Luke 17:30

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What do you think? The statements by William Branham included in these articles are so strong, they force you to make a conclusion. (a) Will you accept William Branham's statements and conclude that he was God himself - greater than Jesus, equal to the Holy Spirit, infallible, and above reproach? (b) Or will you conclude that William Branahm was delusional. There is no middle ground, because to compromise these statements requires you to deny William Branham's own words. It's time to choose: is William Branham's word Infallible, or was his message fallible?

This article is one in a series of studies on the doctrines of William Branham that pointed to himself - you are currently on the article that is in bold:

• Revelation 10:7
• The Fulfillment of Malachi 4:5
• The Laodicean Church Age Messenger
• Matthew 17:11
• Luke 17:30
• Matthew 24:28
• Zechariah 14:7
• Joel 2:25
• 1 Thessalonians 4:16
• The Importance of a Seven-Lettered Name
• The Prophet and The Eagle
• The Sign of the Messiah
• Two major prophets never ministered at the same time
• William Branham's View of Himself
• William Branham and the Nation of Israel

One of the "keystone" verses in the message is Luke 17:30:

Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. (KJV)

William Branham believed that he was the person of the son of man being revealed.

William Branham's interpretation of Luke 17:30

William Branham taught that Luke 17:30, Malachi 4:5 and Revelation 10:7 were all fulfilled in the same person, himself.

William Branham continually points to this reference to Sodom and emphasizes that Sodom was destroyed for their sexual immorality and homosexuality. He frequently types this behavior to that of the modern church, equating the way people dress, the immorality of the world today, and of churches to that of Sodom.

What does that Bible actually say?

Does the Bible teach that Luke 17:30 is a prophecy that is to be fulfilled just prior to the coming of Christ?

The Bible is not a book that can be taken lightly. The integrity of the Bible is at stake if we dismiss these clearly worded statements of time. As students of the Bible, we are obligated to take God at His word, even when it contradicts what we’ve been taught by popular prophecy writers.

The context of Luke 17:30

First, let's make sure we get additional context by reading more of Luke 17. In this case, we are quoting the NLT, but you can see this plainly in the KJV as well:

But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.

“When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.

“And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”

“Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked.

Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.

Other references to Sodom

Notice that this passage in Luke 17 doesn't really refer to any specific sins committed in Sodom, but rather, types the experience in Sodom to what will happen when Jesus returns. Essentially, people will be carrying on with their normal business and they will be caught off-guard; His return will be a surprise. The specific sins of Sodom don't really seem to matter in this context, however, at first glance it's easy to see how Brother Branham's teaching could be inferred from this scripture....or can it? What does the Bible say elsewhere about Sodom's sins?

“Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south. But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters. Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.

And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day — 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.

What is Ezekiel saying?

According to Ezekiel, Sodom's sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness while the poor and needy sufferd outside her door. Now, I'm not trying to condone or justify immorality, homosexuality, and perversion here: those things are obviously very wrong. However, according to this passage in Ezekiel those things were not the core reasons that God destroyed Sodom.

As a result, what William Branham says in relation to Luke 17:30 doesn't include the full picture. The passage is about people being caught off guard and surprised by Jesus' return. The core sins of Sodom according to Ezekiel were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while neglecting the poor and needy. Sexual perversion was also present as indicated by Jude but it was only part of the picture. As always, the entirety of scripture must be examined to get a true picture.

Trying to type the modern church to Sodom and tying it into Luke 17:30 requires significant twisting of the scriptures. In fact, the very things that Sodom was guilty of in Ezekiel are manifest abundantly within the message, even more so than they are in most "worldly" churches.

Conclusion?

While William Branham stated that Sodom was destroyed because of sexual immorality, that's not the whole picture. He missed the context of Luke 17:30 which clearly aligns more with the passage in Eziekiel.

Jesus prayed:

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

No area of theology breeds more speculative attention than the end times. Reactions to this issue span the spectrum. Some give their lives trying to figure out the “signs of the times” and just how close we may be to the end. Elaborate theories about how it will all unwind bring together huge sections of the Scripture into a unified scenario.

William Branham even set the date for Christ’s return (see 1977), a commitment Scripture does not make (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:6–8).

On the other end are those who view such speculation as a waste of time and energy. God knows how it will turn out, so we just should do what we are called to do in the meantime.

Both approaches are overreactions. It is hard to take the Bible seriously if one ignores its discussion about the end, since a significant portion of the Bible touches on eschatological themes about the promises of God. The only way for us to make sense of life today is to appreciate where the future is going. Scripture outlines that future, not with detailed dates, but with a general outline of what is to come. That outline is designed not to have us prepare charts, but to prepare our hearts. The return of Jesus is serious business, a time when God will be engaged in definitive judgment.

Jesus talks about the end in grim terms and gruesome detail to make clear how serious an issue judgment is for God. Judgment means accountability. In a society that tends to view adults as accountable only to themselves and their own consciences, it is a critical reminder that God does hold us responsible for our actions. That is why Jesus in the parable of Luke 18:1–8 asks if he will find faith on the earth when he returns. Those who recognize their accountability to God will go through life with circumspection. To ignore the end is to risk forgetting accountability. The world is headed towards an end when many will simply engage in life without concern for God. It will be like the days of Noah and Lot. That many end up spiritually disengaged from God should not surprise us. That does not mean that we should give up in trying to share the gospel with those who are simply traveling through life. Too much is at stake to simply ignore our neighbors. When the Lord returns to exercise judgment, there will be no second chance. For those who are his, the blessed rule of his kingdom will last forever; but for those who miss out, it is an opportunity missed forever. The passage closes with the bleak image of the vultures gathered, not because there is joy in the judgment to come, but because the tragedy is all too real. This text screams to every person to choose wisely when it comes to the things of God. There is too much at stake to make an erroneous choice.

Furthermore, every moment until the Lord returns is an opportunity to be God’s instrument in changing the destiny of someone who does not yet know him. God is delaying the day of judgment, being patient and allowing time for others to come to him (2 Peter 3:9). Thus the moments that remain should motivate the church to be the vessel through which others come to see and enjoy the grace of God.

Quotes of William Branham

What did He do to Sarah and Abraham? After He went on down to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Angels come down there, seen that perverted generation of people, just like we're getting today... Look at the papers and things, how they're packing, how perversion people is on the move because men can't be satisfied with one wife, and he's living with every thing, every woman that he can run around with, and women the same way. And it's become just like the sin of Sodom. On the increase, till the government's full of them; the nation's full of them. This West Coast is contaminated with it. I get thousands of letters from up-and-down this coast of men and women and things, done stepped across the line, perverted, giving them the mind of--of that type. Notice, what a pitiful thing it is. Not a remedy or medicine in the world can cure it: only God.

The hour of the seventh angel's Message, all the mysteries of God should be made known in that Elijah, this last hour; how that Christ is put out of His church, the Son of God; how He is revealed as Son of man again; how that the Church is to be put in order, and everything for the last day, no creed, no denomination, just absolutely the Word living in the individual. "I'll take one, and leave one. I'll take this, and leave that one." See? There's just... There's no strings, no denominations, no bindings or nothing; it's the heart with God, and Him alone. See?

...Notice, same Pillar of Fire sent to Moses and to Paul, that wrote the Bible, now sent to reveal It. The grace of God, the unchanging God, fulfilling the promises of Matthew 28, "Lo, I am with you always"; fulfilling Saint John 14:12, "The works that I do, you also"; fulfilling Saint Luke 17:28-29, "In the last days the Son of man will be revealed," see, see; Malachi 4, "Behold, I send to you Elijah the prophet, that will restore the Faith of the people back to the original Word." See? How this... See? Oh, my!

After nineteen hundred years, and we're at the end of the Laodicea church age, He promised, in Luke 17:30, that this same Son of man (He promised it) would be revealed in the days like it was in Sodom, upon the earth. Did He do it? Does it have to come to pass? It's impossible... Now, remember, He come in three names: the Son of man, a prophet; the Son of God, the Spirit; the Son of David, for the Millennium. But in between, this conjunction, now according to His own Words, in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed, reveal Himself as (what? not Son of God) Son of man. Will reveal Hisself in a different way. Now, what does that make? Malachi 4, exactly right. See, the Son of man will reveal Himself, not in a whole big denominations and things, as we've had through the ages, but He would manifest Himself as Son of man again, to make manifest Malachi 4. "And in that day, I will send to you Elijah the prophet, and he shall turn the hearts of the children back to the Faith of the apostolic fathers, away from all this denominationalism, and come back to the original Word again," to draw out that last-day Bride-Tree that He promised. "In the evening time it shall be Light," not through the misty day, it shall be light; it'll be a day can't be called day nor night. See, it's making up the Body. But the same Head that was here in the East, is here in the West again, "There shall be Light in the evening time."

...Promised at the church age, come through with "not even night or day," but in the evening time when the Son of man would be revealed. It would come again. "It shall be Light at the evening time." See? What does He do? Prove His Word.

Now look back, did He come as a virgin, did He come as they said, through the virgin, rather? Did He come just exactly the way He said? Watch today, He proved His Word regardless of how many athiests, infidels, indifference, He still come right on, proved His Word. Here we are, come through this age of all churches and things, got away like they did from Malachi up to the coming of Christ. All the prophets and things had ceased, and they had got into dignitaries and so forth, but, just exactly, look what kind of a character He sent. Just exactly the Elijah, a hater of immoral women, and put on a lot of paint, powders and makeups and all that stuff there. And clergymen, he slayed them right and left. Coming out of the wilderness, pulled no strings with none of them, and said, "The Messiah's on the road. I'll know Him when He come, I'll introduce Him. Amen. Don't you begin to think you belong to this or that." Just the same as Elijah did!

This is exactly in season, what He said He would do, "And as it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man, when the Son of man shall be revealed." See? "And, behold, I send to you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord. He shall restore the hearts of the people back to the Father." See? See?

"And then the righteous shall walk out upon the--the wicked, ashes." They'll burn like an oven, see, the earth will. We see it's going to fall in yonder. And volcanic will spread across the earth, and the heavens will be on fire.

There was three messengers sent to the Gentile and Hebrew world. And one of them, which was God Himself, the Son of man, revealed Himself in a human form and performed a miracle, insomuch that told Abraham what Sarah was doing behind Him in the tent.

You said it would repeat again when the whole Gentile world would be in a Sodom condition. And we're here, Lord. Other prophecies confirming the same thing, of sending Elijah in the last days, the Spirit of Elijah upon the earth, to bring the hearts of the fathers, or, "the children back to the fathers." And I pray, God, that this hour that You will confirm Your Word, that You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Grant it, Father. They are all Yours. I pray that You'll grant these blessings and confirm what's been said, for the Glory of God. In the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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