disclosing
the origin of this doctrine, William Branham
promoted the idea that this teaching was
fundamental for the faith of the "Bride" during
the last days.

To choose this doctrine, you must accept the
Gnostic idea that God created hidden meanings
between the lines of scriptures, ultimately
denying Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 13, "Our
letters have been straightforward, and there is
nothing written between the lines and nothing
you can't understand." Paul was very clear in his
writings that faith in Jesus Christ was the only
key that unlocks the door to salvation, and that
we are to look to the blood of Christ instead of
the bloodlines of mankind.

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And hath made of one blood all nations of men

for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath
determined the times before appointed, and the
bounds of their habitation;
Acts 17:26

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay
there in Ephesus so that you may command
certain people not to teach false doctrines any
longer or to devote themselves to myths and
endless genealogies. Such things promote
controversial speculations rather than advancing
God's work which is by faith
1 Timothy 1:3-4


Genesis 1 26-28 tells us that woman was in the
original creation, and that God was her creator.
Before the original creation was instructed not to
eat from the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil, they were instructed to mate and
reproduce raising several questions in
Branham's teaching that Eve learned about
procreation through the sinful desires of the
serpent:

Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our
image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over
the livestock and all the wild animals, and over
all the creatures that move along the ground. So
God created mankind in his own image, in the
image of God he created them; male and female
he created them. God blessed them and said to
them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the

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earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky and over every living
creature that moves on the ground."
Genesis 1:27-28

At the same time, while referring to the "fruit"
and the "eating of the fruit" as sexual
intercourse, you must accept the idea that God
allowed Adam to "eat" of any of the other "fruits"
in the garden raising several questions with
regards to Adam and the other animals in the
garden:

The Lord God took the man and put him in the
Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And
the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free
to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must
not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat from it you will
certainly die."
Genesis 2:15-17

Ultimately, you are given a choice: To believe
that the Bible is correct, and that the fruit was
"good for food," or that the Bible was incorrect,
and filled with sexual innuendo. Branham chose
the latter, claiming that verse six of chapter three
did not actually mean "food," but rather, "sexual
intercourse."

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree
was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and
also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some
and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,
who was with her, and he ate it.

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Genesis 3:6

Interestingly, if you follow Branham's teaching
with regards to the eating of fruit, you are placed
into a strange situation when you reach the end
of the Bible. In the book of Revelation, the reader
who has been trained to believe that the "eating
of the tree" was sexual intercourse must ask
themselves questions as to the nature of the
"eating" of the tree of life:

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit
says to the churches. To the one who is
victorious, I will give the right to eat from the
tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:6-8

Enoch

William Branham included several teachings
from the Gnostic Book of Enoch in his sermons,
choosing mysticism's "Enoch" instead of the
Biblical Enoch that was translated after 365
years of life on this earth. Often, Branham would
compare the mystic Enoch to the "Church," and
his translation to his version of the rapture.

Instead of three hundred and sixty five years, the
Book of Enoch describes an Enoch with a much
longer span of life. Included in the scrolls of this
Gnostic book were fragments of the Book of
Noah, which give a fictional account of Enoch
conversing with Noah. These scrolls claim that
Enoch was translated after five hundred years.

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Branham claimed that there were three Bibles:
The Zodiac, the Pyramids, and the King James
Version. Enoch, Branham claimed, formed the
second Bible by constructing the pyramids. From
Branham's point of view, the Masonic teachings
regarding the pyramids were hidden truths for
all of the elect to receive.

As to the question whether or not the Gnostic
version of Enoch was a nugget hidden for the last
days, the Book of Genesis sums up the entire
doctrine in one simple statement:

Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years.
Genesis 5:22-24

The Book of Enoch is an interesting read,
however, to any that have been influenced by the
teachings of William Branham. During the early
stages of his ministry, very few were familiar
with this scroll that was written by the early
Gnostics. The Book of Enoch was translated from
the Ethiopian text by R.H. Charles in 1906, and
began making its way through the English-
speaking nations not long after.

Job

The book of Job is included in the list of the
greatest literature of all time. This book of the
Old Testament is written in the form of a didactic
poem posing one of the world's oldest questions:
Why do the righteous suffer?

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The Christian version of this book is written in
very simple poetic structure, with chapters 1 and
2 being the prologue. The middle portion of the
book is written in open dialog between Job,
Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and later Elihu, and then
the dialogue between Yahweh and Job. The last
chapter of the book is written as an epilogue,
bringing an end to a perfectly written book that
many in the world even non-Christians are
familiar with.

In the Christian version, Job is simply a righteous
man that God has allowed Satan to test. But in
the Islamic version of this book, Ayyub [Job] is a
prophet:

BEHOLD, We have inspired thee [O Prophet] just
as We inspired Noah and all the prophets after
him - as We inspired Abraham, and Ishmael, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and their descendants,
including Jesus and Job, and Jonah, and Aaron,
and Solomon;
Quran S-4:163

Interestingly, Branham also claims that Abraham
purchased a burial plot near the location of Job's
tomb. While Abraham and Sarah are buried in
the Cave of the Patriarchs, very little is known
about Job's burial tomb or even Job's lifespan as
compared to other Bible fixtures. The only piece
of information we have the name of the land, Uz,
which is mentioned in the book of Job. Uz is
identified with Edom in scripture, which lies in

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southwestern Jordan as compared to the Cave of

the Patriarchs in Hebron, West Bank.

According to Braham, Job was a prophet whose
fame had spread through the land. In his version
of Job, the accusers were part of a great number
of people that came from the East and the West
to hear the Word from the Lord spoken through
Job, because his future predictions were
accurate. While the Christian Bible focused on
the faithfulness of God, The version Branham
promoted with elements from Islam was focused
upon prophecy.

As the drama unfolded, Branham claimed that
Job tried and was unable to get inspiration; while
Job tried to produce a vision, Satan hindered his
ability to peer into the future. In the climax of the
story, Job was finally able to put himself out of
the way enough to see a vision, and that vision
was powerful enough to stop Satan's tormenting.

Moses

In the late 1600's and early 1700's, a "mystic
woman" by the name of Jane Lead published a
series of prophecies that some believe to have
been foretelling the "Latter Rain Movement." In a
series of visions, Lead describes a god that was
hidden in mystery that was to be revealed by
prophets and prophetesses. According to the
series of visions, this future "restorer prophet"
would bring restoration to both the church and

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to the fallen angels. Like Moses, this coming

prophet was to begin the next Exodus.

To those familiar with Gnosticism and the
worship of "mysteries," "angels," communication
with the dead, and other practices of the occult,
Lead's religious movement that was called "The
Philadelphia Society" would seem to be a
religious cult filled with the worship of elemental
spirits. But to the follower of William Branham,
her prophecies will seem much more Divinely
inspired they seem to be promoting not only
the coming "Messenger," but also his "Message."

Now the third side of the Mount that lay
Eastward, was also described to me by the
Guardian Angel that kept the 3 Gates; that each
Gate gave entrance into three several Courts. The
First was to be filled with Prophets and
Prophetesses, that were disciplin'd and train'd
up there, by the great head Prophet Christ Jesus.
Who was accompanied with all the Ancient
Prophets, as with Moses and Samuel, Elias and
all that were from the Foundation of the World,
to Christ's time.
The Ascent To The Mount Of Vision, Jane Lead

It must be so, for a time, and time, and half time,
and then the finishing of the Transgression and
Sin will be: For then will Christ the eternal Root
of Righteousness, in all, and over all, spring: So,
as an Universal Restoration to all fallen Angels
and Spirits, in Bodies, and out, will by Christ the
quickening Spirit be set free.

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A Communication between the Saints above and

the Saints below, Jane Lead

The second Gift is to have the Gift of Revelation
opened as a spring that flows with Heavenly
Doctrine for a true Teaching-Ministry to go forth
with, to give feeding from a fresh Pasture, which
hath not been defiled by unwashed Feet; the
Holy Spirit do now in some foretell such
Principal Shepherds are now to stand in this
Latter Day upon the Earth, that shall not speak
from Literal Tradition, but from the Revelation of
the Holy-Anointing, the pure, and most excellent
words of Wisdom, which will not be in the
weakness of the Letter, but in the strength and
power of the Spirit so made known.
Enochian Walks With God, Jane Lead

It was Lead who established the fundamental
ideas of Dispensationalism, promoting the idea
that there were "ages" separating this time that
between Christ's resurrection and His second
coming. Though her Philadelphia Society has
been long forgotten, her teaching emerged
through John Darby, who many describe as the
"father" of Dispensationalism. Darby's works
were later promoted by Cyrus Scofield through
the footnotes of the Scofield Bible, and this
teaching that seems to have originated with Lead
has now spread to the masses.

Interestingly, Lead's prophecies were found
among the possessions of those involved with
the Pentecostal and Latter Rain movement. Her
writings were found in the study of Charles

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Price, a California pastor associated with William

Branham during the early part of Branham's
ministry. It was during this time that Branham
seemed to promote himself more as "Moses"
than he did "Elijah."

Like Joseph Smith of the Latter Day Saints,
Branham claimed to have been visited by an
angel. In Branham's accounts of this visitation,
he would often describe the angel telling him the
power of the mind with regards to healing.
Branham would claim that if the he could make
the people believe in himself, then no sickness
would stand in his way. This statement was often
followed up by Branham's claim that the angel
said, "As Moses was given two signs before
Pharaoh, so shall you be given two signs."

Those who are familiar with this reference from
Exodus 4 quickly recognize the error, because
Moses was given three signs by God instead of
two. As God was instructing a reluctant Moses to
convince Pharaoh to let His people go, God gave
Moses two signs for all in the royal courts of
Pharaoh to witness. In front of the sorcerers,
Moses was to throw his rod to the ground, and
that rod would turn immediately into a snake. If
this did not convince them, Moses was to place
his hand into his cloak, and the hand would
immediately be infected with leprosy. But of
these two signs did not convince Pharaoh, there
was yet a third sign given:

If they will not believe even these two signs or
listen to your voice, you shall take some water

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from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and

the water that you shall take from the Nile will
become blood on the dry ground."
Exodus 4:8-10

Ultimately, these signs by God did not change
Pharaohs heart. The Bible says that God
hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and his hardened
heart combined with his bitter anger towards
the Children of Israel was enough to make God's
children want to leave their fallen condition of
slavery. They were not signs for God's children,
intended to show the power of God against
sorcerers, however Branham taught that these
signs were to be used against his own. These
signs, according to Branham, would convince the
people to believe in himself [William Branham],
and only then could they receive healing.

Balaam

The story of Balaam according to the Christian
Bible is a gripping tale between the forces of
Good and the forces of evil. Likely the basis for
many fantasy books or movies of fictional tales
filled with sorcery, stargazing, pagan ritual and
more, the Bible tells the story of a great sorcerer
whose fame had spread for hundreds of miles.

An evil king focused upon building his empire
sought to use the magic of the sorcerer against
the Children of Israel, turning them away from
their most powerful ally: The Almighty God.

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According to the book of Numbers, Balaam

practiced divination, which was condemned and
punishable by death under the Mosaic Law. But
divination and its consequences are not easily
understood among the followers of William
Branham, because in his teaching, Branham
obscured the lines between prophecy and
divination.

Divination is the practice of foreseeing the future
through various means, some of which include
fasting, stargazing, and even occult practices.
Typically, those who practice divination are
summoned by those who wish to use the
knowledge of the future to their own purpose,
such as Balaak the king in the story of Balaam.
But it is vastly different than prophecy. The
message given by the diviner is not a message
that uplifts the entire body, and the intent of the
message can only serve two purposes. Divination
uplifts the sorcerer into greater fear or respect
through amazement in his accuracy, while
providing insight into a future event that many
times cannot be changed. While the sorcerer is
lifted into power, those focusing on their
anticipation of the future become weaker vessels
during the present.

Prophecy (from God), however, is given directly
by God for the sole purpose of building a
stronger body. It is never intended to lift one
man into greater respect, and many times
through the examples we find in the Bible, it
actually was given to humble the pride.

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During the Old Testament, there was a period of

time that we refer to as the "age of the prophets,"
and it fell between the time of the Old Covenant
and the days of Jesus Christ. According to the
Apostle Paul, the law was given as a tool for
learning, like a student being tutored until his
graduation. Paul tells us that during the time of
the Law, the Children of Israel were proving time
and again that man cannot save himself, and
needed a Savior to redeem them from the curse.
When we study the prophets of the Old
Testament, we quickly find that they were not
diviners who were summoned to foresee future
events, but instead were men who humbled
themselves enough to let God speak through
them.

The Word of the Lord through the prophets
seemed to be a beating drum, all saying the same
exact thing time and again: "Children of Israel,
you have failed to save yourselves through
keeping the Law. Because you have done this, I
will bring the curses that were given under the
Old Covenant as a consequence for failure. But
one day, I will send the Messiah to redeem you
from this curse and show you a better way."

Luke 16:16 tells us that this time ended with
John the Baptist. When the New Covenant of
Grace was established, there was no need for
God to send messengers to tell the Children of
Israel that they had broken the Law According
to Paul, the Old Covenant was made obsolete by
the Everlasting Covenant of Grace.

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The Law and the Prophets were until John; since

then the good news of the kingdom of God is
preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
Luke 16:16

Balaam was not one of these prophets, and
though God gave him a message to foretell the
Redeemer, Balaam was still an evil sorcerer.
When Balaam was summoned, he was not
summoned because of his reputation of being a
prophet of the Lord. Instead, Balaam was
summoned for his powers of divination, and
accepted fees in exchange for this abomination.

So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian
departed with the fees for divination in their
hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him
Balak's message.
Numbers 22:6-8

Ultimately, this was the cause of Balaam's
demise. Though Balaam was not one of the
Children of Israel, the armies of Israel executed
capital punishment in agreement with the Law of
Moses. Balaam was put to death for the
abomination of divination.

Balaam also, the son of Beor, the one who
practiced divination, was killed with the sword
by the people of Israel among the rest of their
slain.
Joshua 13:21

But Branham's version of the story of Balaam did
not focus on the distinct line between good and

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evil. According to William Branham, there were

two messengers for that "age," Moses and
Balaam. Branham taught his followers that
Balaam had the "same anointing" that was given
to Moses, claiming that all who can peer into the
future were considered "prophets" instead of
diviners.

And the Moabites, in Branham's version of the
story, were worshippers of Yahweh instead of
the gods of Baal. While history (and the Bible)
records the Moabites serving Chemosh and
Molech, Branham claimed that this pagan nation
could be compared to "formal" or "organized"
Christianity.

Elijah

William Branham is one of several "Malachi 4
Prophets," men promoting themselves to be the
fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy of the return of
Elijah before the coming of the Lord, which
Branham claimed to be the second coming not
the first. If you study Branham's teaching on the
prophet Elijah chronologically, you will quickly
find three distinct phases of teaching.

During the first part of his ministry, Branham
would often tell the story of Old Testament
Elijah, comparing elements of the story to
modern events. Planting a foundation to build
upon, Branham would start to describe how the
coming "Elijah" would be exactly like the
character he created in his stories of Elijah,

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comparing those descriptions to himself and his

own ministry. Once he had established himself as
the new Elijah, the last part was easy; the
listener would apply anything he said about the
Old Testament Elijah to himself.

There is just one problem: The Elijah in those
stories was not the Elijah of the Bible.

Branham described an Elijah that "hated
women," having often described how he himself
was accused of "hating women." According to
Branham, God sent Elijah of the Old Testament to
condemn Jezebel for her "bobbed hair" and
makeup, just as he often did through his own
sermons. In many instances, Branham compared
Ahab and Jezebel to President and Mrs. Kennedy,
telling his followers how Elijah needed to storm
the White House to condemn President Kennedy
for allowing the First Lady to wear cosmetics.
Unfortunately,
President
Kennedy
was
assassinated before that dream was enacted,
leaving what Branham called God's "final attack
on the White House" unfulfilled.

Many of the followers of William Branham are
unaware of the events surrounding the actual
Elijah from the Old Testament. Having been
trained to think that cosmetics were Jezebel's sin
that brought condemnation and judgment, the
true abomination of Jezebel is overlooked.

Ahab's marriage to Jezebel was a direct violation
of the Mosaic Law, one that resulted in the curse
of the Law. Jezebel was not one of the Children of

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Israel, and God warned Israel not to take wives

from the Gentile nations. But Ahab did not keep
the commandment.

The city of Tyre was a very important hub for
commerce in the ancient world, and Ahab's
union to the daughter of the King of Tyre would
have seemed like a blessing in itself. Through
Tyre, the riches of the world were within Ahab's
reach. Tyre purple, for instance, was a royal
commodity used in the clothing, cosmetics, and
more. But while Tyre spread the wealth of the
nations through its busy trade routes, it also
spread something far more sinister: ancient
pagan gods and goddesses.

It is believed that many of the Greek and Roman
gods descended directly from the gods of Tyre.
The Pillars of Melquart, for instance, were re-
established as the Pillars of Hercules in Greek
mythology.

These ancient cults were believed by their
members to provide power, wealth, fertility, and
prosperity, but they also brought death and
destruction.
Human
sacrifice,
temple
prostitution, and many other forms of evil were
included in their ritual ceremonies.

These sacrifices and abomination infected the
Children of Israel through Jezebel, causing the
Children of Israel to break several other
commandments of the Mosaic Law. God did not
want his Children to be sacrificed to idols, and

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did not want His children to serve any other God.

So he sent Elijah.

Elijah fit the mold of most of the Old Testament
prophets and their message from God. The
prophets consistently gave the same prophecy:
Israel, you have fallen back into idolatry. Unless
you repent and turn back to the One True God, I
[God] will punish you. Jezebel, not being a Jew,
failed to listen.

In the very last moments of her life, as her
executioners were coming for her, Jezebel
applied her paint of royalty. She wanted to die in
dignity.

It is in these last few moments of Jezebel's life
that Branham's teaching starts. According to
Branham, this description of Jezebels last
moments was applied to all women of all races.
Branham taught that since Jezebel used paint on
her face, women in his following should not.

This expanded quickly. Branham would often call
women who did not follow these rules "dog
meat," referring to Jezebel's death and
dismemberment. Eventually, what began as a
simple fictional story became a reality through
his own congregation. The only problem is that
the number of "Jezebels" dramatically increased,
and his followers were trained to scorn through
insult.

Eventually, after having convinced his following
that he was indeed the return of Elijah, Branham

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would claim that God himself was being revealed

as "Elijah" in the last days. This final
advancement effectively promoted himself as the
return of Jesus Christ in the form of a man.

The Prophets

Those who have been involved or influenced
with the ministry of William Branham share a
viewpoint on prophecy that makes it quite
difficult to witness and discuss scripture.
Following in the footsteps of Dowie, Russell, and
Smith, Branham promoted the idea that the
prophets of old were leaders, and any who did
not follow the leader was abandoned by God.
Each major event in the Bible was given the label
of an "age," and each of the men in the scriptures
became "prophets" for their "age."

Men who lived before the timeline of the
prophets in the Old Testament were elevated to
the status of "prophet," which Branham claimed
to be the highest form of leadership higher
even than the high priests under the Levitical
priesthood.

As Branham taught from the Old Testament, he
promoted the idea that prophets were "God's
gift" to the people, and to reject that gift was to
reject eternal life. All prophets were likened to
Noah, and to reject the "messenger" was to shut
the spiritual "door" to the ark, which
represented his own ministry.

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One of the fundamental milestones in Branham's

life stories was the 1933 baptism, which was and
is compared to the story in the Gospels where
John baptized Jesus. But rather than God
speaking from the heavens to announce His only
Son Jesus, Branham's tale included a God who
announced himself [William Branham]. By
association, Branham implied that he was the
"gift" for this age.

Branham's descriptions of prophets were men
who could peer into the future. This, according to
Branham, was a divine gift from God no
matter which religion, herbs and spices, or even
astrology produced the "gift." Balaam, for
instance, had the same "anointing" that Moses
had according to Branham's teaching.

To further the doctrine on prophetic leadership,
Branham claimed that God only sent one prophet
for each "age." To reject this single leader was to
reject God, while acceptance of the man and his
message was to inherit eternal salvation. This
creates a problem, since there were multiple
prophets prophesying at the same time during
several events in the Old Testament. It would
seem as though this is the reason that several
books of the Bible were avoided during the
recorded sermons from 1947 to 1965.

The Bible tells a much different story, and seems
to expose the weakness of the prophets for a
purpose. Until the Mosaic Law was given, men
spoke directly to God. Abraham, for instance,
walked with God fully in Grace without Law. God

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spoke to Sarah, and even Hagar no vision

required.

For a period of time, God ruled and reigned
supreme over the people. Men relied upon the
Lord for their provision, their protection, their
guidance, and their salvation, and though we find
instances of visions given by God, we don't find
mention of the label "prophet" until much later
in scripture.

The people wanted to see a man in power, one
that they could see and hear in physical form,
and the Bible describes God allowing the people
to elect kings into political power. Again, during
this time period, we do not find men labeled
"prophets," but instead "judges." Time after time,
mankind fell to idolatry, adultery, and many
other types of sin, and we find judges to issue
correction and acts of warfare to free the people
from oppression.

These kings were the leaders of Israel, long
before the first prophet is mentioned. Again and
again, a king would rise, bring the people into
righteousness, and then fall again to worse sin.
Israel continually drifted further and further
away from the Old Covenant, until finally, they
had trespassed against each of the
commandments.

According to the Old Covenant, there were over
three hundred blessings given for keeping the
Law but there were also over three hundred
curses for abandoning or breaking that Law. As

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the law began to fail, we start seeing the first

prophets sent by God.

The most obvious error with this idea that
prophets were leaders instead of voices of the
Covenant is exposed when you review the
timeline of the prophets compared to the
timeline of Israel. You'll quickly notice that God's
Voice was confirmed by the mouths of more than
one human, starting in the days of King
Jereoboem II. Jonah, Joel, and Amos were all
speaking to God's children as the punishments
began.

During the time of Babylonian captivity, this was
amplified with God's voice being spoken by
multiple prophets in both Babylon and
Jerusalem. Daniel and Ezekiel were speaking
God's Voice to those in captivity while Jeremiah,
Obadiah, and Habakkuk were speaking God's
Voice to the Jews in Jerusalem.

Christ, speaking of this period of time, associates
the prophets with the Mosaic Law. According to
the book of Luke, Jesus tells us that both the Law
and the prophets were until John the Baptist
prepared the way for Jesus Christ. Since then, the
Good News, or the Gospel of the Kingdom was
proclaimed."

"The Law and the prophets were until John; since
then the good news of the kingdom of God is
preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
Luke 16:16

127

Back To The Bible

128

When you finally start to realize that the bible

you've been taught is not quite similar to the
Bible that you hold in your hands, it's time to get
back to the basics. The only way to determine
how much of Branham's teachings were
scriptural and how many were inventions of the
minds false teachers is to examine the Book itself
start to finish.

There's just one problem: Many in the following
of William Branham are unfamiliar with reading
their Bibles. They've been trained to focus on
single sentences twisted into entire doctrines
without reading the scripture in its context. They
have forgotten the real Word of God.

The Gospel

The word "Gospel" means "Good News." To a
Christian, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the
greatest news that can be given, news that Christ
has freed the world from sin and death.

Sadly, however, many have long forgotten what
this "Good News" is all about. When asked, many
in the following of William Branham will give an
answer of "power," or "healing," a description
that represents the power of God without any
indication of the message that is to be spread
with the Good News that is the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.

When the Mosaic Law was given, it was a two-
part contract between man and God. There were

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over three hundred blessings if the Children of

Israel kept the laws given to Moses by God, and
there were over three hundred curses if they
failed to keep the Law. From famine and drought
to captivity and desolation, the curse of the law
was severe. At the same time, the Gentile nations
were cursed. God chose Israel as His children,
and the idolatrous nations that rose against
Israel were punished with Israel's favor.

In Galatians 3, Paul compares the Mosaic Law to
a child under instruction of a tutor, and describes
the Law itself as a curse. Once the curse was
lifted, Paul tells the Galatians that there is no
longer a separation between Jew or Greek, slave
or free, male or female.

Throughout his letters, the Apostle Paul calls the
Law a "Law of sin and death," one that brings
condemnation rather than salvation. This
condemnation was upon the head of Israel,
condemnation spoken directly by God through
His prophets in the Old Testament. Israel had
broken the Law, abandoned it, and brought the
curses of the Law upon themselves. Without a
Redeemer to save them, Israel deserved death.

To the early Jewish Christians, the Gospel had
special meaning. Christ had set them free! They
were no longer bound by the Law, and they were
no longer living under the curse of the Law.
Though they deserved death and eternal
separation, Jesus Christ had came as their
Kinsman Redeemer. He died in their place,
paying the final penalty of the curse. His death

130

brought new life, life without the curse of the

Law, and they had done nothing to deserve it. It
was given to them as a Gift, the greatest Gift the
world had ever known. God had sent His only
Son, Jesus Christ, as their Kinsman Redeemer.
God's only Son sacrificed His own life so that
their lives could be saved, and so that they might
have a place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

To the early Gentile Christians, the Gospel also
had special meaning. Though they were not
bound by the Law, and were not under the curse
of the Law, they had not been considered God's
children. God had favored Israel as His people,
but now the Gentile nations were adopted as
children of the King.

This gift of life was given without any merit.
There was nothing that could be done to earn
this Gift. There was nothing mankind could do to
save himself.

Christ, God's only Son, suffered and died on the
cross for the sins of the world. He died and rose
again, conquering death, hell, and the grave.
Because He lives, we are given the gift of eternal
life, and there is only one requirement: faith in
Jesus Christ.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of
God, not a result of works, so that no one may
boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

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This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Bible.

Without the early books of the Bible, we would
never fully understand the Grace and Love of the
Heavenly Father to His Children before their
punishment for failure to keep the Law. Before
there was Law, there was Grace, and eternal
covenants showing God's faithfulness.

Without the books of the prophets, we would
never fully understand the necessity of a Savior.
Though mankind tried to save themselves by
their own actions, the Old Testament teaches us
that we cannot save ourselves. We need a Savior.
We need God.

Paul proclaimed this Gospel, and left nothing
hidden in mystery. 2 Corinthians 1 tells us that
nothing is written in-between the lines, and
there is nothing we can't understand. It is the
simple Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Through the New Testament, we find many
warnings of men that will come to spread false
teaching. Paul condemned anyone who spread a
different gospel telling the people to keep
promoting the Gospel, the Good News that he
was also spreading.

But William Branham promoted a different
gospel. Like the Children of Israel abandoning
and forgetting the Mosaic Law in the Old
Testament, many in the following of William
Branham has abandoned and forgotten the
Gospel that Paul spread. It is quickly replaced
with the gospel that Branham promoted.

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Branham's gospel contained a fictional man that
spent most of his time in the work of "divine
healing." Often, Branham would claim that "85%
of the ministry of Jesus Christ was on divine
healing." Branham often referred to this as the
"Gospel of divine healing."

The Jesus in Branham's version was not the
eternal Son of God that is described in the first
chapter of the Gospel according to John.
Branham's version included a man, born by
virgin birth but without the status of "God."
Branham's Jesus did not become a god until his
baptism by John the Baptist. Because this version
of Jesus had a beginning, Branham explained that
Jesus was not the Eternal Son of God.

Though he claimed to have disagreed with the
Oneness Pentecostal godhead, Branham
promoted the Jehovah's Witness version of
Christ that was "Jehovah of the Old Testament,"
which Branham claimed to be Jesus as taught by
Charles Taze Russell.

Similar to the Islamic version of Christ, Branham
taught his followers to believe that Jesus was
required to have a vision before performing any
miracle. Though he promoted the idea that Jesus
was also Jehovah, Branham would often explain
that Christ was not the Father. Taking this out to
conclusion, we find a hierarchy of gods in
Branham's teaching a Father who sent visions
to a Son, and a Son whose hands were tied until
the vision came.

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In Branham's gospel, this power did not remain
with Christ. In several sermons describing the
scene during Christ's prayer in the Garden of
Gethsemane, Branham would describe how the
"spirit of god" abandoned Jesus in the Garden.
Rather than the Son of God suffering on the cross
for our sins, Branham's version of the gospel
described a man, abandoned by the Father,
crucified on Calvary's hill.

The writers of the New Testament do not show
patience for men who spread different versions
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:8
describe them as accursed.

"But even if we or an angel from heaven should
preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we
preached to you, let him be accursed."
Galatians 1:8

Branham's explanation of the reason Jesus
offered Himself as a sacrifice? So that a future
'prophet' could finish the incomplete work:

Now He sanctified, with His Spirit and Blood, a
Church, that He might make every promise in
this last day be revealed. Now, see, He could go
back and pick up what these other fellows has
left off here, in the last days, and by His Holy
Spirit reveal all the mystery of the Seven Seals.
See, He is expressing Himself. That's His purpose.
That's why He died.
63-0728
CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY.OF.GOD.REVEALED

134

The Achievement Of The Holy Spirit

When the Azusa Street Revival broke out, many
were displaying gifts that they believed to be
directly from God. Taking the prophecy from Joel
describing the fire that fell at Pentecost, this new
breed of Christians decided to expand upon their
teaching regarding these gifts, and replace Paul's
description of the fruits of the Spirit with a new
doctrine: "Evidence of the Holy Ghost."

The early Pentecostals commonly referred to the
Gift of Tongues as evidence of the Holy Spirit, but
as time went on and fewer people were given
this gift, other spiritual gifts were included in
this doctrine of "evidence."

The most common "evidence" referred to by the
Pentecostal faith include not only the gift of
tongues, but also serpent handling and the gift of
healing. This doctrine is taken from the latter
portion of the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel
according to Mark. Though the earlier
manuscripts of the Bible did not include this text,
the Pentecostal faith decided to build their
foundation upon these words:

And these signs will accompany those who
believe: in my name they will cast out demons;
they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick
up serpents with their hands; and if they drink
any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will

135

lay their hands on the sick, and they will

recover."
Mark 16:17-18

Over time, the Gift that was freely given to God's
children became more of an achievement. Those
who were not blessed with the spiritual gifts
counted as "evidence" were questioned in their
faith. Many were instructed to continue seeking
the Holy Spirit until they were able to achieve
their gift.

The following of William Branham refer to
Branham's claim to heal as evidence of the Holy
Spirit in their movement. Regardless of how
strongly the teachings of William Branham differ
from the scriptures, this "evidence" of Branham's
achievement takes precedence over the conflict
in teaching, and some choose Branham over the
Bible in these instances because of this
achievement.

But as a majority, most of the followers of
William Branham do not display the gift of
healing that they consider to be evidence of the
Holy Spirit both during Branham's ministry
and long after his death. Because of this, and
because of Branham's Pentecostal background,
many question whether or not God has given this
Gift to them. While most Christians would see
this as a disturbing problem, many in the
following of William Branham do not see this as
an issue. Branham lessoned the importance of
the Holy Spirit in the latter part of his ministry,
claiming that one could easily "grieve away" the

136

Holy Spirit, and that one could have the Holy

Spirit every day in his or her lives and still be lost
and bound for hell.

In the earlier part of his ministry, William
Branham promoted Paul's description of the
fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control) as what Christians should look for
as evidence of the Holy Spirit. Over time, his
doctrine changed. Basing his experience upon
the Pentecostal "gifts," Branham claimed to have
noticed Christian Science displaying the same
Christian love Paul described in Galatians 5, but
denied their having the Holy Spirit because they
did not live the lifestyle promoted by the
Pentecostal faith.

Towards the latter part of his ministry, Branham
promoted the idea that accepting the
"messenger" or the "message" for your "hour"
[referring to himself] was the evidence of the
Holy Spirit.

But this is not the same Holy Spirit described in
the Bible. While William Branham claimed that
we could "grieve away" the Holy Spirit, God tells
us that He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Though our sins may grieve the Holy Spirit, the
Bible says that we are sealed until the day of our
redemption, or salvation.

Jesus and the Apostles describe the Holy Spirit is
a Gift. It is not a gift that might be merited by our
actions, and there is nothing we can do to

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conjure up this spirit as we find with elemental

spirits of the world. The Holy Spirit is a Gift, sent
from the Father after Jesus Christ ascended to
the Throne. It is a Gift freely given, by unmerited
favor between God and man.

Branham was correct in the early stages of his
ministry; the fruits of the Spirit are founded in
perfect love. And that perfect love flows from us
by the Spirit that is within us.

Divorce Your Wives

Many in the following of William Branham hold
all statements spoken by Branham and ending
with the words "Thus Saith The Lord" in great
esteem. To some, those statements take greater
importance than scripture, and if any conflict is
found between Branham's words and the words
of Jesus Christ, the words of Branham stand.

One such example is that of Branham's claim that
God spoke through his mouth to tell his followers
to divorce their wives if they cut their hair.
According to Branham, the Lord used his voice to
tell the world that a husband should put his wife
away should scissors touch their long, flowing
hair.

I was speaking this morning of this woman
immoral woman, washing Jesus' dirty feet,
wiping them with her hair. Some of our
Pentecostal sisters have to stand on their head to
get enough hair to wash the feet. Cut it all off.

138

See? That's right. It used to be wrong for you to

do it. It's still wrong for you to do it. The Bible
plainly teaches, if a woman cuts her hair, her
husband has a right to divorce her, put her away.
Said if she cuts her hair, she dishonors her head,
her husband. And a dishonorable woman should
not be lived with. I better shut up now. I'll get
you preachers right here... I'm only telling you
the truth. You're going to face me with it at the
day of judgment. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD,
in His Word. A lady said, "They don't... All they
make is these Hollywood, sexy-looking dresses."
I said, "They still have sewing machines and
goods." Don't don't try to get around that. No,
sir.
61-0520 FROM.THAT.TIME

There is just one problem. This does not match
the words of Christ, the Son of the Living God. If
Branham were truthful, and God was speaking
through his lips, then we would be serving a God
that gives conflicting statements.

In Matthew 19, Jesus tells us that there is only
one sin worthy of putting away your spouse, and
that sin has nothing to do with the hair on their
head. Jesus tells us that fornication was the only
reason to put away your wife, and should one do
so without reasons of fornication, they were
committing adultery:

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away
his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall
marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso

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marrieth her which is put away doth commit

adultery.
Matthew 19:9

Some of the followers discredit this statement,
though Branham claimed to have been speaking
the direct Word from God. Those familiar with
the events surrounding the second marriage of
Branham's son, Billy Paul Branham, claim that
until Branham preached the sermon entitled
"Marriage and Divorce" in 1965, neither
Branham nor the people had any knowledge of
the scriptural teachings involving divorce and
remarriage.

Ironically, William Branham's siblings also did
not seem to have this knowledge; William
Branham performed the wedding ceremonies for
the many marriages of his brothers to their many
wives.

Pretending To Be God

Throughout his recorded sermons, William
Branham promoted himself and his ministry as
the fulfillment of Luke 17:30. In several of the
churches in the current following, you will find
many references to this verse of scripture on
printed material and sermons describing the
man, William Branham.

While most Christians recognize the title, "Son of
Man," as a reference to Christ, Branham taught
that this title was for a coming prophet not

140

the Messiah that came to deliver the world from

sin. This coming prophet, according to William
Branham, would be the future return of Elijah,
which Branham claimed was described in
Malachi 4. Branham taught that this "Elijah"
would be more than a man: He would be God in
human flesh.

Luke 17:30, when read in context, is describing
the return of Christ:

"And he said to the disciples, The days are
coming when you will desire to see one of the
days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
And they will say to you, 'Look, there!' or 'Look,
here!' Do not go out or follow them. For as the
lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one
side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his
day. But first he must suffer many things and be
rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the
days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son
of Man. They were eating and drinking and
marrying and being given in marriage, until the
day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood
came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it
was in the days of Lot they were eating and
drinking, buying and selling, planting and
building, but on the day when Lot went out from
Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and
destroyed them all so will it be on the day
when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, let
the one who is on the housetop, with his goods in
the house, not come down to take them away,
and likewise let the one who is in the field not
turn back. Remember Lot's wife. Whoever seeks

141

to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses

his life will keep it. I tell you, in that night there
will be two in one bed. One will be taken and the
other left. There will be two women grinding
together. One will be taken and the other left.'
And they said to him, 'Where, Lord?' He said to
them, 'Where the corpse is, there the vultures
will gather.'


According to the belief system promoted by
William Branham, this passage from Luke is
describing the revealing of a prophet, one often
described in parallel with himself. While
Branham claimed the title "Son of Man" in the
verse from Luke 17, the scriptures use this title
over eighty times in the New Testament to apply
to Jesus Christ. Often, Branham made
comparisons between his healing ministry and
the "divine healing ministry of Jesus Christ, "
which Branham claimed to be the majority of
Jesus' "ministry." At one point in time, Branham
even pretended that God was speaking through
his own lips, though a slip of the tongue made it
evident that it was his own stuttering voice
instead of the Voice of God:

I'm the Lord that raised up Christ from the grave.
I'm the One that sent the Holy Ghost.
I'm the One that give the promise.
Brother Branham has nothing to do in this.
I have He's surrendered his life to Me.
I'm using his Spirit;
I'm talking through his lips.
That's Me; I'm the Lord.

142

59-0410 Looking At the Unseen

The climax of this doctrine occurred towards the
end of his life, less than a month before God
removed Branham from his ministry. Having
promoted himself as the fulfillment of Luke
17:30, as well as the return of Elijah, William
Branham started to claim that this new "Elijah"
was not a man he was God:

Now, we've had Elijahs, and Elijahs' coats, and
Elijahs' mantles, and Elijahs' everything. But the
Elijah of this day is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is to
come according to Matthew the seventeen-...
Luke 17:30, says the Son of man is to reveal
Himself among His people. Not a man, God!
65-1127B
TRYING.TO.DO.GOD.A.SERVICE.WITHOUT.IT.BEI
NG.GOD'S.WILL

King James Only

One of the myths that have arisen after the death
of William Marrion Branham is that the King
James Version is the only accurate version of the
Bible, and that William Branham himself only
supported the KJV. Branham studied the works
of several men, including Jehovah's Witness
founder Charles Taze Russell, Zion City founder
John Alexander Dowie, and more. In fact, an
alternate version of the Bible was promoted
throughout his ministry.

143

Let us read both the King James Version and the

translation by Dr. Lamsa. To our gratification we
find the words in both amazingly the same so
that there is no difference actually in content or
doctrine.
Branham: Church Age Book

Followers of William Branham also do not
realize that William Branham was not of the King
James Only opinion, and that a several of his
teachings came from a Gnostic version of the
Bible mistranslations by a heretical teacher of
the Bible. George Lamsa denied the deity of
Christ, and for that reason, most Christians do
not use his bible translation.

While he strongly opposed and condemned the
Catholic Church, Branham mentioned studying
the Vatican Translation. Along with the Vatican
Translation, Branham used the Diaglott
(Jehovah's Witness Translation Tool), as well as
the Moffatt and Lamsa translation.

I was reading and teaching in my church
sometime ago upon Pentecost, in a little revival I
had. Now, I've got an old Emphatic Diaglott of the
original Greek translation, and it's the one
most outstanding things. I'd advise it to any of
the clergymen.
60-0304 THIRSTING.FOR.LIFE

Many in the following of William Branham use
the King James Version under false pretenses
that it is the same version originally translated
by King James. Though many claim that the King

144

James Version has been unaltered, and is "more

accurate" than the newer translations, it is vastly
different than the 1611 version of the King James
Bible. The original translation contained the
Apocrypha, a set of books later removed for
questionable authenticity. At the same time,
many of the mistakes were corrected. The King
James Version we have today is the result of a
refinement process that continued on into the
newer translations.

In the preface of the 1611 translation, the King
James translators admitted they did not have a
full understanding of the intricacies of the
language. As humans, we are limited to our
current understanding, and that understanding
was limited during the time of the translation.

While there is nothing wrong with reading the
Elizabethan English of the King James Version, it
is a mistake to falsely assume that the older
translation is more accurate than the new
translations. The early translators were also
limited in the number of scrolls available, and
those scrolls did not fully match. With the
additional thousands of scrolls unearthed, the
newer translations have a better understanding
of which scriptures were included in the original
Greek and Hebrew text, and which verses were
added later by Gnostic influence.

Jesus said, "Search the scriptures," which would
be those original translations not the altered
versions. He did not instruct us to "search the

145

older translations of the scriptures that

admittedly had error."

Lamsa Theology

Note some of the differences between the King
James Version and Lamsa:

Mathew 24:7

King James Bible: Jesus says: "My God, My God,
why have you forsaken me?"
Lamsa Bible: Jesus says: "My God, My God, for
this I was spared [kept in some versions]!"

Ephesians 6:12

King James Bible: For we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.
Lamsa Bible: "For your conflict is not only with
flesh and blood, but also with the angels, and
with powers, with the rulers of this world of
darkness, and with the evil spirits under the
heaven".


Mathew 19:24

King James Version Bible "It is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle..."

146

Lamsa Bible: "It is easier for a rope to go

through the eye of a needle"


Luke 14:25 NIV: "If any one comes to Me and
does not hate his father and mother, his wife and
children, his brothers and sisters, yes even his
own life, he can not be My disciple".

Lamsa Bible: "He who comes to Me and does not
put aside his father and his mother and his
brothers and his sisters and his wife and his
children and even his own life can not be a
disciple to me".

The most disturbing thing about the Lamsa Bible
is that George Lamsa allows his theology and
opinions to influence his translation. For
example, he does not believe that people live
after death, so he inserts the word "death" in
places the original writer used "sleep" (1 Cor.
15:6,18,20).

Lamsa denied the deity of Christ:

Hebrews 7:3

King James Bible: Without father, without
mother, without descent, having neither
beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like
unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Lamsa Bible: Neither his father or mother is
recorded in the genealogies; and neither the
beginning of his days nor the end of his life; but,

147

like the Son of God, his priesthood abides

forever.

Temporary Hell

William Branham promoted an idea found in
Charles Taze Russell's "Jehovah of the
Watchtower (page 24)," concerning the idea of a
temporary punishment one of the ideas from
Russell's "cardinal doctrines of the Bible" that
caused many to label him as a heretic. According
to Russell, scriptures describing an "everlasting"
or "eternal" hell were incorrect, and he
challenged orthodox Christianity.

I believe that this doctrine of eternal hell is a lie
against man is a lie against God, and sooner
than preach it, I would let my tongue rot in my
mouth.
Russell, 1886, BABYLON BEFORE THE GREAT
COURT.

As to the atrocious dogma of an eternal hell of
inconceivable torment, does our "sensitive
modern philosophy" imagine that it has
outgrown the Scriptures?
Russell, 1891, "Watchman, What of the Night?"


There are many verses that describe the "eternal
fire," though the King James translation
sometimes uses the word "everlasting." Here are
three examples:

148

Matthew 18:8:
And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin,
cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to
enter life crippled or lame than with two hands
or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.

Matthew 25:41:
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart
from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels.

Jude 1:7:
just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the
surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in
sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire,
serve as an example by undergoing a
punishment of eternal fire.

The Greek word "aionion" is used in the original
translation for what we read here as "eternal."
(Strongs 166). Ironically, it is the same word
used
for
"eternal
life."
(http://biblehub.com/greek/aio_nion_166.htm)
So if we follow Branham's teaching out to
conclusion, by denying an eternal fire, he was
also denying eternal life. This word is one and
the same.

Here are three examples of the same word being
used to describe eternal life:

Matthew 19:29 Adj-AFS
NAS: and will inherit eternal life.
KJV: and shall inherit everlasting life.
INT: and life eternal will inherit

149


Matthew 25:46 Adj-AFS
NAS: but the righteous into eternal life.
KJV: into life eternal.
INT: into life eternal
Mark 10:17 Adj-AFS

NAS: shall I do to inherit eternal life?
KJV: that I may inherit eternal life?
INT: that life eternal I might inherit

The Evening Light

There were many titles William Branham chose
from scripture to apply to himself and his
ministry, indexes from verses in prophetic
scripture that Branham taught was being
fulfilled before the eyes of his congregation. One
of those verses applied as a title is Zechariah
14:7:

And there shall be a unique day, which is known
to the Lord, neither day nor night, but at evening
time there shall be light.


According to William Branham, this statement
was proclaiming the end-time messenger, and
his "message" was the "evening light" to the
world before the coming day of destruction.
Taking the prophecy from Joel describing the
"former and latter rain," Branham claimed that
this evening light was associated with the latter,
while the "morning light" was the former.

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"The evening Lights," the Bible said, "would
shine in the last days." The evening Light is the
same Light in the West, that was the same Light
that was in the East. And the same Light that
shined in the East, that brought forth the first
Church that the Romans cut down by their
their pagan worship and so forth, in the evening
Light is the same Light. Now notice, the same
Light! And what's the evening Light come out
for? What is the evening Light for? To restore.
Whew! You get it? [Congregation says, "Amen."
Ed.] The evening Light is for the same purpose
the morning Light was for, to restore what was
cut down by the Dark Ages, through Rome. God
is going to restore, by shining forth the evening
Light (what?), restore the whole Word of God
again, the full manifestation of Christ in His
Church. Everything that He did, just exactly the
way He did, it would be again in the evening
Light. See what I mean? Oh, isn't that wonderful?
["Amen."] And to know we're living right here to
see It now, the evening Light, exactly according
to prophecy. The evening Light come out to
restore what? To restore what the bugs had eat
up.
62-0422
THE.RESTORATION.OF.THE.BRIDE.TREE


There are many scriptures describing this light,
the "Day of the Lord" that comes before this light,
and the events that come after the light has
shone. When you study the sermons of William
Branham, you will quickly notice that all of those

151

specific verses are being applied to his

"message" or his ministry.

The prophecy in Zechariah is describing the
coming Day of the Lord, specifically a terrible
event that is in the future for the Jews in
Jerusalem. It comes towards the end of the scroll,
which originally did not contain any chapters,
verses, or lines. The scroll itself contained
several prophecies, each prophecy given from
the Lord describing the reason for the prophecy
and the people to which it was given. Chapter 14
is a continuation of the Word that came as
described in chapter 12.

The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning
Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out
the heavens and founded the earth and formed
the spirit of man within him: "Behold, I am about
to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the
surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will
also be against Judah. On that day I will make
Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All
who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the
nations of the earth will gather against it. On that
day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse
with panic, and its rider with madness. But for
the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my
eyes open, when I strike every horse of the
peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah
shall say to themselves, 'The inhabitants of
Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of
hosts, their God.'
Zechariah 12:1-5

152

Throughout the context of this prophecy, the

Word includes the phrase "on that day,"
describing the coming Day of the Lord. In each
section of the prophecy, the focal point is the
coming Messiah and his work on the cross. The
greatest Gift was about to be given to the world,
and that gift was a savior whose side would be
pierced:

And I will pour out on the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and
pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me,
on him whom they have pierced, they shall
mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child,
and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a
firstborn.
Zechariah 12:10

Continuing into the 13th chapter, God describes
how the day of the prophets will end, just as
described in Luke 16:16:

And also I will remove from the land the
prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. And if
anyone again prophesies, his father and mother
who bore him will say to him, 'You shall not live,
for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.' And
his father and mother who bore him shall pierce
him through when he prophesies.
Zechariah 13:2

"The Law and the Prophets were until John;
since then the good news of the kingdom of God
is preached, and everyone forces his way into it."
Luke 16:16

153


Immediately after describing an end to the
prophets, God describes how the Good Shepherd
will be struck, and the sheep scattered. Again, all
of this is to happen "on that day," the Day of the
Lord:

"Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against
the man who stands next to me," declares the
Lord of hosts. "Strike the shepherd, and the
sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand
against the little ones.
Zechariah 13:7

Zechariah 14, the chapter containing the title
that William Branham applied to himself and his
ministry, contains much more description
regarding the "evening light" than you will find
described in the sermons that make use of that
title. The chapter begins by describing the
Roman invasion of Jerusalem, and all of the
events that will take place before the coming Day
of the Lord:

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the
spoil taken from you will be divided in your
midst. For I will gather all the nations against
Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken
and the houses plundered and the women raped.
Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest
of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Zechariah 14:1-2

While many of the "evening light messengers"
that have risen through the years to form groups

154

of separation apply this "Day of the Lord" and

the "Evening Light" to their own following, the
verse immediately before Zechariah 14:7
describes the settings to identify this day. It
would seem from the prophecy given that this
was a day in time rather than an "age,"
"dispensation," or even time period. Zechariah 6
says, "On that day there shall be no light, cold, or
frost."

But the interesting part of this prophecy when
compared to the statements given by William
Branham are found immediately after the verse
describing the Evening Light statements that
are seemingly overlooked by most of the
following.

If one attempts to apply the single verse to
William Branham, then they are faced with a
series of questions that are very difficult to
describe anything other than the day when
Christ ascended to the Throne.

Has living waters flowed from Jerusalem
since William Branham's "message" went
forth?
Has the temperature remained cold in the
summer, as it is in winter?
Was the Lord made King on the day
William Branham's message went forth?
Is that the day the Lord became One and
His Name became One?
Have the environmental conditions of the
land surrounding Jerusalem changed

155

because of a man in Jeffersonville,

Indiana?
Is Jerusalem now dwelling in security?
Do we see the flesh of those who rage war
against Jerusalem rotting and falling from
their bodies? Their eyes falling from their
sockets or their tongues rotting in their
mouths?
Do we see plagues striking the livestock,
from the horses, mules, camels, donkeys,
and any other beast in the camp?
Do nations present themself Holy on the
day of the Feast of Booths?
Do those who refuse live in drought and
famine?
Did William Branham cleanse the temple
of commerce? Or was it Christ who
overturned the tables of the money
changes?

All of these things are proclaimed in the
prophecy of Zechariah, concerning the coming
Day of the Lord. The evening light was not the
focus of the prophecy most Christians would
agree that the greatest event described in this
Word from the Lord was the Day when the Lord
would be One and His Name One. The Day
Christianity was born!

156

Branham Vs. The Bible

157

Was Branhams Christ lowered to an angel?

Branham: And at that time Michael shall stand,
the great prince." Michael was Christ, of course,
Who fought the angelic wars in heaven with the
devil. Satan and Michael fought together, or
fought against each other, rather.
Branham, 55-0109E

Bible: For to which of the angels did God ever
say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten
you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he
shall be to me a son"? And again, when he brings
the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all
God's angels worship him. Of the angels he says,
"He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a
flame of fire." But of the Son he says, "Your
throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of
uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom."
Hebrews 1:5-8

158

Was Christ an impure sacrifice?

Branham: Eve actually thought she was right.
But Satan deceived her. But he didn't deceive
Adam. He knew it was wrong. But because of the
love for his wife, he represented hisself with sin
and was condemned by the same. And cast out of
the garden of Eden. And Christ represented
Hisself with the Church full of sin, and was
condemned, and His soul went to hell. That's
right. And God raised Him up on the third day.
You believe that? See? It wasn't that he didn't
sin; he did sin. And Christ was... He never... God
wouldn't have sent Him to to hell pure. He had
to send Him to hell condemned (See?), because
He took our sins. And Christ died, not righteous;
Christ died a sinner. See?
Branham, 55-0227A

Bible: But when Christ appeared as a high priest
of the good things that have come, then through
the greater and more perfect tent (not made with
hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered
once for all into the holy places, not by means of
the blood of goats and calves but by means of his
own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the
sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a
heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without blemish to God, purify our conscience
from dead works to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:11-14

159

Are we judged by works, and not by Grace?

Branham Now, many people say that, "I will go
to heaven because my faith tells me so. I belong
to church, and my faith tells me that I'm all
right." Now, I believe in the grace of God too. But
look, no matter what your faith is, you're not
going to be judged by your faith; you're going to
be judged by your works. And when you die,
death does not change your spirit; it only
changes your dwelling place. It only changes
houses for you. And if you die in your sins, you
go to a worse habitation than what you're living
in now.
Branham, 60-0606

Bible: For by grace you have been saved through
faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift
of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one
may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

160

Can 'just a man' take away the sins of the world?

Branham: When God looked down upon the
body... The Spirit left Him, in the garden of
Gethsemane. He had to die, a man. Remember,
friends, He didn't have to do that. That was God.
God anointed that flesh, which was human flesh.
Branham, 65-0418M

Bible: But when Christ appeared as a high priest
of the good things that have come, then through
the greater and more perfect tent (not made with
hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered
once for all into the holy places, not by means of
the blood of goats and calves but by means of his
own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the
sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a
heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without blemish to God, purify our conscience
from dead works to serve the living God.
Hebrews 9:11-14

161

Does the Holy Spirit no longer seal us?

Branham: The choice of your conduct. You
could... You can't mix it now. You're either for
God or against God, and the outward expressions
shows exactly what's on the inside. See? The
cocklebur... Many of you think, "I got the baptism
of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to Heaven." That
don't mean one thing that you're going to
Heaven. No, sir. You can have the baptism of the
Holy Ghost every hour in your life, and still be
lost and go to hell. The Bible says so. Uh-huh,
that's exactly right.
Branham, 65-1207

Bible: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption.
Ephesians 4:30

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the
dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus
from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Romans 8:11

162

Do NOT preach the Gospel? Thus saith the LORD?

Branham: That's what I tried to tell this Brother
setting over here that's talking about going to
Israel. Stay away from Israel. Stay away from it,
all you people that talk about converting the
Jews. Before this message is over you'll see it's
THUS SAITH THE LORD by Word and by Spirit.
Israel will be converted over, the whole nation in
one night; the Bible said so. But the Gospel's not
even to them. There's a few renegades that's out
and so forth like that that come in and outside
of the main body of Jews that come in and get
saved; that's true. I believe that with all my mi
heart. But remember, as long as Israel's out of
their nation, they cannot be saved.
Branham, 61-0730M

Bible: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it
is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek.
Romans 1:16

For there is no distinction between Jew and
Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing
his riches on all who call on him.
Romans 10:12

163

It was HER fault?

Branham Now we find out, death was caused.
Death is the cause of sin of the woman, come
through the woman and not the man. By her way
of living her life, and by her, all death comes. Her
way of giving life is death. How many knows
that? Job 14, if you want to put down the
Scripture. I got, if you question this, I got
Scriptures wrote down for every bit of this. If
you want to read Job 14 there, It says, "Man that
is born of woman is of a few days, and full of
trouble." Is that right? "He cometh up like the
flower, he is cut down, and wastes away," and so
forth. See? Every man that's born of a woman, is
born in death as soon as he comes. But when he
is born into the creation of God, he cannot die; he
is from that other Tree that was in the garden of
Eden, Christ. Eternal Life come by the Tree. "Oh,"
you say, "she was a tree?" Sure. "Well, they said,
'Thou shall not take of this tree.' God said, in
Genesis back there, 'Thou shall not take of this
tree.'" Well the woman is the tree. She is the fruit
tree. You're the fruit of your mother. The fruit of
the womb is you. That's right. And then the fruit
of the Tree of Life, that was in the Garden of
Eden, is Christ. Through the woman come death;
through the Man, in the original creation, come
Life.
Branham, 65-0221M

Bible: Therefore, just as sin came into the world
through one man, and death through sin, and so
death spread to all men because all sinned - for
sin indeed was in the world before the law was

164

given, but sin is not counted where there is no

law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over those whose sinning was not like the
transgression of Adam, who was a type of the
one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14

165

"Branham's group?" Not Christ's Group?

Branham I said, "All them Branhams?" I said
that, "I I never believed there was that many."
He said, "They're not Branhams." Said, "They're
your converts; they're your converts." Said, "That
woman that you're admiring," said, "you know
how old she was when you led her to Christ?" I
said, "I have no idea." Said, "Past ninety." Said,
"See, she's young forever." And she looked up at
me. She said, "Brother Branham, Jesus will come
someday, and then we'll go back to earth." And
said, "Then we'll receive our glorified body; then
we'll live together forever." I said, "Well, I... Well,
what what what do you set me up here
for?" And they said, "You was a leader; you led
us." I said, "Oh, let me see Jesus if I've passed
over. I want to see Him." And that voice said,
"You can't see Him now." Said, "He will come, but
first He will come to you." And said, "Judge you
by the Gospel you preached..." And I said, "The
Gospel I preach?" "Yes." And I said, "Will Saint
Paul have to stand before his converts?" Said,
"Absolutely, he will too." I said, "I never varied
one word; I stayed just exactly the way the Bible
said it. I don't care what anyone said, or did not
say; I stayed right with it like that. So if Paul's
group is saved, mine is too." And a great scream
from looked like thousands and thousands said,
"We know that." I said, "Praise God, I never was
so happy that I stayed true to the Word." See? "I
never was so happy."
60-0608 HAVING.CONFERENCES

166

Bible: But I, brothers, could not address you as

spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as
infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid
food, for you were not ready for it. And even now
you are not yet ready, for you are still of the
flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife
among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving
only in a human way? For when one says, I
follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are
you not being merely human? What then is
Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom
you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I
planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the
growth. So neither he who plants nor he who
waters is anything, but only God who gives the
growth. He who plants and he who waters are
one, and each will receive his wages according to
his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You
are God's field, God's building. According to the
grace of God given to me, like a skilled master
builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is
building upon it. Let each one take care how he
builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation
other than that which is laid, which is Jesus
Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:1-11

167

The Law became greater?

Branham Your boy goes with a Catholic girl.
When they go to get married, they have to
promise to raise the children Catholic (See?),
vice versa. See, it's to break the power of the
other. But what is it? The Bible claims the whole
thing's a prostitute. Now, what are you going to
do? That's right. And how the sins of the people
would be visited... We went back in
Deuteronomy and showed that a illegitimate
child, bastard child, could not even enter the
congregation of the Lord for fourteen
generations. That was under the law, and Christ
come to magnify the law. How much more is it
now?
Branham, 58-0928E

Bible: In speaking of a new covenant, he makes
the first one obsolete. And what is becoming
obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish
away.
Hebrews 8:13

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful
passions, aroused by the law, were at work in
our members to bear fruit for death. But now we
are released from the law, having died to that
which held us captive, so that we serve in the
new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of
the written code.
Romans 7:5-6

168

Noah was condemned? Enoch lived 500 years?

Branham Remember, when they went to buy oil,
they... "Oh," you say, "now, wait a minute, Brother
Branham. I don't know about that." When they went
to buy oil, when they come back, the Bride was done
gone, and the door was shut; and they knocked and
said, "Let us in; let us in," but they were out in outer
darkness. Now, if you want a type of that, now look:
"In the time of Noah..." Jesus said referred to it.
Now, in Noah's time, they went into the ark, but they
were carried over the during the time of the
judgment. But that that didn't type Christ's Bride;
Enoch typed the Bride. Enoch... Noah went over
through... The Bride... Went over through the
tribulation period, and suffered, and become a drunk,
and died. But Enoch walked before God for five
hundred years and had a testimony he pleased God
with raptured faith, and just started walking right
out, and went up through the skies, and went home
without even tasting death
Branham, 63-0318

Bible: Enoch walked with God after he fathered
Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and
daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365
years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was
not, for God took him.
Genesis 5:22-24

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a
righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah
walked with God.
Genesis 6:8-9

169

Jesus was not Joseph and Mary's son? Jesus was

his own Father?

Branham Now notice, now, we see Melchisedec
and why that Mary wasn't His mother. That's the
reason He called her "woman," not mother. "He
had no father," for He was the Father, the
everlasting Father, the three in the One. "He had
no mother," certainly not. He had no father, for
He was the Father.
Branham, 65-0221E

Bible: but standing by the cross of Jesus were his
mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his
mother and the disciple whom he loved standing
nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold,
your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold,
your mother!" And from that hour the disciple
took her to his own home.
John 19:25-27

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is
the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies
the Father and the Son
1 John 2:22

170

1977 was the year of the 'jubilee'?

Branham Now, counting the time, we find that
we have exactly (Listen.) seventeen years left,
and we will have the same span of time given to
us as God dealing with us in the power of the
Holy Spirit since A.D. 33 until 1977, the same
span of time of 1954 years. God deals with us the
same as He did with the Jews. See? How about
that? Now, mark down in your book a little
Scripture here I want to give you. Leviticus 25,
begin with the 8th verse. God calls a jubilee
every forty-ninth year; the fiftieth year was the
jubilee. We know that. We understand that. From
the first jubilee of Leviticus 25:8, in 1977 will be
the seventieth jubilee, making exactly 3,430
years. Jubilee means the going up, the release.
Branham, 61-0806

(Notice he got his math wrong)

Bible: But concerning that day or that hour, no
one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father.
Mark 13:32

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led
captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be
trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the
times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. "And there will
be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the
earth distress of nations in perplexity because of
the roaring of the sea and the waves, people
fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is
coming on the world. For the powers of the

171

heavens will be shaken. And then they will see

the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and
great glory. Now when these things begin to take
place, straighten up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near."
Luke 21:24-28

172

Praying to an angel?

Branham Angel of God, I do not see You. But I
know that You are standing near. Please, Thou
knowest my heart, and know how I love these
people. Stand by me tonight. And may not one go
through without faith. And I know that Your
Words have been true. I've took You at Your
Word, for You said You were sent from God. I
believed You. And You've stuck by me. You have
confirmed the Word with signs following. Now,
again tonight, in this March the fifth, this
Memorial night, may You stand now and heal
every one. Grant it.
Branham, 48-0305

Bible: Let no one disqualify you, insisting on
asceticism and worship of angels, going on in
detail about visions, puffed up without reason by
his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the
Head, from whom the whole body, nourished
and knit together through its joints and
ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
Colossians 2:18-19

173

A different 'gospel' with the same results?

Branham Now, the only way you can be saved is
to accept what He's already done. And He... By
His stripes we were healed at Calvary. See? And
you just have to accept what He's done. Is that
right? Now, the ministers, many of them preach
the Gospel of Divine healing, you accept it, just
the same results.
Branham, 53-0907E

Bible: But I am afraid that as the serpent
deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will
be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to
Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims
another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if
you receive a different spirit from the one you
received, or if you accept a different gospel from
the one you accepted, you put up with it readily
enough. Indeed, I consider that I am not in the
least inferior to these super-apostles. Even if I
am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in
knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made
this plain to you in all things.
2 Corinthians 11:3-6

174

Bringing a prophecy more 'up to date'?

Branham I'd like to read you a prophecy that
was given. I got on... And many... By the way, Mr.
Mercier and many of them are going to take
some of these old prophecies, and dig them out,
and revise them a little, or bring them up to date,
and put them in papers.
Branham, 60-1113

Bible: For false christs and false prophets will
arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as
to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24

175

Covenant of polygamy?

Branham: Then when the double covenant was
made by man and woman, through sex, another
covenant altogether (not the original covenant,
but another covenant), now what's introduced?
Polygamy, in all. Then, after the beginning,
polygamy was introduced both in man and in
beasts; after the beginning, the fall. God now,
secondarily, sets a new nature again, by sex. God
created the first without sex. Do you believe
that? [Congregation says, "Amen." Ed.] Now
it's another covenant with nature, He sets it in
another order, by sex. Second covenant: one
male, many females; one buck deer, a whole
harem of does. Is that right? One bull, a whole
herd of cattle, cows; one rooster, a yardful of
hens. Is that right? One David, after His Own
heart, with five hundred wives; with a hundred
children born to him, in one year, of different
women, a man after God's Own heart. One
Solomon, with a thousand wives. But notice now,
it wasn't so at the beginning, but now it's "after"
the beginning. The woman has done this, then
she just becomes what she is now. See?
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: But from the beginning of creation, God
made them male and female. 7 Therefore a man
shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to
his wife,[a] 8 and the two shall become one
flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Mark 10:6-8

176

The Word only comes through the prophet?

Branham God's prophet! The Word always
comes to the prophet. No matter how unpopular
it seems to be, it's always there. And the reason
they know it is, it makes it so, that what the man
speaks comes to pass. God said, then, this proves
it. Then, a prophet means not only to speak the
Word, but also to forthtell, and a Divine
interpreter of the Word, Divine Word written.
"The Word came to the prophet." And This is the
complete revelation of Jesus Christ. This is the
revelation, the Bible. It's revealing Jesus Christ.
See?
Branham,
64-0206B

Bible: Long ago, at many times and in many
ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his
Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things,
through whom also he created the world. He is
the radiance of the glory of God and the exact
imprint of his nature, and he upholds the
universe by the word of his power. After making
purification for sins, he sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high, having become as
much superior to angels as the name he has
inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Hebrews
1:1-4

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of
Scripture comes from someone's own
interpretation.
2
Peter
1:20

177

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since

then the good news of the kingdom of God is
preached, and everyone forces his way into it.
Luke 16:16

178

Going to spend the full day talking about sex?

Branham Is that right? [Congregation says,
"Amen." Ed.] And still in that act that he done,
there is still the same sin works around a
woman, like a male sex like that. There is where
she has her walleyed conditions and things,
when she has her sensations far beyond what
any man could ever do. I'll stop there 'cause
we're in a mixed crowd. I'll get some men, I'll...
we'll talk more about it. Got all the papers and
things laying right here, right at my hand right
now, and I was going to bring it to you this
morning. I was going to take the full day in this,
but I'll close now in saying this.
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: Let no corrupting talk come out of your
mouths, but only such as is good for building up,
as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to
those
who
hear.
Ephesians 4:29

Does Satan have false signs and wonders or not?

Branham And Satan has no power to heal. I give
anybody anything they wish, that I could do, if
you'll show me one Scripture says Satan can
heal. It's not... "I'm the Lord Who heals all thy
diseases," said Jesus. Now, now, they can't...
Satan can't heal, it takes God, and it's upon the
basis of your faith that God heals.
Branham,
56-0401M

...
he
also
said
...

179


Now, the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a
definite experience that a person must receive.
Now let me kinda clear that up just for a minute.
See? Now, many people have the the idea... I
believe it's twisted. And maybe right here to the
church and to the church that's listening, there
might be a question. Now, when I speak of not
believing the initial evidence of the Holy Ghost is
speaking with tongues (I I do not accept that)
I believe with God's help I can prove it in the
Bible that that's wrong (See?), 'cause the
speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Ghost.
How many knows that? Divine healing is a gift of
the Holy Ghost, and here Beatles are doing it.
See? Satan can impersonate any of those gifts.
Witches, wizards can speak in tongues and
interpret it. The jungle lands, many times a
wizard will speak in tongues, drink blood out of a
human skull, and interpret unknown tongues.
Branham,
64-0823E

Bible: For false christs and false prophets will
arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as
to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Matthew 24:24

180

By himself? Without God's help?

Branham As many times in a meeting, I'll take
any cross-eyed child you've got in this meeting,
you bring it up here without even praying for it,
and just let me look at it straight in the eyes like
that, I'll make its eyes come straight. But when I
turn my head... [End of record Ed.]
Branham,
47-0412

Bible: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through
the
word
of
Christ.
Romans
10:17

For false christs and false prophets will arise and
perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if
possible,
the
elect.
Mark 13:22

181

Esau was a moral man, good church member?

Branham Look at Esau. Esau was a good man,
moral, a good church member today. What did
he do? He was a hunter. He went out... 'Course
then, that's how they made their living. He'd
taken care of the herds for his father. His daddy
was
blind.
A
prophet
Branham,
59-1223

Bible: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through
the
word
of
Christ.
Romans
10:17

that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like
Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
Hebrews 12:16

182

Women not worthy to be angels?

Branham You notice, they paint the pictures of a
of an angel woman. There's not such a thing.
Show me one place in the Scripture. Every Angel
is men, not women. Angel women, mother Marys,
and all these things like that, there's no such a
thing. Find one place in the Scripture where it
ever said there was a woman Angel. It's always,
"He," Michael, Gabriel. "He drawed His sword."
It's always, "He, He, He, He." That's right. Woman
was made for man, not men for women. Sure. But
they'd, how they... That's just what the devil took
the woman in the garden of Eden for his
instrument. He's still using her. That's right.
Branham, 54-1212

Bible: Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold,
two women coming forward! The wind was in
their wings. They had wings like the wings of a
stork, and they lifted up the basket between
earth
and
heaven.
Zechariah 5:9

183

Chauvinistic Sermons?

Branham Now I know you ladies don't like this
kind of preaching, but sister, you are dead wrong
in what you are doing. The Bible forbids you to
cut your hair. God gave it for a covering. He gave
a command for you to wear it long. It is your
glory. When you cut your hair you signified that
you left the headship of your husband. Like Eve
you walked out and went on your own. You got
the vote. You took men's jobs. You left off being
females. You ought to repent and come back to
God. And if all this wasn't bad enough, a whole
lot of you took the idea that you could invade the
pulpits and the church offices that God reserved
for men and for men only. Oh, I touched a sore
spot then didn't I? Well, show me one place in
the Bible that God ever ordained any woman to
preach or take authority over a man, and I will
apologize for what I have said. You can't find that
I am wrong. I am right, for I stand with the Word
and in the Word. If you were Spiritually rich you
would know that is true. There is nothing true
but the Word. Paul said, "I suffer not a woman to
teach nor to usurp authority over the man." You
can't possibly take a place amongst the five-fold
ministry of Ephesians 4 and not take authority
over men. Sister, you had better listen to that
Word. It was not the Spirit of God manifesting in
a Spirit-filled life that told you to preach because
the Spirit and the Word are ONE. They say the
same thing. Somebody made a mistake.
Somebody was fooled. Wake up before it is too
late. Satan fooled Eve, your mother; he is fooling
the daughters now. May God help you.

184

Branham,
CHURCH.AGE.BOOK

Bible: Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of
Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She
used to sit under the palm of Deborah between
Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim,
and the people of Israel came up to her for
judgment.
Judges 4:4-5

185

In the beginning the Word WASN'T God?

Branham Now listen now for about five minutes,
I want to call your attention to something. 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? 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. Now
you'll get something that will border on the
lesson for tonight. Notice, He was His attributes
that was in Him. Now, it was in Him to be Father,
it was in Him to be God, it was in Him to be Son,
it was in Him to be Saviour, it was in Him to be
Healer. And all these things here are just
displaying His attributes. There is nothing out of
order. You think God didn't see the end from the
beginning? Certainly, He did. There's nothing out
of order, it's just displaying His attributes.
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: The God who made the world and
everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in temples made by man, nor is he
served by human hands, as though he needed
anything, since he himself gives to all mankind
life and breath and everything. And he made
from one man every nation of mankind to live on
all the face of the earth, having determined
allotted periods and the boundaries of their
dwelling place, that they should seek God, and
perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.
Yet he is actually not far from each one of us,
Acts
17:24-27

186


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1

187

Only one prophet at a time?

Branham When people quit mingling with this
prescription God wrote, when people quit
mingling with the Bible, and come back and
believe the Word, and act upon It and stay there,
not for sensations, but until the Word itself is
quickened and brought to life, and they see the
real Bible signs of the last day, the super sign, the
same Messiah that once lived... There will come
forth a prophet one of these days, a-preaching
the original Word of God. You talk about me
telling you about having bobbed hair or
something. Wait until you get a hold of him. Wait
till you listen to him. You think I'm rough on
organization. Wait till he comes in existence. He
will restore all the years that the palmerworm
eaten. It'll be a message go forth... Some people
say, "Well, it's a organization," Show me one time
God ever dealt any way but one single person. He
never even had two prophets the same time,
always an individual. Men has different ideas.
Cope that together, you get a mess. God has one
man He works with. There's one Elijah, then
Elisha, then a John, on down to Jesus, so forth,
right on down. There's a Luther, a Wesley, so
forth,
just
right
on
down.
Branham,
62-0624

Bible: But the eye of their God was on the elders
of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the
report should reach Darius and then an answer
be returned by letter concerning it. This is a copy
of the letter that Tattenai the governor of the
province Beyond the River and Shethar-bozenai

188

and his associates, the governors who were in

the province Beyond the River, sent to Darius the
king. They sent him a report, in which was
written as follows: "To Darius the king, all
peace."
Ezra
5:5-7

of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel. In the
days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the
Levites were recorded as heads of fathers'
houses; so too were the priests in the reign of
Darius the Persian. As for the sons of Levi, their
heads of fathers' houses were written in the
Book of the Chronicles until the days of Johanan
the
son
of
Eliashib.
Nehemiah
12:21-23

Then these men said, "We shall not find any
ground for complaint against this Daniel unless
we find it in connection with the law of his God."
Then these high officials and satraps came by
agreement[a] to the king and said to him, O King
Darius,
live
forever!
Daniel
6:5-6

In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth
month, on the first day of the month, the word of
the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet
to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of
Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the
high priest: "Thus says the Lord of hosts: These
people say the time has not yet come to rebuild
the house of the Lord." Then the word of the
Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet,
Haggai 1:1-3

189

Have to read more into your Bible?

Branham Now, you're going to have to read
between the lines. Now, you know, the Bible is
written, the message is not altogether right on
the letter, but it's between the lines. Did you
know
that?
Branham,
56-0224

Bible: We can say with confidence and a clear
conscience that we have lived with a God-given
holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We
have depended on Gods grace, not on our own
human wisdom. That is how we have conducted
ourselves before the world, and especially
toward you. Our letters have been
straightforward, and there is nothing written
between the lines and nothing you cant
understand. I hope someday you will fully
understand us, even if you dont understand us
now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus
returns, you will be proud of us in the same way
we
are
proud
of
you.
2 Corinthians 1:12-14

190

Grieve the Holy Spirit away from us?

Branham Well, "I'm Methodist, I'm Baptist,
Presbyterian, so what difference does it make?"
they say. Oh, not that constant burden for the
lost, that sweetness. Don't never let anything rise
up and put bitterness in your soul. No matter
how bad anyone ever treats you or anything,
don't never! Don't be guilty of letting that thing
anchor in your soul. It'll grieve the Holy Spirit
away
from
you.
It
certainly
will.
Branham,
60-1211M

Bible: Let brotherly love continue. Do not
neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for
thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Remember those who are in prison, as though in
prison with them, and those who are mistreated,
since you also are in the body. Let marriage be
held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed
be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually
immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from
love of money, and be content with what you
have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor
forsake you." So we can confidently say, "The
Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man
do
to
me?"
Hebrews 13:1-6

191

Nahum prophesied about Chicago?

Branham That great eagle called Nahum, four
thousand years ago, went up so high in the Spirit
of God until he seen Outer Drive in Chicago, four
thousand years later. Said, "The chariots shall
rage in the broad ways: they shall run like
lightning, they shall seem like torches, they'll
justle one against another." 52 How that those
prophets went so high that they could see afar
off things to come. If this place had never been
light, no sun was ever on this continent, and you
could go high enough in the air to see the sun
over in some other country and see it was
moving this way, you could come back down and
say, "Someday there will be vegetation. There
will be the other things. This would be a bleak
place, but as soon as the sun comes, vegetation
comes
with
it."
Branham,
57-0714

Bible: An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book
of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
Nahum 1:1

192

Women are byproducts?

Branham Let us go back to the beginning. In the
original physical creation as we know it today,
God made everything in pairs, male and female.
There were two chickens rooster and hen.
There were two cattle, the cow and the bull. And
right down the line. But when it came to man,
there was only one. They were not a pair. Adam
had been made in the image of God. He was a son
of God. As a son of God he could not be tempted
and fall. That would be impossible. So God took a
byproduct of man to cause the fall. Woman never
stepped fresh from the hand of God as a true
product of God. She was produced from man.
And when God caused her to be brought forth
from man she was vastly different from the other
females He had created. She was able to be
seduced. No other female in creation can be
immoral; but the human female may be touched
at almost any time. And that weakness in her
allowed Satan to seduce her by way of the
serpent, and has brought the woman to a very
peculiar position before God and His Word. She
is the type of all things vulgar, foul and
loathsome on the one hand, and on the other
hand she is the type of all things clean and
beautiful, and holy as the receptacle of the Spirit
and blessings of God. On the one hand she is
called the whore who is drunk with the wine of
her fornications. On the other she is called the
Bride of Christ. On one hand she is called
Mystery Babylon, the abomination before God;
and on the other hand she is called New
Jerusalem, our mother. On the one hand she is so

193

foul and wicked and lewd that she is summarily

cast into the lake of fire as the only fit place for
her; and on the other hand she is exalted to
heaven, sharing the very throne of God as the
only place befitting such a queen.
Branham,
CHURCH.AGE.BOOK

Bible: So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them.
And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth and subdue it, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over every living thing
that
moves
on
the
earth.
Genesis 1:27-28

194

Education is the mark of the antichrist?

Branham Did you know? As I made a remark
last night, I felt it sweep over the audience; it
kind of had a funny feeling when it returned. But
when I said, "Education has been the mark of
antichrist all through the ages."... Education is
the worst enemy the Gospel ever had.
Branham,
62-0725

Bible: Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his
chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of
Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility,
youths without blemish, of good appearance and
skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge,
understanding learning, and competent to stand
in the king's palace, and to teach them the
literature and language of the Chaldeans.
Daniel 1:3-4

195

Cain was Satan's Son?

Branham Let me show you something in the
Scripture. I got to take you back to Scripture, and
you draw your opinion as you look at it today.
Satan is the one who features that kind of beauty.
If we'll notice, he was the most beautiful of all
the Angels in Heaven. Is that right? And he
desired to make Heaven a more beautiful place
than the kingdom of Michael. Is that right? Also,
to show that Cain was his son, he offered a more
beautiful worship, decorated his altars with
fruits and flowers, and so forth. Is that right?
Beautiful! Sin is beautiful, what we call beauty
today. And sin is deceiving, by beauty. You'd
never look at a woman going down the street
and tell what's in her heart. See? But I wanted to
say these things so that you could see why that
Satan is her designer. That's exactly right, his
own son proved it, Cain. Now, she is beautiful so
she
can
deceive.
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: And he made from one man every nation
of mankind to live on all the face of the earth,
having determined allotted periods and the
boundaries
of
their
dwelling
place,
Acts
17:26

Have we not all one Father? Has not one God
created us? Why then are we faithless to one
another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Malachi 2:10

196

Satan was equal to God?

Branham Notice the reason she did that. How
did Satan ever get to her? Did you know Satan
was co-equal with God one day? Sure was, all but
a creator; he was everything, stood at the right
hand of God, in the Heavens, the great leading
Cherubim. Notice the reason that she did this,
she was not in the original creation. She is not in
God's original creation; she is a by-product.
Therefore, "at the beginning," as Jesus referred
to it, she was not original creative being of God.
She is a by-product of a man, when Jesus
referred
to
"the
beginning."
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God he created him; male and
female he created them. And God blessed them.
And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply
and fill the earth and subdue it, and have
dominion over the fish of the sea and over the
birds of the heavens and over every living thing
that
moves
on
the
earth."
Genesis
1:27-28

You are of your father the devil, and your will is
to do your father's desires. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is
a
liar
and
the
father
of
lies.
John 8:44

197

Women were made to deceive?

Branham She was made to deceive, like she did
Adam at the beginning, tell him that the fruit was
pleasant, and so forth, to deceive him and take
him away from the Word. That's the way the
church
does
today,
same
thing.
65-0221M

Bible: And Adam was not deceived, but the
woman was deceived and became a transgressor.
1 Timothy 2:14

Women are sluts?

Branham No animal can be immoral. You call
the dog a "slut," the female dog, you call the
male... hog a "sow," but her morals is a million
miles beyond many Hollywood star. That's how
low she is designed to stoop. She can't... Just
think of this now. There is nothing in the world,
made in God's creation, that can be immoral,
stoop that low. You say, "Wait a minute, 'man'!"
We're going to get to that. The woman has to say
"yes." Notice, there is nothing designed to stoop
so low, or be filthy, but a woman. A dog can't do
it, a hog can't do it, a bird can't do it. No animal is
immoral, nor it can be, for it is not designed so it
can be. A female hog can't be immoral, a female
dog can't be immoral, a female bird can't be
immoral. A woman is the only thing can do it.
Branham,
65-0221M

She is designed, alone, for filth and unclean
living. A dog can't, and no other female can. It's

198

just the woman that can. A dog or any other

animals, once a year, and that for her babies; not
for sexual pleasure, but for her babies. The old
sow hog, the old slut dog, once a year, one
moment, that's for her babies. But a woman is
designed for any time she desires. I've got some
stuff crossed out here now; you can imagine the
rest.
A
dog
can't;
woman
can.
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible:
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good that the
man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit
for
him."
Genesis 2:18

199

Paul cut Israel off for the way they baptized?

Branham Do you get It? Paul said, "If Israel
come up and seen the signs here of the Holy
Spirit, and was cut off... " Remember, because
they rejected Paul's message (baptism in Jesus'
Name, repentance and baptism in Jesus' Name,
signs and wonders following the believer), and
they rejected It. And they said: ... lo, we turn to
the Gentiles. Is that right? Let's see, I believe it
was at the... where they first called Christians,
was at Ephesus, All right, Antioch.
Branham,
60-1211E

Bible: Therefore let us leave the elementary
doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not
laying again a foundation of repentance from
dead works and of faith toward God, and of
instruction about washings, the laying on of
hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal
judgment.
Hebrews 6:1-2

200

Faith cometh by hearing William Branham?

Branham Hebrews 4 said that the Word of God
is sharper than a two-edged sword, a piercing
even to the sunder of bone, and a Revealer of the
secrets of the heart. See? This man is not a
reformer; he's a revealer, revealer of what? The
mysteries of God. Where the church has got it all
tied up and everything, he's to come forth with
the Word of God and reveal the thing out,
because he is to restore the faith of the children
back to the fathers. The original Bible faith is to
be restored by the seventh angel.
Branham,
63-0318

Bible: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through
the
word
of
Christ.
Romans 10:17

201

Committing adultery is not sin?

Branham I said, "Sin is unbelief." You know,
smoking's not a sin. Committing adultery's not a
sin. That's because you're not a believer is the
reason you do that. It's the results from unbelief.
"He that heareth My Words, and believeth on
Him that sent Me, hath Everlasting Life, and shall
never come into condemnation; but is passed
from
death
to
Life."
Branham,
56-1215

Bible: Let marriage be held in honor among all,
and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God
will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Hebrews 13:4

202

Adam and Eve were not supposed to be fruitful

and multiply?

Branham Now the world is to be repopulated,
not by the original creation of God, like in the
beginning, not by the original creation, but by
sex desire. Now that takes care of "the
beginning," doesn't it? In the beginning there
was only one man and one woman, one male and
one female; but when she crossed that line and
brought this sin, now the world is to be
repopulated again, by sex, not by creation; by
sex. See where the woman is at now, now? But
that's the way the world is populated today,
through women. That's the reason Jesus had to
come through the woman, to bring it back to its
original beginning again, without sex desire. He
is virgin born. But, hallelujah, there will come a
time where it won't be no more sex, but God
shall call His children from the dust of the earth,
back like they was in the original, not through
any woman; but through the molding of the clay
and the cosmic lights, and the petroleum, He will
create again like He did Adam at the first time.
Jesus made this possible, by God making Himself
a Man and come into the world so He could die,
through this woman. Now is testing time, by sin.
Branham,
65-0221M

Bible: And God blessed them. And God said to
them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of
the sea and over the birds of the heavens and
over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Genesis 1:28

203


Prophets from birth?

Branham Now, there's gifts of prophecy in the
church, but there's a lot of difference between
gifts of prophecy and a prophet. See? A gift of
prophecy has to stand before three judges and be
judged before it could even be give to the church,
whether it's right. It could be on this woman
tonight, and never come again the rest of her life.
Might be on this woman the next night, and that
man the next night. See, it's it's local gifts in
the body. But prophecy is an office: a prophet
that's from birth (See?), comes from birth.
Jeremiah was a prophet, God said, "Before you
was even formed in you mother's wombs, I
knowed you, and sanctified you, and ordained
you a prophet to the nations." John the Baptist,
seven hundred and twelve years before he was
born, Isaiah saw him: "The voice of one crying in
the wilderness," prophet of the Lord. Jesus Christ
was the Son of God from the garden of Eden, the
woman's Seed that was to bruise the serpent's
head. As old Congressman Upshaw said, "You
can't be nothing that you hain't." A congressman
of the United States, run for president. He
knowed better, but he just he just used my
language, my way of expressing it.
Branham,
61-0515

Now, Amos was God's prophet, a true prophet.
Branham,
62-0513M

Bible: Then Amos answered and said to
Amaziah, I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son,

204

but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore

figs. 15 But the Lord took me from following the
flock, and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to
my
people
Israel.
Amos 7:14-15

205

Beauty comes from Satan?

Branham Beauty is of the devil, always. That's
exactly
right.
Branham,
64-0401

Bible: He has made everything beautiful in its
time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart,
yet so that he cannot find out what God has done
from
the
beginning
to
the
end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11

Branham The Holy Spirit is the Prophet of this
hour; He a vindicating His Word, proving It. The
Holy Spirit was the Prophet of Moses' hour. The
Holy Spirit was the Prophet of Micaiah's hour.
The Holy Spirit, which wrote the Word, comes
and confirms the Word. Now what happened in
the time of Micaiah? Ahab was killed, and the
dogs licked his blood, according to the Word of
God. All you false teachers, so saith God,
someday you'll reap what you're sowing, you
blind
leaders
of
the
blind!
Branham,
65-0725M

I... Just happened to be that I was born for that
purpose. See? Just like the pool and the water of
Bethesda. It couldn't say, "Look what a great
water I am." For when the Angel went off of the
water, it was just water. Is that right? That's
right. Now, I'm just your brother, by the grace of
God. But when the Angel of the Lord moves
down, It becomes, then, a Voice of God to you.
Maybe it... If I offended you by saying that,
forgive me. But I felt that might been resented.

206

But I am God's Voice to you. See? I say that again.

That time was under inspiration. See? And I I
felt bad about it the first time, but It repeated it.
Now see, I can say nothing in myself. But what
He shows me, I say it. You believe it and watch
what happens. See, He did. After setting in great
meetings..
Branham,
51-0505

Bible: Or do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you
have from God? You are not your own,
1 Corinthians 6:19

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God looks to the outward appearance?

Branham there's one thing you do not
understand in cattle buying." Said, "I think you
ought to hold to your road preaching." But said,
"You don't understand cattle." He said, "Now,
look at that calf down there." We walked down
there. Said, "See that wild stare in her eyes?" I
said, "Yeah." Said, "Her children, and her
grandchildren, and her great, great,
grandchildren will still have that wild stare." And
said, "They'll run theirself poor. They'll never be
a mother to their calves." And said, "You never
could fatten them; they'll never make beef." He
said, "Look at this little calf here that's sold. Look
how gentle she looks. Look at that peaceful look
in her face, that kind look, no stare in her eyes."
Said, "She'll be a real mammy to her calf; and her
calf's calf, and calf's calf will continue to be that
way." And said, "They'll all of them be mammys,
if they can get the right kind of a breeder bull to
that calf (See?), that'll make their children. But
that starey look in the face will always make a
poor herd of cattle, if a man's trying to buy
cattle." I said, "Yes, sir. Thank you." And the same
thing applies by women. You take one of them
painted-faced and starey-eyes, look like some
kind of an animal, trying to disfigure herself from
a human being, she'll never make anything. She'll
run all the time. And Christianity is not beauty on
the outside; it's on the inside: of peace, quiet,
adorn themselves in a peaceful, quiet spirit,
which is a great price before the Lord. That's
what we want to look for on women, and on men,
and
whoever
it
is.
Now...

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Branham,
64-0823E

Bible: But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look
on his appearance or on the height of his stature,
because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees
not as man sees: man looks on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
1 Samuel 16:7

209

Branham will be our judge?

Branham I was speaking this morning of this
woman immoral woman, washing Jesus' dirty
feet, wiping them with her hair. Some of our
pentecostal sisters have to stand on their head to
get enough hair to wash the feet. Cut it all off.
See? That's right. It used to be wrong for you to
do it. It's still wrong for you to do it. The Bible
plainly teaches, if a woman cuts her hair, her
husband has a right to divorce her, put her away.
Said if she cuts her hair, she dishonors her head,
her husband. And a dishonorable woman should
not be lived with. I better shut up now. I'll get
you preachers right here... I'm only telling you
the truth. You're going to face me with it at the
day of judgment. That's THUS SAITH THE LORD
Branham,
61-0520

Bible: Why do you pass judgment on your
brother? Or you, why do you despise your
brother? For we will all stand before the
judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written, "As I
live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess[a] to God." So
then each of us will give an account of himself to
God.
Romans 14:10-12

210

Jesus couldn't heal? The people's faith was

required for healing?

Branham Now, this is during the time of the
early ministry of the Master. He had been healing
the people everywhere, and His fame had went
out. Now, if the people would've doubted Him,
that He was the Son of God, that He was the
Healer Divine, they could've not been healed.
Even His prayer for them would've not have
healed them. His hands would've not have
laying upon them would've not have healed
them. Jesus never took credit for healing anyone.
He said, "Thy faith has made thee whole." Is that
right? "Thy faith has saved thee."
Branham,
48-0304

Bible: So for the second time they called the man
who had been blind and said to him, Give glory
to God. We know that this man is a sinner. He
answered, Whether he is a sinner I do not know.
One thing I do know, that though I was blind,
now
I
see.
John
9:24-25

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and
having found him he said, Do you believe in the
Son of Man? He answered, And who is he, sir,
that
I
may
believe
in
him?
John 9:35

Was the Gospel sent to Sodom? Was the Gospel
only sent to the believers?

211

Branham Now, when he come out and give

Them the meat, while these Men sit there and
eat, and Abraham probably talking to them...
After a while he noticed one of Them kept
looking over towards Sodom. Two of them got up
and went on towards Sodom. And so after They
went down to Sodom. Remember what Their
message was when They got down there?
Repentance. "Come out." That was a modern
Billy Graham, and an Oral Roberts, or whatever
you want to call it, two great, mighty ministers
that went down there into Sodom and preached
repentance. They didn't perform so many
miracles: only blinded a few eyes. And preaching
the Gospel does blind the unbeliever.
Branham,
60-0720

Bible: How then will they call on him in whom
they have not believed? And how are they to
believe in him of whom they have never
heard?And how are they to hear without
someone
preaching?
Romans
10:14

"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance."
Luke
5:32

"I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in
Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more
than over ninety and nine just persons, which
need
no
repentance".
Luke
15:7

212

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the

great love with which he loved us, even when we
were dead in our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christby grace you have been
savedand raised us up with him and seated us
with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the coming ages he might show the
immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have
been saved through faith. And this is not your
own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works, so that no one may boast. For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should
walk
in
them."
Ephesians 2:4-10

213

Women's Breasts

Branham some of these women that put a little
old strap under them to throw theirself out:
don't even look like a human being. They got a
purpose in doing that; that's sexy, ungodly. A
woman wear ever so many clothes and try to
make herself look like something she isn't... I...
Why, women ain't ain't actually that way; it's
some kind of Hollywood stuff. And the devil
spirit get on them women to make them try to
attract attention of men through sex. A woman's
breast was given her for the baby to nurse.
That's exactly right. The woman's right in the
primitive line, but she's lined right. I have more
respect for that, for that woman like that, 'cause
she... That's the way her mother raised her; that's
the way... They they never don't pay any
attention to it. The baby nursed right out like the
Madonna picture that you'd see. And if people
would only get their minds set like that, it would
be
different.
Branham,
64-0823M

Bible: Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice
in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful
doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with
delight; be intoxicated[a] always in her love.
Proverbs
5:18-20

Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts
are like its clusters. I say I will climb the palm
tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts
be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your
breath
like
apples,

214

Song

of

Solomon

7:7-8

215

Physical Exercise

Branham I ask for mercy for us being so dilatory
concerning the things of the Kingdom. I ask that
You'll pardon us of our sins and take away our
our our transgressions. And forgive us for
being so stupid of the...?... How we have come
short. How we have taken bodily exercise. How
we have done things that we ought not to have
done. How we have sinned before You
Branham,
56-1125E
(Notice, they took out the words "for the stupidity
of
the
people.")

Bible: But I discipline my body and keep it under
control, lest after preaching to others I myself
should
be
disqualified.
1
Corinthians
9:27

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of
the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from
God? You are not your own, for you were bought
with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20

216

Our Fathers Ate Manna In The Wilderness

Branham All them Israelites, after they had seen
Moses perform that and brought them right up
to the great council, where it was to be held,
every one of them said, "We'll go with Balaam,
because we think Dr. Balaam's right. He's
smarter, is more educated, everything, so we'll
just take it." And God never did forgive them, He
destroyed them right there in the wilderness.
And Jesus said, Himself, "They'll never come,
there's none of them saved." Jesus said... They
said, "Our fathers eat manna in the wilderness
for forty years." He said, "They're every one
dead, eternally separated from God. They're
every one dead." Certainly! Because they listened
to an error. When Moses, the vindicated of God,
and a leader to show them the way to the
promised land, and they had come so far all right,
but then they wouldn't go along with him.
Branham, 65-1206

Bible: But Moses said to the Lord, Then the
Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this
people in your might from among them, And they
will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have
heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this
people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and
your cloud stands over them and you go before
them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of
fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one
man, then the nations who have heard your fame
will say, 'It is because the Lord was not able to
bring this people into the land that he swore to
give to them that he has killed them in the

217

wilderness. And now, please let the power of the

Lord be great as you have promised, saying, The
Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast
love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he
will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the
third and the fourth generation. Please pardon
the iniquity of this people, according to the
greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have
forgiven this people, from Egypt until now. Then
the Lord said, "I have pardoned, according to
your
word."
Numbers 14:13-20

218

Unrighteous, Backslidden Lot

Branham When Abraham and Lot journeyed
together, Abraham to be heir of the world, all
things. Now, he had a lukewarm backslidden
church member with him, his nephew, blood
relation to him, and his name was Lot, a
lukewarm, modernistic, bloodless church
member (That's right.), just a very type of today.
They had it in every age. They got it today: A
form of godliness, denying the power thereof.
They
got
it
today.
Branham,
56-0122

Oh, if they would have only knew that sign, when
they seen this One come in there, had been up
there with Abraham! If they'd have only knew
that that modern Billy Graham of that day, went
down there, him and an Oral Roberts, and
preached that message to them blinded people!
If they'd only know, them old righteous
Methodists and Baptists back yonder had been a
sign to them of that day, Lot, when the sins vexed
their very soul. Then what did the Methodists
and Baptists turn into? Like Lot did, same thing.
But the righteous, out of there, come out. Sure.
What if it was when Billy Graham went down,
going up for a decision, chewing chewing gum,
punching one another, and laughing, bobbed
hair, is painted-up faces, and not even make a bit
of move about it. Come back the next day, and
Billy said, "I have thirty thousand; come back in a
year, and I ain't even got thirty." "Oh, I made a
decision. I I I ain't going to hell; I'm going to
Heaven, see," wading right on in sin.

219

Branham,
63-1110M

Now, the church, the the nominal believers
like Lot, he's going through the tribulation
period (See?) and be saved as if it was by fire.
64-0823E QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.2

Bible: if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly
distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
8 (for as that righteous man lived among them
day after day, he was tormenting his righteous
soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and
heard); 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the
godly from trials,[a] and to keep the unrighteous
under punishment until the day of judgment
2 Peter 2:7-9

220

The Bible Ignored Christ's Instructions?

Branham I'llI'll tell any person that'll bring
me any Scripture where anybody was ever
baptized in any other name besides the Name of
Jesus Christ, in the new church. Or, if he was
baptized any other way, he had to be baptized
over again in the Name of Jesus Christ, to get the
Holy Ghost. You come show me. There's not no
such. There's no such a commission. When Jesus
said over there, "Go ye therefore, teach all
nations, baptizing them in the Name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Father, Son, nor
Holy Ghost, neither one's a name, none of them.
Peter turned, right ten days later, said, "Repent,
and be baptized, every one of you, in the Name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." And
everywhere
in
the
Bible.
60-0518 - Adoption #2

Bible: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had directed
them. And when they saw him they worshiped
him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said
to them, All authority in heaven and on earth
has been given to me. Go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age.
Matthew
28:16-20

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God, they sent

221

to them Peter and John, who came down and

prayed for them that they might receive the Holy
Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them,
but they had only been baptized in the name of
the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on
them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:14-17

222

Cain's Seed Were Not Herdsmen?

Branham Cain with all of his wisdom, the smart
man... Oh, you say, "Now, Brother Branham, you
said he... You're trying to make him the educated
genius." He was. He was the smart... Follow his
follow his strain. Look at his children. Every one
of them was scientists and doctors and smart
men, every one. But you follow the generation of
Seth; they were humble peasants and farmers
and so forth on down to the destruction. But
Cain's children were the smart, intellectual
group. They even... They could claim could
temper copper and make metals and builders,
and they were smart men; when when these
other men just dwelt in tents, and herd their
sheep, and rested upon the promises of God.
Branham, 63-0317M - God Hiding Himself In
Simplicity

Look at the beginning. Now, it showed that's the
sons of of of Cain. Look at Cain's people.
What was Cain's people? Follow them through
the lineage, coming down through Cain's people.
What were they? They were shrewd scientists,
doctors, high people; religious, high people. They
invented how to temper different metals, how to
build fine buildings; they were scientists. What
did the others come through? Peasants, farmers,
sheepherders,
so
forth.
Branham, 60-1113 - Condemnation By
Representation

Bible: Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and
bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the

223

name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered
Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael,
and Methushael fathered Lamech. And Lamech
took two wives. The name of the one was Adah,
and the name of the other Zillah. Adah bore
Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in
tents and have livestock.

224

About The Author

225

John Collins is the author and Webmaster of

www.seekyethetruth.com.

Almost 36 years in the Message, the name of
the group of people (cult) following the
teachings of William Marrion Branham, John has
dedicated his life towards helping those who are
still in this cult, and to those who are no longer
bound but serving Jesus Christ with many
questions. His goal is to remind both groups that
we serve a living God who does not look to any
organization, doctrine, mystery, or gift of the
Spirit; we serve a God who looks at the heart.

His main purpose is to point others back to the
Bible, which is the Absolute. All words of men
may fail, but the Word of God will never fail. We
should put our hearts and minds back on Jesus
Christ, who died on the cross so that ALL could
be saved by grace through faith.

Seek Ye The Truth started as a central place for
all cult followers to ask the questions openly and
anonymously, many of which they had in their
hearts and minds for several years and were
afraid to ask. The original goal was to go "hand in
hand" with the local pastors, spreading the
answers and vindicating the teachings of William
Marrion Branham.

As research started to progress, more false
teachings were found than truths. More
prophecies had failed than had succeeded. None
could be proven. Bible teachings came from
Gnostic texts and other strange beliefs, and did

226

not line up with the Word of God. Cult pastors

had no answer.

While some live normal lives walking "middle
ground," many are starting to become very hurt
and abused. Many suffer depression. Physical
and sexual abuse, and self-condemnation stories
started surfacing.

Over time, Seek Ye The Truth slowly
transformed from a site of questions into a site
dedicated to help those in need. There are almost
two million cult followers of William Branham
around the world, making it larger than some of
the other cult followings, and there are almost no
support groups for those desperately seeking
help. Please join us as we help others.

God Bless You!

227