A
Great Falling Away
May 2015 IntroductionII THESSALONIANS 2:3 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; There has in recent years been a continual “falling away” of past professed Message believers from this end-time Message. Some of these professed believers had been ministers in the Message for decades! This is astounding. However, it is a continual fulfillment of what the Scriptures say must happen at the end-time: first a falling away in the church world, then as time moves on, this falling away must take place in the realm of Message believers itself. This day this Scripture is being fulfilled. The reason that these people are falling away is that they never were founded on the rock of revelation. They were founded on intellectualism (being able to see the many logical truths of the Message), or they were founded on being impressed by the supernatural manifestations in Brother Branham’s ministry, or they were founded on some combination of both. But when satan was able to come up with a better intellectual argument against Brother Branham, their foundation crumbled away. They were never founded on the Rock (Revelation). Given enough time, people will eventually manifest who they really were all along, what they were founded on from the start: MATTHEW 7:24-27 24 Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto
a wise man, which built his house upon
a rock: 25 And
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon
that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And
every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house;
and it fell: and great was the fall of it. Another proof that these previous Message “believers” were never founded on the rock of revelation is that they have come to doubt some of the doctrines that Brother Branham taught. Why did they believe these doctrines in the past? Obviously not because they themselves saw the doctrines by revelation in the Scriptures, but it was because they were following a man (Brother Branham). A believer believes the doctrines that Brother Branham restored back because he himself sees them in the Scriptures (personal revelation), not because Brother Branham said it. This shows that these professed Message believers were never really founded on the rock of revelation, but upon the shifting “sands” of their own reasoning. The purpose of this writing will be to first address some of the general principles of how God works, and then to address some of the specific issues brought up by the critics of Brother Branham (e.g., the Cloud controversy). General PrinciplesGod Works Through “Earthen Vessels”I CORINTHIANS 2:1-5 1 And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you
the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know
any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my
preaching [was] not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power: 5 That your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. II CORINTHIANS 4:3-7 3 But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us. God’s way of speaking to man is through the veil of human flesh. The veil that God speaks through is what blinds the unbelievers from believing the Message that comes through that veil. Jesus Himself had “no beauty that we should desire him” (Isaiah 53:2). This is God’s way of doing things. The elect can see “beyond the veil” of the “badger skin” that hides the Shekinah Glory – the unbelievers use the flaws of the veil to justify their unbelief in the Message that comes through that veil. God sovereignly permits the presence of the “earthen vessel” (the veil) to hide the Truth from the non-elect: II CORINTHIANS 4:3 “But if our gospel be hid [Greek kalupto: to hide, veil, i.e., to hinder the knowledge of a thing], it is hid to them that are lost. HEBREWS 10:19-20 19 Having
therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus, 20 By a new and living way,
which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to
say, his flesh; Another principle of God is that when God speaks through a veil (e.g., a prophet, a member of the five-fold ministry, or any believer), that person’s personality, experience, and temperament become a part of the Message that God identifies with. This is God’s way of working. MATTHEW 10:40 40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. LUKE 10:16 16 He that heareth you
heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me
despiseth him that sent me. MATTHEW 10:14-15 14 And
whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. 15 Verily I say unto
you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day
of judgment, than for that city. I JOHN 4:6 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth
us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth,
and the spirit of error. REVELATION.CHAPTER.ONE
JEFF.IN 60-1204M [Referring
to the writing of the Book of Revelation] 113 And John being an apostle...
Look at the nature of the rest of his epistles; prove that it wasn't John
wrote it, because it has no nature like John. Take I John and II John, so
forth, and read it. And look at the nature of that, then look at the nature
of this. John was a writer and was an apostle, but this is the spirit of a
prophet. It's a different person altogether. See? Wasn't John's writing,
wasn't John's revelation; It was God's revelation of Jesus Christ to the
churches. And it had... John was just a writer, the scribe, and--and the Book
declares the same. Notice in the last quote – John’s nature is seen in his writings (which we know are the Word of God). Why? Because God reveals Himself through the veil of the person he is working through. The inspired Word through the veil is what must be received. That is why Jesus said: JOHN 6:29 29 … This
is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. God’s Word was not written by people that became automatons. Their inspirations were written down as they came through the veil of their temperament, their personal history, their upbringing, their experience, etc. Because of this, the fallible veil can be seen, but the elect can see “beyond the veil” to the God that is being revealed. This is part of God’s great Mystery – the unveiling of God. This is why there are four Gospels that guard the Book of Acts. If God wanted the Gospels to be a direct historical scientific record of exactly what Jesus said and did, He would have only needed to have one Gospel. But the Gospels were written in God’s great plan through the veils of the four different writers, each writer corresponding to the natures of the Lion, Ox, Man, and Eagle, which corresponds to the four major human temperaments: sanguine (Matthew), phlegmatic (Mark), melancholy (Luke), and choleric (John) (see the book Elijah the Tishbite, page 191). The Bible itself is a “veil” that if looked at intellectually will blind the unbelievers from believing it. There are many factoidal inconsistencies that unbelievers can use to justify their rejecting of the Bible. But those inconsistencies are the very things that God uses to hide His Truth from the “wise and prudent”. The Word of God is infallible in this way - because that is how God chose to give It: through the veils of fallible human flesh. To reject that Word is to reject Him. Let us look at some examples in Matthew of the presence of the veil: MATTHEW 2:23 23 And he came and dwelt in a
city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. There is no clear Scripture that “He shall be called a Nazarene” is from. Critics would say, “see, Matthew just made something up”. This shows how the temperament of Matthew is coming out in the writing of his Gospel (you will not find this kind of inaccuracy in Luke’s (the Man’s, the melancholy’s) Gospel). Another example in Matthew: MATTHEW 27:9-10 9 Then was fulfilled that which
was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel
did value; 10 And gave them for the
potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. The Scofield Bible has a note on this Scripture: “The allusion is to Jeremiah 18:1-4; 19:1-3, but more distinctly to Zech. 11:12, 13”. To put it more bluntly, Matthew quoted the wrong prophet! (remember, Matthew was of the sanguine temperament). Let us take another example from the Book of Acts. The below Scriptures are referring to the Apostle Paul’s conversion: ACTS 9:7 7 And the men which journeyed
with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. ACTS 22:9 9 And they that were with me
saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him
that spake to me. Brother Branham himself had no answer when asked of this seeming contradiction. Critics could use this contradiction to discredit the Book of Acts. But God permits these types of “inconsistencies” to be there for His purposes, one of which is to veil the Word from the “wise and prudent”. It is the revelation from the Scriptures that is the goal. God ordained the Writings / the Message to be just the way that they are - they contain the exact wording from which all the perfection of our faith will come. This ordaining of the Word just as it is was supernatural and is how the Scriptures are the infallible, inspired Word of God. God’s Word will produce just exactly the purpose for which It was sent. Truth Is in the MiddlePeople that are not founded on real faith in who Brother Branham was in the Scriptures will have two reactions when inaccuracies in his ministry are pointed out: 1. “He said so many things that were wrong, therefore I no longer believe that he was the prophet of Malachi 4” === or === 2. “Brother Branham was never wrong, He’s God’s prophet – I believe everything he said no matter what!” Both of these reactions show a lack of faith. The first shows that the person was never founded on a revelation of who Brother Branham was in the Scriptures and therefore the principle of “anything that a person is talked into is something that he can be talked out of” came to pass. Satan’s reasonings finally shook him off of his foundation of “sand”.
The second group are also not founded on faith. They are the “cognitive dissonance” group: “if Brother Branham said that Capernaum is in the bottom of the sea, then it is!” (even though you can do research on Capernaum and see that this is not the case). Truth is always in the middle. Brother Branham was not God, he was the veil that God used to bring His end-time Message through. The human veil of Brother Branham can be seen in many places throughout the Message. Brother Branham had his own personal opinions and thoughts that are not necessarily to be taken as “an absolute”. It is the Faith that he restored back that is the Absolute. The “Brother Branham was never wrong” group are just as carnal as the “I no longer believe that he was the prophet of Malachi 4” group – both sides are not faith. Let us look at a quote where Brother Branham is talking about another church age messenger: 248-1 SARDISEAN.CHURCH.AGE
- CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.7 [speaking
of Martin Luther] His decisions were so wrong that an uprising took place and thousands
were killed. He meant well, but once he had let himself be entangled again in
a Church-State Gospel he had to reap the whirlwind. But for all that, God used Martin Luther. Let it not be said that his
intentions were wrong. Let it only be said that his judgment failed. Martin Luther was one of the stars in Christ’s right hand! (Revelation 1:20). Yet the earthen vessel was there. Martin Luther said terrible things about the Jews. Would it have been wrong for a believer back then to have disagreed with Martin Luther about his statements regarding the Jews? No. Would it have been wrong for a believer back then to have disrespected Martin Luther and to not have received his Message? Yes. Everything is by faith. A believer can only do what God gives him faith to do. The Mysterious Expression of the Supernatural Veiled Within the NaturalGod loves to veil Himself. This is done in order to express the difference between the Elect and the non-Elect. The Elect have “eyes to see” and “ears to hear”. They can see beyond the veil.
One of the veils that God hides Himself behind is the natural. Many things that God does can have a natural scientific explanation, but that does not make them any less the works of God. God is veiled there. Let us look at some examples: GENESIS 9:12-14 12 And God said, This [is] the
token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living
creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for
a token of a covenant between me and the earth. 14 And it shall come to pass,
when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: The rainbow is a covenant from God. Yet it can be perfectly explained by science, and one can create his own rainbow in his backyard with a water hose. Yet it remains a token from God. EXODUS 14:21-23 21 And Moses stretched out his
hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go [back] by a strong east wind all that night,
and made the sea dry [land], and the waters were divided. 22 And the children of Israel
went into the midst of the sea upon the dry [ground]: and the waters [were] a
wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. We know that the parting of the Red Sea was a supernatural act of God. Yet the Scriptures state that God used a “strong east wind all that night” to divide the waters. People back in those days could have explained the parting of the Red Sea “naturally” as a weather event, and therefore reasoned God out of it. In the movie The Ten Commandments they aptly show Pharaoh doing just that regarding the ten plagues. It is interesting how history repeats itself. UNCERTAIN.SOUND_
JEFF.IN V-16 N-3 SUNDAY_
60-1218 56 "Reader's Digest" picked
it up. And in America here, they, we got it wrote out here in--in
"Reader's Digest," where they had examined for Divine healing. And
they took a brother that prayed for the sick, and had a sick man, and had him
praying for the sick. And then put a piece of lead foil (anyone knows, lead
foil reflects that ray) upon, between the man and the man that was praying,
the brother, his hand; and laid it down like this, and shot the picture of
x-ray. And from the man's hand, showed a visible reflection of a ray coming
out of his hand, going to the other man. See, that's right. God know what He meant when He
said, "They shall lay hands on the sick, they shall recover." Laying on of hands, of this man, upon a sick man, and the mechanical
x-ray (O God.) showing the Light coming from the man's hand. How can people
be so stupid to say there's no such a thing as Divine healing? See? Why, even
the mechanical devices, it's the machines that--that science has made,
is--is... What would? A rebuke to their own ideas of these churches, saying,
"There's no such a thing as Divine healing and the power of God." Brother Branham here is showing how the gift of divine healing can be scientifically detected. A person who did not want to believe God could use this fact to reason God out of divine healing. Brother Branham had to take his watch off before he exercised the gift in his hand. Science no doubt could have measured some kind of an energy coming from his hand. This shows that just because something can be “explained” does not make it not the work of God. God many times veils Himself behind the natural. PARADOX_ TAMPA.FL SATURDAY_
64-0418B E-30
Now, we proved that at one time it [the
earth] was up straight, 'cause
God said it was. Up in the British ice fields, they can blast five hundred
foot through that ice, and there's palms, ferns. It showed it was once a
tropic. And now (See?) it leans back, from the antediluvian destruction, that
leaned it back. And I believe the very thing that they throwed it out of its
cycle then, is ready to throw it back in its cycle now. Man destroys himself by his
knowledge. See? He never... God destroys nothing. BIRTH.PAINS_
PHOENIX.AZ V-3 N-4 SUNDAY_
65-0124 15-5
They've got those missiles that they claim will--just one of them, they
can direct them by the stars and drop them anywhere in the world they want
to. Russia, as I heard on the news the other day, she claims that she can
destroy this nation and--and keep the atoms or the things from breaking up
her nation. We don't know what to do about it. Everyone's making these
claims, and it's so. People has... Science
has broke into God's great laboratory until they're going to destroy
themselves. God lets--always lets wisdom
destroy himself. God doesn't destroy anything. Man destroys himself by wisdom
as he did at the beginning, taking Satan's wisdom and--instead of God's Word. These quotes show that the judgments of God can be explained naturally as results of man’s own works destroying himself. The judgments of fire on the earth at the end-time will no doubt be partially explainable by man’s creation of nuclear weapons. This shows the principle that many things of God can be explained naturally or have a natural cause. Yet they are in fact acts of God. WHEN.THEIR.EYES.WERE.OPENED_
TAMPA.FL THURSDAY_ 64-0416 E-10
What if Moses, when he seen that bush not burning up... Now, Moses was
a chemist, and Moses was taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. But when
he saw that bush, it was strange. Why, he never said, "Now, I believe I'll
go over. When the fire goes out I'll take the leaves off that bush, and take
it down to the laboratory, and find out what it's sprayed with (See?) to see
why that bush was burning, and it didn't burn up." That would've been the scientific approach. But what did he do?
He took off his shoes, and set down, and talked to it. God talked back to
him. See? When you humble yourself... HEAR.YE.HIM_
CHATTANOOGA.TN SATURDAY_ 58-0301E E-16
What if Moses would've pulled some of the leaves off of the key--tree
that was a burning, and said, "I... Wait a minute. Before I accept this, I'm going to take it down to the laboratory
and have a chemical test of these leaves and find out just what that
le--tree's been sprayed with. That tree on fire doesn't burn, what kind of
chemicals is it, that won't let the leaves burn?" God would've never spoke to
him, if he'd have done that. But
Moses just took off his shoes, and set down, and talked to God. He didn't
care what was on the leaves, and whether they burned, or whether they didn't
burn; it was God in the bush, and Moses recognized it. And he talked to God.
And God revealed Himself to Moses. Notice this example from Moses. If Moses would have approached the things of God intellectually to analyze how they could be done, God would have never spoken to him. That is what the Pharisees did with all of their reasonings about the Law. They were too “smart” to see the God behind the veil. To put it in Jesus’s Words: “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” (Matthew 11:25). Brother Branham’s TemperamentGod ordains the natures of His servants to fulfill His purposes. As mentioned previously, the four Gospels themselves were written through the perspectives and personalities of the four major temperaments: sanguine (Matthew), phlegmatic (Mark), melancholy (Luke), and choleric (John). As also brought out previously, God reveals Himself through the earthen vessels of His servants. Those servants’ temperaments actually become a part of their Messages (note: this principle applies on all levels: the five-fold ministry level as well as to every believer). Brother Branham’s temperament was such that he was extremely inaccurate in his recounting of events. This was not out of some “wrong motive”, as the criticizers would like to imply (which only shows their lack of love – Christian love believes the best in other people). Brother Branham had a strong sanguine element to his temperament. He was not very detail-oriented. When he retold a story his nature was such that it was not a concern if the exact historical step by step account was retold accurately. God made Brother Branham that way. Brother Branham’s personality and temperament were the veil that God chose to work through in this day.
For example, Brother Branham’s retelling of Congressman Upshaw’s healing totally changed over time. When he first retold this story, it was generally “historically accurate”. But as time went on the story changed dramatically in terms of the actual events of what happened. Brother Branham was not intentionally changing the story. His disposition was just that way. The exact analytical step by step account of a story was not that important to him (as it would be for a melancholy such as myself). God ordained that. Brother Branham, being a prophet, lived in a world both of seeing the natural and of seeing visions. He broke into visions all of the time. We know nothing about how it would be to live this way. It no doubt would be very hard to distinguish between the memories of visions versus the memories of actual physical events that took place. What a shame that people who know nothing about living in this kind of a calling would judge Brother Branham, accusing him of having wrong motives. As they have judged, they will be judged (Matthew 7:2). Brother Branham was the veil that God chose to work through in this day. If people are blinded by that veil, then we must come to the same conclusion that the Apostle Paul did: II CORINTHIANS 4:3 3 But
if our gospel be hid, it is hid to
them that are lost: Principles About Signs and WondersThe purpose of a sign is to point to something. A sign in
and of itself is not the great thing.
A sign is a signal or portent of something to come. God always shows His signs before doing
something major on earth. Never is the
sign in itself to be the main object of attention or the foundation of a
person’s “faith”, but what the sign is pointing
to is the purpose of the sign. Signs and wonders are there to attract the attention of the people so that they will hear the message that is to follow: EXODUS 4:8 8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. Those whose foundation for believing is based on signs and wonders are people who will eventually fall away. Only those whose foundation is revelation which came from spiritually hearing the Voice that followed the sign will stand the test of time: JOHN 6:66-68 66 From that [time] many of his
disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the
twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Signs many times can be “explained” after the fact, thus giving unbelievers something which in their minds they consider to be an excuse for rejecting the Voice of the sign. And now as we enter into the next section to discuss some of the specific issues that the critics of Brother Branham have presented, keep the above mentioned spiritual principles in mind. Specific IssuesThe CloudThe discrepancies with Brother Branham’s retelling of the events regarding the mysterious cloud are probably what initially caused the major falling away that is taking place in the Message. It is clear that the appearance of the mysterious cloud happened 7 or 8 days prior to the Angels visiting Brother Branham near Sunset Peak. It is also clear that the actual location of the cloud was at least one hundred miles northwest of Sunset Peak. Brother Branham’s first mentioning of the cloud was after it appeared in the May 17, 1963 issue of Life magazine. Typical of Brother Branham’s personality, his telling of the events regarding this cloud became less accurate over time. In the below quote, he clearly states that the cloud appeared not when he was there: COME.FOLLOW.ME_
TUCSON.AZ SATURDAY_ 63-0601 E-7 When
I come, one thing, was by a vision, that I was standing above Tucson up here
when a blast went off. Brother Fred was there when it went off. And they took
that picture, you know, in the sky. And I didn't think much about it, never
noticed it. so it begin to impress me somehow the other day. And Brother
Norman, Norma's father here, told me, said, "Did you notice this?" And just as I looked, right there was them angels just as plain as they could be, setting right there in that picture. You see? I looked to see when it was, and it was time, same 'bout day or two before or, day or two after I was up there. I looked where it was at: northeast of Flagstaff, or Prescott, which is below Flagstaff. Well, that's just where we was at (See?), just exactly. However, as time went on, Brother Branham’s retelling of the events eventually made it sound like the cloud appeared at the same time that he was there and at the same place. This was not done out of some wrong motive, as the critics imply. It was just the way Brother Branham’s natural makeup was – God made him that way. He was not detail-oriented.
Dr. James McDonald, a meteorologist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Tucson, AZ, was looking for the cause of this mysterious cloud back when it appeared. In June of 1963 there are articles showing that Dr. McDonald had found out about a missile launch that took place on February 28, 1963 from Vandenburg Air Force Base in California. It was carrying a military surveillance satellite. The mission was unsuccessful and the range safety officer had the missile destroyed 100 seconds after launch (this can easily be researched on the internet). So was this missile launch mission the cause of the mysterious cloud? It probably was. Was Brother Branham very inaccurate in his retelling of the events regarding the cloud? Yes. Was the cloud a sign given by God? Yes. God is free to use any means He desires to produce His signs. Apparently man’s actions of an aborted missile launch are the means God used to produce this sign. PSALMS 76:7-10 7 Thou, [even] thou, [art] to
be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry? 8 Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the
earth feared, and was still, 9 When God arose to judgment,
to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. 10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder
of wrath shalt thou restrain. God chose the “wrath of man”, man launching a missile to deliver a military surveillance satellite, to praise Him. Let us look more closely at the sign (i.e., the signal pointing to something):
* Revelation 10:7, “… the Mystery of God should be finished…” * Revelation 10:1, “And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud…” * Resembles Hoffman’s Head of Christ looking down on the earth. * The white cloud resembles the white wig worn by the Judge (“His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool” - Revelation 1:14a) looking down on the earth, signaling His transition from Mercy to Judgment (“the day of vengeance of our God” (Isaiah 61:2)).
* The moon is a type of the Bride (reflects the light of the sun in the absence of the sun) * Seven colored rainbow of moonlight: Seven Church Ages * Revelation 10:1, “and a rainbow [was] upon his head…” * If light is shined through the back of the cloud picture magazine page, the rainbow will appear over the cloud (the head of Christ) All of these things do not just happen by chance. It was clearly a sign from God. But again, the sign is not the main thing – it is what the sign pointed to. A dispensation change took place in 1963 – the coming of the Lord had begun. So in summary we can see that God used the natural to perform His signs to point to what He was about to do on earth. Can the sign be explained naturally (just as the rainbow can)? Yes. Is it a sign from God? Yes. Would it have been a good thing for Brother Branham to have assigned a detail-oriented perfectionistic type of a person to follow up on the story and report back to him about it? From a human standpoint, yes. But God ordained Brother Branham’s personality to be just what it was, lack of “exactness” and all. This is probably one of the elements of the veil that God ordained to throw off the unbelievers. As a side note, there are people who claim to be in the Message that have made strange doctrines relating to the cloud. Possibly one of the many reasons that the Lord let these facts about the cloud be known at this time is to show the falseness of these types of doctrines. The cloud was a sign – it was not and was never meant to be an object that one’s faith was to rest upon. The main point is to hear (by revelation) the Voice of the sign which followed. The Municipal Bridge VisionBrother Branham told many times of one of his first visions that he ever had. It was of men falling to their deaths from a bridge that was yet to be built:
EXPERIENCES.3_
PHOENIX.AZ 47-1221 E-44 Now,
that's the way the gift is supposed to be working. See? Now, I want you to
notice this. It wasn't my sincere prayer that brought this gift. Gifts are
not brought by sincere prayers. Gifts are foreordained of God. They're
ordained and sent. Here at the
municipal bridge. Sister, no doubt you know where the municipal bridge is,
don't you, cross from Jeffersonville to Louisville? Twenty-two years, when I was a little boy, just a little bitty lad about five years old, or six years old,
when the Angel of the Lord appeared in the bush... You've heard me tell that
haven't you, when I was packing water? Well, about two weeks after that, I was playing marbles with my
little brother. And I thought I'd got sick, some real funny feeling came on
me. And I went and set down by the side of a tree. And I looked down at the
river, and there went a bridge, a big, great big bridge going across the
river. And I counted sixteen men that fell off of that bridge and drowned.
And I went and told mother. And I told her I seen it. And they thought I was
crazy or something. They thought I was just at a little nervous hysterical
child. And twenty-two years from that time, on the same ground went the municipal bridge across, and sixteen men lost their lives on it. GOD.REVEALING.HIMSELF.TO.HIS.PEOPLE_ CLEVELAND.OH 50-0813E E-14 Here's mother setting here tonight. I
ran as hard as I could. She thought a snake had bit me or something. But I
wouldn't tell her. And my little brother and I, a few days later from that was setting
out under the tree. We'd been playing marbles. And I felt a peculiar feeling,
like a... Something was standing near me. And all at once, something
happened. I set down. And I looked, and I seen coming up out of the river a
big bridge, spanned across the river, and sixteen people fell off of it. I went and told them. They said, "Why, you dreamed that." Said, "No, I looked at it. I seen it." Twenty-two years from that time, the big Municipal bridge spanned
across the Ohio River, and sixteen men lost their life on it. And it just started like that, and begin... That was before I was ever even a Christian. My people wasn't Christian. Gifts and callings are without repentance. It's a foreordination of God. Then It kept telling things on down. Brother Branham identified this bridge as the Louisville Municipal Bridge which was later called the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. Extensive research into the archives shows that there is no historical record of sixteen men falling to their deaths from this bridge. Other inconsistencies exist with regards to the mentioned twenty-two years. First of all, the context of these quotes is Brother Branham showing that a person with a gift is born with that gift, and he was showing that he had had this gift from the time that he was a child. That was the point that Brother Branham was trying to make. And notice that his mother was there when he was telling it. She would have known if he was making something up or not. Now with proper understanding of the context of these quotes, let us look at the possibilities: 1) Brother Branham was only five or six years old at the time. He probably did not remember the details of the vision – he just knew that he had had a vision experience and it involved a bridge over the river where he lived. Given Brother Branham’s non-detail-oriented sanguine temperament, he recalled the vision as best he could and then treated that as fact. So the details of the vision as he retold it were incorrect, but the fact that he had had the vision and the point that he was making in recalling it were both true: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). 2) The account that Jack Vissing gives is what Brother Branham actually saw in this vision, but Brother Branham’s memory and recalling of this vision was inaccurate. Jack Vissing’s testimony can be found at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Awu4aWU9I
So the explanation of this is very simple. The Brown Bear ProphecyBrother Branham made a prophecy that he would shoot a large brown bear. He stated this saying that it was “Thus saith the Lord”: POSSESSING.ALL.THINGS_ JEFF.IN
V-10 N-4 SUNDAY_ 62-0506 11 Many of you remember the vision that I had, where I had shot the grizzly bear, nine-foot grizzly bear (And the church remembers me telling it here.) and the caribou. I had another. Remember it's on tape here, I seen a great huge brown bear. That might be a Kodiak and it wouldn't have worked down there in Canada, 'cause they're not there. You see? But wherever it will be, it'll be. It will be; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD. It will be. This vision did not come to pass. Brother Eddy Byskal, who was on this hunting trip with Brother Branham, tells the story. Please see the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLxPQ8IB9A From this video it is clear that the vision did come to pass as far as God’s part was concerned. Brother Branham failed in his part. This then brings out an interesting principle: something can be Thus saith the Lord, but if it involves humans fulfilling their part of the vision, humans can fail. This is interesting. The Scriptures show this same principle: II KINGS 20:1-5 1 In those days was Hezekiah
sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said
unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set
thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live. 2 Then he turned his face to
the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying, 3 I beseech thee, O LORD,
remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart,
and have done [that which is] good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. 4 And it came to pass, afore
Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to
him, saying, 5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. This Scripture clearly shows that something that is Thus saith the Lord can change due to the actions of man. With regards to the brown bear vision, the perfect will of God gave way to the permissive will of God through Brother Branham’s admitted disobedience. The Africa/India Trip ProphecyBrother Branham had a vision that he would have meetings in Africa and India in which there would be three hundred thousand people attend: FAITH.IN.THE.SON.OF.GOD_
HAMMOND.IN 52-0715 E-2 And just from there, I--I'm just kind of going on impressions, the way that He seems to be leading me. I had one meeting that I'm going to. I know where that meeting is. That meeting is in--in one of them in South Africa, the other one is in India. And that's going to be a real meeting. That's going to be where God makes Hisself known to three hundred thousand people. In the following quote he explains that it appeared to be people from India who would fulfill this vision: THOU.KNOWEST.ALL.THINGS_
HAMMOND.IN 52-0716 E-8 Now, I seen a vision. I seen
the people. It looked to me like Indians.
I don't know what they were, but they had clouts wrapped around them. They
were praising God, and there was... It was in a field like. There was just so
many people, that went back up over there, and a Light came down from heaven,
a oscillating Light and went through there showing the people. And the Angel
of the Lord called a number of them, and I heard the number: three hundred thousand. That would be
six times the size of Durban's meeting, where we had thirty thousand converts
that day. I trust to God, there'll be three
hundred thousand won to Christ at that day. But it's a coming. It must
be. I don't know where. I don't know when, but I know it will be. This vision was fulfilled in 1954 on his India and Africa campaign. Apparently there was even some disobedience on Brother Branham’s part where the Lord told him to go to Africa first, but he went to India first. INDIA.TRIP.REPORT_
LIMA.OH SATURDAY_ 57-0126B E-31
And when... I had been very much constrained to go to--to India. And
yet, as many of you might know, the
Indian trip wasn't the success that it should've been, because I
failed to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and never recognized it
after He give me a vision to go to Africa first and then to India. But later when he looked up where he had written down the vision, he saw that in God’s sovereignty the vision stated just what he did do despite his disobedience: QUEEN.OF.SHEBA_
CHICAGO.IL TUESDAY_ 58-0107 E-14
And then I forgot about it and went to India first and then He condemned me at Portuguese, as you know
the story. And said, "I thought I said to you 'Go to Africa
first.'" And then I was condemned. And I thought all the time, and now
it just comes up, the revelation begins to push me for Africa, and I read in
the vision, and the vision really said, "Go to India first and back to
Africa." It's just exactly the way it's going to happen. Now, see, the Lord
spoke to me, knowing that I would fail, but the vision can't fail. It's what
God has already said and it cannot fail. The vision, I've got it wrote in an
flyleaf of my Bible. I will bring it down maybe and let you see it. How that
it really reads that I will go to India
first and then back to Africa; but
He told me to go to Africa first and then to India, knowing that I would
fail, but the vision can never fail. God has spoke it. It's got to be that
way. GREAT.COMMISSION_
CHATTANOOGA.TN SATURDAY_ 58-0301B E-40 Well, I went on. He told me to go on up to India, which I did. And then when I come back thinking, for four years now, that I disobeyed the Lord. And when I... Looking on that vision wrote out, which I've read it hundreds of times. The vision said that I would go to India first, and then back to Africa. But He told me to go to Africa first and then to India, showing that God knew that I would fail Him, but His Word, what He said, can't fail. The vision actually reads that I would go to Africa first, or to India first and then back to Africa. Talking about this India meeting, Brother Branham states: GREAT.COMMISSION_
CHATTANOOGA.TN SATURDAY_ 58-0301B E-49 In
that meeting that night when they started, there was Rajahs on pillows, and
there was the Mohammedans, and the Buddhas, and it taken me better than two
and a half hours to even get to the stand where I was going to preach. The mayor estimated that if I stayed the
three days, or the five days I was supposed to stay, that it to be five
hundred thousand outside people in Bombay. They'd heard; they'd come. And I thought, "Well, if these preachers don't want to
cooperate, let them alone then." But I made a mistake. I
should've turned and come back till I got cooperation. Because that night
when we went to the meeting... You couldn't give out prayer cards; there's no
way of doing it. So we had the militia to kind of bring up one at a time. So the “three hundred thousand” at the meeting spoken of in the vision was referring to this India campaign. Brother Owen Jorgensen in Book Four of his series, Supernatural: The Life of William Branham effectively states that the vision was fulfilled in Brother Branham's trip to India in September 1954. Critics judge Brother Branham because in later years he expressed his great desire to go to Africa and talked about going to Africa in terms of still fulfilling this vision: JESUS.CHRIST.THE.SAME_
MIDDLETOWN.OH SUNDAY_ 58-0323 E-23 And I just want say this, the many who knows me, and my friends are in here tonight, I just got my telegram back this morning from Durban, South Africa. The vision where three hundred thousand people will be gathered pretty soon for a meeting which is coming up right away... DOES.GOD.CHANGE.HIS.MIND_
LA.CA V-18 N-4 TUESDAY_
65-0427 256 And I just--I'm going to
South Africa after this. For, oh, my, you know how it is down there where you
can't even talk to the people, and there'd be... We're at least expecting three hundred thousand, one single
meeting. It is obvious that in Brother Branham’s mind he remembered the vision of three hundred thousand people to be in a meeting in India and Africa, and he remembered his disobedience on his 1954 trip, and because he was planning on going to Africa he tied it together with the vision. But obviously the 1954 trip to India is what this vision was about. Brother Branham’s Use of Clarence Larkin’s WritingsSome have criticized Brother Branham because he heavily used the works of Clarence Larkin in his preaching of the Seven Church Ages and the Seven Seals. People need to realize that Brother Branham’s ministry (the ministry of Malachi 4) was not to bring anything new – it was to restore back what had been lost down through the church ages. Men through the church ages had part Truth and part error due to the falling away of the church after the Day of Pentecost. The ministry of Malachi 4 was to tie all of the Truths (the Mysteries) that were in the past ages back into the one Faith (the Mystery) again (i.e., to restore back the “faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3)). As Brother Branham worded it: STANDING.IN.THE.GAP_
JEFF.IN 63-0623M 76 Like Luther preached justification, but he let it run wild because he didn't live long enough. And along... Then they organized the church. Luther never organized it: after Luther. And then Wesley come forth. And after Wesley they got the Wesleyan church. And then after that come John Smith, the Baptist; and then Alexander Campbell and so forth. But the men (the reformers) didn't live long enough to get it all together. And so there's lot of loose ends left like. And then when they did... For instance, of the water baptism that John Smith brought back the water baptism in immersing, but using the titles. And many of those things that was left loose... And then when we come down to the end, the last Message is supposed to straighten that all up, to bring these things to one faith, one Lord, one baptism. Brother Branham never claimed to be giving out anything new. He was restoring back. So of course he used Clarence Larkin – Larkin had a lot of Truth. But Brother Branham also corrected things that Clarence Larkin had wrong. Brother Branham read many men’s works and the Lord inspired him to tie together the Truths that these men had. Brother Branham used Scofield’s notes many times. A wise man makes use of the inspired writings of the Christians of past ages. Here are some quotes where Brother Branham mentions the use of these works: SEVENTY.WEEKS.OF.DANIEL_
JEFF.IN DA 89-141 SUNDAY_
61-0806 49 And
so, no doubt that down through the age there has been hundreds times hundreds
of people, scholars, abled men, trying to explain what these seventy of weeks
were. And I've read many of their commentaries on it. And I'm very
grateful to Mr. Smith of the
Adventist church for his views. I'm very grateful to Dr. Larkin of his views. I'm grateful to all these great scholars for their views on this. And in reading
them, it enlightens me much that I can find places that looks right. FEAST.OF.THE.TRUMPETS_
JEFF.IN V-3 N-16 SUNDAY_
64-0719M 7-1 Now then, when we got
finished with the book of the Revelation of the church (what God did to those
seven churches, which were then in their infancy or their shadow in Asia
Minor), then the Holy Spirit revealed and opened to us all the mysteries in there
of how He's brought His Church through history. And if you don't have The
Seven Church Ages on tape, it would be good if you listened to them; and soon
they'll be in book form. Then just leaving it at that and presuming that after while we'd
preach on the Seals, not knowing what the Seals was. I had my own idea, as
every minister does, of reading, maybe what other men had said, and believing
as much as I--possible with them on the things that they had drawed up, their
conclusion. I'd read the book of Mr.
Smith, Uriah Smith, which is the Adventist teacher, and I'd read his--his
thoughts on it. And I'd read Mr.
Larkin; I'd read oh, so many different ones of their commentaries on
this. But somehow or other, I thought I had a--a little view of it myself that
might be of--places different. IS.THIS.THE.SIGN.OF.THE.END.SIR_
JEFF.IN V-2 N-11 SUNDAY_
62-1230E 30-5
Now, let's note a few of these mysteries. And if you want to, write
them down. First, I'll take what Scofield
says here in Matthew 13. If you would like to--to type some of them
down... If you haven't got a Scofield Bible, you might read what he thinks
some of the mysteries are. Should Brother Branham have made more of a direct mention of Clarence Larkin in the Church Age Book? Perhaps. People can always look back and criticize and say what people should and should not have done. But love always believes the best in other people. Five Angels Then SevenIn Brother Branham’s first telling of the vision about the visitation of the Angels for the opening of the Seven Seals, he states that he saw five Angels in the final constellation: REPROACH.FOR.THE.WORD_
JEFF.IN V-2 N-16 SUNDAY_
62-1223 7-3 It
just seem to just shakes me, that blasting, and that swift coming of those
Angels, like that, five of them
together in a constellation of them, like--kind of like a... Like I had that
pyramid drawn here. It looked to be... First it looked like, kind of a... In
the distance it looked kind of like that color of doves. And they were in
a--in a--coming from this way. And they were looked like one, two, three,
four, and then one right at the top, making five. And they come with such a speed. There is nothing, no jets,
no nothing else can compare with that. However, later he consistently says that there were seven Angels in the constellation. The answer to this is simple by listening to what he said a week later: IS.THIS.THE.SIGN.OF.THE.END.SIR_
JEFF.IN V-2 N-11 SUNDAY_
62-1230E 26-2
But it shook the earth, and when it did, I was still looking westward.
And way off into eternity I saw a constellation of something coming. It
looked like that it might've been little dots. There could've been no less than five, and not more than
seven. But they were in the shape of a pyramid, like these messengers
coming. And when it did, the power of Almighty God lifted me up to meet them.
And I can see it. I... It's never left me. Eight days is gone, and I can't
forget it yet. I never had anything to bother me like that has. My family
will tell you. 26-4 I
could see those Angels, those shaped-back wings traveling faster than sound
could travel. They come from eternity in a split like a twinkling of an eye,
not enough to bat your eye, just a twinkle. They were there. I didn't have time to count. I didn't
have time, no more than just look. Mighty ones, great powerful Angels, snow
white, wings set in head, and they were "whew wheeew," [Brother
Branham illustrates--Ed.] and when it did, I was caught up into this pyramid
of constellation. None of us know anything about what it would be like to have this kind of a prophetic experience. The issue of whether he first thought it was five Angels but later concluded that it was seven is clearly a non-issue. The Angel’s Visitation and Israel Becoming a NationBrother Branham said that at
the very hour that the Angel of the Lord met him to give him his commission,
it was that same hour that Israel was declared to be a nation: GABRIEL'S.INSTRUCT.TO.DANIEL_
JEFF.IN DA 1-44 SUNDAY_
61-0730M 150 The very hour, by the Pan
American chart, that Israel was declared a nation for the first time for two
thousand years since they'd been scattered, not a people, it was that very
same hour, exactly to the hour, that the Angel of the Lord met me up yonder
and sent me to the--with the Gospel--the very same thing: May the 7th, 1946. This is clearly incorrect. It can be easily verified that Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948. Possibly Brother Branham had heard that it was in the late 1940’s that Israel had become a nation, and in Brother Branham’s sanguine, non-detailed-oriented nature, the story metamorphosized into “Israel was declared a nation at the exact same hour”. Brother Branham was incorrect, though it is true that around the same time that the Angel visited him, Israel became a nation. This again just shows the human veil being expressed. These types of “factoidal errors” must not be too important to God, or He would have corrected Brother Branham about it. This just shows Brother Branham’s sanguine veil. As a side note, notice that it was between the 6th Trumpet (WW2, Revelation 9:13, ending in 1945), and the 7th Trumpet (WW3, Revelation 11), that Malachi 4 showed up on the scene (Revelation 10). The Bride is currently fulfilling Revelation 10:8-11. God’s timing is perfect. Brother Branham’s Incorrect Discernment of a NameConsidering the thousands of discernments and healings that God performed in Brother Branham’s meetings, it seems ridiculous to even bring this up. But critics of Brother Branham have mentioned this, so we will respond. Here is the quote: TESTIMONY.ON.THE.SEA_
DALLAS.TX V-19 N-11 SATURDAY_
64-0307 184 Now, when He come to Simon,
He told him who he was. You believe God can tell me what your name is? Would
it make you believe more, will it? Mrs. Strong [The sister says,
"Stout."--Ed.] Stout, would you believe? Go and believe, and you...
It's all over. Sister Anna Jeanne Moore Price was at this meeting when this happened. People asked Brother Branham about it afterward. Her testimony about this is contained on page 86 of the book Generation by Sister Angela Smith (God bless her for this great work in making this book). Part of this testimony: “Then he [Brother Branham] explained how that sometimes his visions were symbolic, and he had seen a big muscular arm, and of course both those two words can represent that.” So it is obvious that the vision was correct, it was only Brother Branham’s interpretation of it that was incorrect. This is another example of the principles shown earlier of how God works through human flesh. Criticism of PicturesBrother Branham was a simple man. He was not prone to scientifically analyze something before making a claim. Therefore, some of the pictures that he talked about as being supernatural clearly were not. For example, Brother Branham spoke about these series of pictures taken in Germany as being of the Angel of the Lord descending:
Though Brother Branham may have asked the photographer not to use a flash bulb, the photographer clearly disobeyed after the first (upper left) photo. An honest objective analysis of these photos (especially when veiwed in full size) shows that the light is clearly a flash bulb reflection. So Brother Branham made a mistake in this claim. So what? The Angel of the Lord certainly did descend in these meetings as evidenced by the Supernatural that occurred, even though these pictures may not have been of That. Brother Branham was a man, with a personality and temperament that God gave him. The people in this meeting certainly were not concerned about a set of pictures. They were rejoicing in the Presence of God which marvelously manifested in their midst. There are other pictures that are similar which clearly were double exposures or have an obvious natural explanation. If someone back then had pointed these things out to Brother Branham, Brother Branham would have agreed. The critics of Brother Branham have again tried to make a controversy about what is again another non-issue. The Pillar of Fire Picture
The professional photographer, Mr. Ayers from the Douglas Studios who was hired to take pictures of the debate, surely would have known better than to take a picture of one of the speakers when there was a large “bank of floodlights” in the background. Below are two other pictures
of the debate showing Dr. Best and Brother Bosworth at the rostrum area. Note that no “bank of floodlights” is seen.
The “Hall of Religious Art” in Washington D.C.Brother Branham stated many times that the Pillar of Fire picture was located in the “Hall of Religious Art” in Washington D.C. Obviously this is incorrect, as there never has been a “Hall of Religious Art” in Washington D.C. This is another example of Brother Branham’s sanguine nature. But the picture is located in the Library of Congress located in Washington D.C. You can see it at the following link: https://www.loc.gov/item/95512174 This
again shows the principle about Brother Branham’s temperament that answers
the critics’ arguments. The core of
what Brother Branham recounts is true – his way of retelling it is highly
inaccurate. That is the natural
temperament that God ordained for him to have. The Marilyn Monroe Vision
Brother Branham had a
vision of Marilyn Monroe’s death, stating that he saw her dying of a heart
attack, but that her death would be considered to be a suicide. Critics say that there is no evidence in
her death reports of her dying of a heart attack, but that her death was due
to a drug overdose. However, even a casual
search on the internet will show that the investigation, testimonies, doctors
reports, etc., regarding the circumstances of her death are so full of
controversy and contradictions that the critics of Brother Branham have no
facts to even base any criticism on.
The drugs in her system could have been a factor in inducing a heart
attack. Because the autopsy was so flawed,
from a natural standpoint no one will ever know what caused her death. As to why Brother Branham
would even have a vision of this event, this happened because Brother Branham
was born with a gift wherein he would see visions almost daily. His gift would pick up on world events,
major news stories, etc. The gift in
this case picked up on the national news event of Marilyn Monroe’s
death. He only mentioned it publicly
after the fact because he did not know at the time of the vision who the
woman in the vision was. When he heard
about it in the news, then he knew that it was her. Brother Billy Paul Will Not Be an Old Man
Until Los Angeles Is In The Ocean
Brother Pearry Green wrote
in his book The Acts Of The Prophet with regards to a statement William
Branham made to his son Billy Paul while in Los Angeles: "Billy, I may
not be here but you won't be an old man until sharks will swim right where we
are standing." While Billy Paul
is alive today, his birthday is September 13, 1935. He certainly would be considered to be an
old man by now. First of all, this
statement was not on tape – it was Brother Billy Paul’s recollection of what
his dad had spoken to him. How Brother
Branham said it, whether it was meant to be a prophecy or not, etc., are
unknown. Possibly it was just a very
strong belief that Brother Branham had because he could not imagine that time
would go on for so long before judgment would strike. Since we do not know these facts, there is
no basis for judgment. However, if it was a prophetic
statement, could it mean that God will take Brother Billy Paul home either
before or in the Rapture before Los Angeles sinks? He certainly then would not be an old man
when Los Angeles sinks due to having received the body change. Capernaum in the Bottom of the Sea
In the prophecy about Los Angeles to be sunk into the sea by an earthquake, Brother Branham mentions that Capernaum is in the bottom of the sea. A quick internet search about Capernaum shows that this is not the case. This was obviously another case of the Inspiration coming through the earthen vessel as has been explained previously. Brother Branham must have had it in his mind that Capernaum was beneath the sea just like Sodom and Gomorrah are considered to be beneath the Dead Sea. The Inspiration came through that earthen vessel. In SummaryWe began this writing by
first reviewing some basic principles of how God works: that God hides
Himself behind and reveals Himself through the veil of human flesh. That veil is what blinds the unbelievers
from seeing the God that is behind that veil. Next we went into
explaining some of the specific issues that the critics use to try to
discredit Brother Branham. We see that
most if not all of these issues are matters relating to Brother Branham’s
sanguine, non-detail-oriented temperament (i.e., his “earthen vessel”, the
veil). Brother Branham’s life was
beyond reproach. He clearly was not
out for money, his moral life was untouchable, and he certainly was not out
for popularity given what he preached.
So what is there left for the unbelievers to try to use as an excuse
for their unbelief? His God-given
human temperament. Yes, Brother Branham was a
simple man. He was extremely
inaccurate when it came to his recounting of events and details. He was not scientifically precise and did
not go back and make sure about all of the facts. He was sanguine in many ways. But God made him that way. Therefore, to be critical of and to judge
Brother Branham is to be critical of and to judge God. It is the same thing that the critics of
Moses did to Moses. LUKE 17:1-2 1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe [unto
him], through whom they come! 2 It were better for
him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea,
than that he should offend one of these little ones. Brother Branham, human
temperament and all, stands before His Master: ROMANS 14:4 4 Who art thou that judgest another man's
servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden
up: for God is able to make him stand. These critics of this last
day are fulfilling Jesus’s Words: MATTHEW 13:40-42 40 As therefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this
world. 41 The Son of man
shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all
things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42 And shall cast them
into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. These “eleventh hour”
critics of Brother Branham are some of the “angels” (messengers) that are
helping to gather out of His Kingdom the last of the tares before they are
cast into the furnace (the great tribulation). They, along with other “angels” (e.g.,
“eighth messengers”) are fulfilling their purpose. What will these critics say
at the day of judgment? They will
present to God all of their “proofs” and logical arguments. But when God’s response is, “But he was My
prophet”, where will they stand? As
they have judged, they will be judged. |
Critics
have tried to discredit what could be thought of as the main picture in the
Message, that of the Pillar of Fire taken in the Sam Houston Coliseum in
January of 1950.
