The Cult of Personality of William Branham and Modern Crusades of The Message Church

Let me start off by saying this, I am a Christian. I do not belong to The Message Church and after reading about it, have come to the conclusion that William Branham was no prophet and neither was he anything what he purported to be. To this, I say the verse in the Bible to test every spirit to see if it comes from God, is appropriate.

I grew up in a time just after the big revivalism of the Pentecostal faith, that now many Charismatics are diving deeply headlong into a false theology of modern men who led their followers into blasphemous doctrines. And I feel the time is right to expose this man, his church and his teachings. What you might not know about The Message Church is that they are hiding many accounts of child sex abuse, bilking people out of money and actually threatening those who do not believe in William Branham.

I can go through the history of William Branham, but it would take too long to go through his life story. But I fear that Branhamites will come onto ATS and make threats on here. Last summer and just recently I was threatened with curses, which I know are very real threats of harm they wish to do to those who oppose William Branham and many of those who have left The Message are harassed. Now Branhamism is a world wide phenomenon and people are drawn to his teachings. It is a cult of personality.

I was raised Pentecostal, so let me say this, if your grandparents or parents ever talked about William Branham, then you know what I mean. I will be posting snippets from his sermons, but also the many failed "prophecies". I challenge any Branhamite that may come onto this thread, please show me one document from his trip to Sharon, Canada, of the 35,000 people he claimed to have healed and had documented evidence from mayors and doctors, please come forward now with 35,000 documents to back up his claim. It is one thing to say he healed that many, but it is quite another to say there was documented evidence, so show us the documents.

But to start off, William Branham said that when he was a little boy that he had a vision that as the Municipal Bridge was being built, he counted 16 men who fell to their deaths. It never happened.

William Branham also said he called squirrels into existence, just so he could shoot them. He claimed a mother oppossum that was dying drug her babies to his door so he could pray for them. And he was very misogynist and racist. He constantly referred to Jewish people as "hook nosed Jews". Those were in his sermons, so I make nothing up.

As space limits the amount we can post, I will try to add more to the next post. But take this as a warning, members of the Branhamite Church are threatening people for opposing William Branham.

I have never heard of this guy.

I will have to go look him up now.

Looks like he's a failed prophet at any rate. His predictions were supposed to have come true by '77 and didn't.

a reply to: WarminIndy

Taking William Branham's advice in his sermon entitled I am the Resurrection and the Life

Now, God sends minor Angels (That's right.), perhaps the One comes here. And some people will actually puff their mind up with Angels and things, who they think they have seen, and things like that. That's just the counterfeit. E-18 If a man has seen an Angel of God, and met God his commissioned, or that Angel commissioned him from God, and It was sent from God, it'll bear record right down to the line, that it's the truth. You believe that? But if it doesn't, it isn't the truth. That's one thing you can depend on, "By their fruits you shall know them." That's truth.

Found here

We will examine whether or not William Branham spoke with any angel from God, or if he imagined it and then only told people he had an angelic visitation.

William Branham said his first experience of seeing the angel was in a cave...sounds familiar. Then his next experience was of a dark man that he only saw the feet of, who told him he was commissioned...sounds familiar again. But this angel being he claimed to have seen, was it real?

Now, notice this, that this Angel was Gabriel. Now, these minor Angels come; but when you see or hear of Gabriel coming, you get ready for something major fixing to happen. Gabriel was the One Who announced the first coming of Jesus Christ. Is that right? And we're taught in the Bible that Gabriel will announce the second coming. He will sound the trumpet of God (is that right?), the coming of the Lord, the Angel of God, Gabriel, Who stands at the--God's right hand.

Hmm, as this does sound familiar, let's not mention now why it does. But let's address this from his sermon. He says Gabriel stands at the right hand of God. Let me see, the Bible doesn't say that. So Branham spoke where the Bible doesn't speak.

God looked down through that Pillar of Fire, and with angered eyes. And when He did, the sea got scared and moved back like that, and made a dry path, and Israel walked through on dry ground. Take God at His Word.

Um, no again. The Bible says that God breathed all night on the water. But the sea got scared...hmmm. Just where does that come from? By the way, Branham also said that the Zodiac was a Bible, the pyramids were a Bible and the Bible was the Bible. And then he even got the order of the Zodiac wrong. But there is a lot he got wrong.

So the sea got scared, that's why it moved. That is just as silly as when Branham said that God made Abraham and Sarah young again, so they could have Isaac.

Now, they had come away from all their crops. They had come away from everything they had. A little basket of kneaded bread on top of their head, they packed out, was eaten: no bread, nothing to eat.

Actually, the bread wasn't kneaded because it was unleavened.

Notice, David being a shepherd, the shepherd used to carry--carry a scrip bag on their side. And in this scrip bag they put honey. And when their sheep would get sick, they'd take some of this honey, and they would rub it on a rock. And the sick sheep would go over, go to licking on this rock, and while licking the honey off, he got the limestone off the rock, and the limestone healed the sick sheep.

Limestone heals sheep, there you go sheep herders, don't take your sheep to the vet, just give it limestone to lick, it'll be better in no time.

And little John, as far as we know, had never received life. Elisabeth said, she was scared. It was six months with her, then with baby, with the baby, and no life. That's subnormal. That's altogether subnormal, about two or three months. And here it was six months, no life.

And Branham says here that as a baby, John had no life until Mary went to visit Elizabeth.

That was just the days when women begin to lose their grace, you know. And so, here she was, smoking a cigarette. I looked at her. I always had my opinion of a woman who smoked a cigarette, and I still have today. It's the lowest thing she ever done.

And the lowest thing you women should not do is smoke cigarettes. Oh my, the horror of it all.

This is all just from one sermon. More to come.....

originally posted by: ketsuko
I have never heard of this guy.

I will have to go look him up now.

You will be shocked.

They have so many videos on youtube of him, he just managed to really say some things that were absolutely shocking to the point his manager Ern Baxter quit working with him. He embarrassed a lot of preachers because of his ideas that slowly turned from preaching about Jesus to preach that he was the seventh seal, Elijah and God.

Never heard of him, and frankly, not interested in his lunacy.

Jesus H Christ and Good Gawd Almighty, these people make me so sad.

a reply to: WarminIndy

One weird dude. I never got much into the Pentecostal thing. I guess I was too much of Wesley tradition person. Maybe that's how I missed out of this guy.

One has to wonder if he had some kind of experience and let it go to his head and made more of it than it was or if he just got sent the wrong kind of experience, if you know what I mean ...

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
Never heard of him, and frankly, not interested in his lunacy.

Jesus H Christ and Good Gawd Almighty, these people make me so sad.

BuzzyWigs

The problem is that now it is a phenomenon around the world. Every day I hear more and more people talking about Branham being the prophet of this age. I am warning the rest of the people who don't know about it to watch out for it. And the truth is, I have seen some people on ATS who do say things that Branham said, but aren't saying yet they are Branhamites. There will be some who will eventually do that.

And they have been threatening lives of people who oppose Branham, that is why I am taking this serious stance. People need to know what is going on.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: WarminIndy

One weird dude. I never got much into the Pentecostal thing. I guess I was too much of Wesley tradition person. Maybe that's how I missed out of this guy.

One has to wonder if he had some kind of experience and let it go to his head and made more of it than it was or if he just got sent the wrong kind of experience, if you know what I mean ...

He says in the sermon On the Wings of a Snow White Dove

William Branham, who says sickness is the devil making you sick, then says

I've been a neurotic all my life. As a little boy there was something struck me, that scare me, about every seven years it would happen to me. Brother Jack remembers when I first started, come off the field for a year; something just happened.

He says he heard a voice tell him when he was a little boy, that he was going to be great one day. But he is neurotic....

Since a little boy, I always said I didn't know what a vision was. A little boy, I always said, "If I--if I'd only fall in one of those trance, and see that I'd get well." That time... I always wanted to go to Mayo's to find out what was wrong. The doctors there...

He claims to not know what a vision was when he was young, and yet his story of the Municipal Bridge, he claimed was a vision. He can't even keep his stories straight.

The man "called" to be a healing prophet also says this

And you don't know what I've suffered; just mental oppression. Every seven years it's come, all my life. That's where I'm at now, seven eights.

He is 7/8 mentally oppressed by a neurosis that he doesn't know the cause of, then talks about seeing beings that tell him he is commissioned by God to be the prophet of the age. The man was confessing mental illness, but people still believed him.

What other character does this remind you of?

a reply to: WarminIndy

The problem is that now it is a phenomenon around the world. Every day I hear more and more people talking about Branham being the prophet of this age. I am warning the rest of the people who don't know about it to watch out for it. And the truth is, I have seen some people on ATS who do say things that Branham said, but aren't saying yet they are Branhamites. There will be some who will eventually do that.

And they have been threatening lives of people who oppose Branham, that is why I am taking this serious stance. People need to know what is going on.

Ohhh....
wow.
Yeah, WELL DONE YOU!!!

The freaking New Apostolic Reformationists/Seven Mountain Dominionists?????

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!

God, these people are nuts. Cruz being the top dog right now. Brownback right there beside him.

Hagee, Bachmann, Palin......

god help us.

a reply to: WarminIndy

Actually reminds me of a couple major figures who have religions founded from their prophetic testimony. Then there is Casey, but no one seems to be trying to make him a religious figure. Of course, he never sought to make himself any kind of self-styled prophet of God, either.

As we get closer to the and of the age, there will be some of both kinds -- the legit and the false. As soon as Branham was proven out to be false in '77, he should have been discredited.

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

Oh, poo!

Do you actually have quotes or evidence of this or are you just creating connections to support your own internal biases?

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: WarminIndy

The problem is that now it is a phenomenon around the world. Every day I hear more and more people talking about Branham being the prophet of this age. I am warning the rest of the people who don't know about it to watch out for it. And the truth is, I have seen some people on ATS who do say things that Branham said, but aren't saying yet they are Branhamites. There will be some who will eventually do that.

And they have been threatening lives of people who oppose Branham, that is why I am taking this serious stance. People need to know what is going on.

Ohhh....
wow.
Yeah, WELL DONE YOU!!!

The freaking New Apostolic Reformationists/Seven Mountain Dominionists?????

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!

God, these people are nuts. Cruz being the top dog right now. Brownback right there beside him.

Hagee, Bachmann, Palin......

god help us.

Branham said that he predicted that Louisville would be hit by a nuclear bomb, that a woman would be president before then end, and the end would be in 1977. His followers justify that by saying "he predicted" but he didn't prophesy. Well, he told them he was a prophet, so what do prophets do?

Then he bragged about how many people he claimed to heal, which made it over 100,000. I just mentioned the Sharon, Canada episode in which he bragged about healing 35,000 people that had documented proof from mayors and doctors. I want to see them produce the documents.

But he was featured in a Reader's Digest article in 1952, a little boy named Donny Morton had been seriously ill with meningitis, his father who was a very poor farmer in Saskatchewan, Canada, drove all the way to Calfornia to see William Branham and to have him pray for the little boy. Donny Morton became somewhat of a celebrity and people were donating a lot of money for his parents to take him to the hospital. Branham prayed for him and said "With God and medical help, he will be healed and live". So the doctors treated him as well as they could in those days. Donny Morton survived the surgery but then complications set in. He died of pneumonia.

Branham used to tell people that if they didn't get healed or they got sick again, it was because their faith was lacking. Donny Morton's father had a lot of faith, that is why he drove all that way.

But Branham's followers only point to the Reader's Digest article as some type of vindication for Branham. As though the fact the father drove all that way just shows how much of a healing prophet he was. They don't like to mention that the little boy still died. And it wasn't because he had no faith.

That is merely one instance, while Branham claimed to be the healing prophet at that time, and healing people everywhere he claimed, he was having an oppressive neurosis that made him see things.

Tragedy, Donny Morton's father was desperate for his little boy to be healed, used all the money to go there and then after all the donations he took in faith, the little boy died. The one miracle that could have been documented, did not happen. And yet they say this vindicates him.

I cried when reading the story. Branham used this story and embellished so much about it, that he told his followers that Donny Morton was well enough to run and play. The Message Church uses this to attempt vindication but they never address the truth about what really happened.

People felt compassionate enough to donate money, but Branham twisted it to his advantage. He even went so far as to say the little boy lived.

a reply to: WarminIndy

Yikes.
Thanks for bringing ATS' attention to this shyster. Shameful.

Disgraceful, and a(nother) wart on "organized religious Christianity's" nose.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: WarminIndy

Yikes.
Thanks for bringing ATS' attention to this shyster. Shameful.

Disgraceful, and a(nother) wart on "organized religious Christianity's" nose.

I am a Christian, and from Pentecostalism, so I feel no qualms about exposing the lies and falsehoods of so-called preachers and prophets.

I think that maybe because most Christians and especially Pentecostals are afraid to challenge the status quo that it leaves a bitter taste in people's mouths. The problem is that most forgot to live it and gave up their intellect for blind zealeotness that has no basis in love or grace. They preach grace a lot, but then abuse grace to do what they want without consideration that they become hypocrites.

How else should anyone think about us? I say to Pentecostals, "It is not because of Jesus they are making fun of you, it is because of the things you do". I really don't think your criticisms are unwarranted, because a lot of Christians annoy me as well.

If you see something wrong, you should speak up about it. Everyone should speak up against evil. But so many people are afraid to. That is why we have polemic political parties, no one wants to admit the sin in their own camp. But I am not afraid to say it, and maybe that is why other Christians don't think I am Christian enough for them.

a reply to: WarminIndy

If you see something wrong, you should speak up about it. Everyone should speak up against evil. But so many people are afraid to. That is why we have polemic political parties, no one wants to admit the sin in their own camp. But I am not afraid to say it, and maybe that is why other Christians don't think I am Christian enough for them.

Well, I couldn't say why they think that. (Unless you didn't renew your membership with sufficient tithing.)

But, I will tell you that I think you are a great Christian. Because you think, and study, and accept people.

originally posted by: BuzzyWigs
a reply to: WarminIndy

If you see something wrong, you should speak up about it. Everyone should speak up against evil. But so many people are afraid to. That is why we have polemic political parties, no one wants to admit the sin in their own camp. But I am not afraid to say it, and maybe that is why other Christians don't think I am Christian enough for them.

Well, I couldn't say why they think that. (Unless you didn't renew your membership with sufficient tithing.)

But, I will tell you that I think you are a great Christian. Because you think, and study, and accept people.

Come, let us reason together. That is what the Bible actually says, but people forget. If I turn you away then how can we reason together?

a reply to: WarminIndy

One thing I did see in my searching was the idea that baptism makes you "dead to sin." Is that a common thing in Pentecostal teaching or just Branham? I think that's extraordinarily dangerous myself.

Baptism is just the acceptance of the Holy Spirit. The outward ceremony is nothing more than the symbolic show of the inward acceptance, but just because you have the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that it will stay with you or automatically make your immune to sin. It's a relationship like any in your life, and you have to work at it and renew it constantly to keep it strong. Part of that is the acknowledgment that we don't always behave perfectly in accordance with what God would wish (i.e. we sin).

The idea that baptism makes us dead to sin could be as bad as the idea that you can just be a Sunday pew Christian and do as you like the rest of the week and ask to be forgiven in Church on Sunday in that you are good with God no matter how abominably you behave after being baptized.

Am I wrong?

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: WarminIndy

One thing I did see in my searching was the idea that baptism makes you "dead to sin." Is that a common thing in Pentecostal teaching or just Branham? I think that's extraordinarily dangerous myself.

Baptism is just the acceptance of the Holy Spirit. The outward ceremony is nothing more than the symbolic show of the inward acceptance, but just because you have the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that it will stay with you or automatically make your immune to sin. It's a relationship like any in your life, and you have to work at it and renew it constantly to keep it strong. Part of that is the acknowledgment that we don't always behave perfectly in accordance with what God would wish (i.e. we sin).

The idea that baptism makes us dead to sin could be as bad as the idea that you can just be a Sunday pew Christian and do as you like the rest of the week and ask to be forgiven in Church on Sunday in that you are good with God no matter how abominably you behave after being baptized.

Am I wrong?

No, that comes from Baptist and Reform Theology.

Sorry Baptists, you can explain to Ketsuko on that if you wish.

Baptism is symbolic of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. As we are buried with Christ (symbolically) then we are raised with Christ. And it does not mean that we are dead to sin, the Pentecostals I know don't say that. I do know Baptists who have. You and I are in agreement on baptism.

William Branham was first ordained in a Baptist church, but he can't seem to remember exactly where or when it was, and he wasn't honest about the man who ordained him, Roy E. Davis was a klansman who was pretty high up in it and was actually in a congressional investigation.

He was actually pretty suave, he told people in congregations what he thought they wanted to hear. When he was preaching in his church in Jeffersonville he would say "hook nosed Jews" but when he was in Washington DC and Philadelphia and some Jewish people were there, he never once said that. But he also said it was ok to beat women with barrel slats.

I mean, when you have an internationally known preacher who gives his own congregants instructions in kissing.....such as this....


Where can you go from there? It is almost too ridiculous but they play his tapes in their churches. They play the tapes in place of preaching.

a reply to: WarminIndy

All the best cult leaders are suave.

It's a bit disturbing that his teachings are being kept alive though especially since his predictions have been proven false. Usually a cult dies with its founder. I wonder who's so invested in keeping it alive? That's the question ...

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: WarminIndy

All the best cult leaders are suave.

It's a bit disturbing that his teachings are being kept alive though especially since his predictions have been proven false. Usually a cult dies with its founder. I wonder who's so invested in keeping it alive? That's the question ...

You really want to know? The Voice of God ministry in Jeffersonville, Indiana. His sons are still alive, but there are The Message churches all over the world now. And they sell a lot of Branham merchandise. Voice of God

They are worth millions, and I don't mean just a few.