Q&A with a Progressive Revelation Branham Minister
The following are a series of questions and answers between one of our editors (referred to as BTS Editor 2 or BTS 2 in the discussions) and a message minister from the progressive revelation sect of the message (referred to as BM2 - Branham Minister #2). Click on the link to go to the specific question and answer. You are currently on the topic that is in bold:
Question 1 - What is a prophet?
Question 2 - Was William Branham a prophet?
Question 3 - Moving on to other issues... like the Bible
Question 4 - The Trinity and other issues
This is the second in our series of questions and answers with ministers of the message. Please click here to go to the first in our Q&A series.
Initial comment from Branham Minister #2 (BM2)
My family followed William Branham's ministry since 1947 and I am a minister..... that gladly represents the impact of his ministry since his teaching of the Seals from 63 through 65. I have looked into the so called believe the sign and other critic groups and find them to be satanically destructive in intent and spirit.
I am a witness to the ministry of William Branham and most of the greats of the 50's and 60's also. Almost all of them ended up in some financial or crooked scandal....except for William Branham. That's why we...as a family.... followed William Branham's ministry even more closely....from that time. He NEVER CLAIMED he was anything and never took personal offerings....totally contrary to the others .....who passed the plate and scammed the people with all kinds of promised blessings for paying into the coffers. In William Branham's meetings...I personally watched scores of prophecies pronounced each night come to pass....some to my family and relatives and some to those who I didn't know...but coming through the grapevine of the church news of our city of Phoenix. The churches early on..... were more connected in spiritual purpose and rejoiced in the results of the campaigns here. I also have personal experiences....with William Branham.....that would be probably unbelievable to critics.....so I am a personal witness to the exacting supernatural aspect of that ministry. That's where I thankfully and humbly STAND!
Response from BTS Editor 2
Thanks for getting back to me, and thanks for the background about your stance.
We have from time to time had discussions with message believers and ministers concerning the message of William Branham. These are the guidelines that we suggest to keep the conversation civil and moving forward. If these guidelines are acceptable to you, I am happy to have the discussion with you.
Reading your email, if I may presume to correct something, Branham received many offerings and material items from people who followed his message.
And while it is not our intent to be satanic in our motivation, I can almost guarantee that you and I will have a lively discussion if you choose to have a dialog. Our main goal is to point to the One True Gospel of Salvation through the profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior… without human intercessors. We do our best to do this without malice or animus to anyone no matter where they stand in relationship to the message.
Being an administrator on this forum is not my full time occupation, as you can appreciate. I will be as responsive as I can given my limited time.
BM2, I appreciate your time and look forward to hearing back from you.
BTS Editor #2
Further response from BM2
You said >>>> I appreciate that you cannot speak on behalf of the message. There are far too many sects within the message to allow anyone to do that. I would disagree with you that you speak on behalf of the gospel of Christ. The only thing that you can do is speak from your understanding of the Bible. My sincerely held view is that William Branham distorted the Gospel of Christ by mixing law and grace, something that we are warned against by Paul in the book of Galatians. I expect that is only one of many areas with respect to which we disagree.
I say......Yes sir and there are TOO MANY SECTS .....within the groups that claim the infallibility of Scripture and probably among those of your persuasion also and they are all in disagreement.
I have been a student of Scripture since I was a Pentecostal teenager and have looked into many of the more well known belief systems. They all claim they are the correct representation of the Bible and most have their favorite Scripture verses upon which they stand. Its always what they say is the Gospel and that is the way that it is with any movement....including yours. The MESSAGE of GOD that I believe....given to William Branham....can't even be specifically identified by nearly most if not all of those...... who claim to be followers of it. He told us....that there would be very few...that would actually have a GOD GIVEN REVELATION of the MESSAGE. I think that is quite Scripturally based and is SOUND DOCTRINE....since it is written that..... strait is the way and narrow is the gate that leads to life and FEW there be that find it.
I spend countless hours teaching the MESSAGE....STRAIGHT FROM THE BIBLE and have yet to find any unscriptural basis for any of it. I am not talking about Brother Branham's personal opinions....since GOD met with him many times and corrected many of his personal opinions with FACTUAL CORRECTION.
I have over 50 years of teaching Scripture Prophecy and have found no one who even comes to the outside edges of the MESSAGE and its vast indepth revealing of Scriptural Prophecy.
To your statement...that Brother Branham mixed Law with Grace...I might ask you....just which of the ten commandments do you find offensive? Paul...who you must refer to for your (whichever) opinion of Grace....also based many of his teachings on "AS ALSO SAITH THE LAW"! I am not referring to the practiced ordinances of the old Tabernacle....since it is WELL UNDERSTOOD....that the LORD JESUS was the FULFILLMENT of the types and shadows....without question. That's where the rubber meets the road...in being truly BORN AGAIN and having the GOD given ability..... to RIGHTLY DIVIDE SCRIPTURE. That's why the Word of the LORD comes to the PROPHETS....as it is expressed through the New Testament..... with Paul having the AUTHORITY to his Dispensation...as a Prophet.....to disannul any teaching outside of what he said ....was the CORRECT/TRUE Word of the LORD. He taught the MYSTERIES...that no other of his time was commissioned to teach....as was testified to by none other than Peter in 2nd Peter 3:16. That is the SCRIPTURAL PROMISE for today...as is stated in Rev.10:7.
Reply from BTS 2
I appreciate your response…. My email was to identify your willingness to engage in the discussion, and to speak about how we could do that. I assume then that you agree with the guidelines which have been put forth?
As for your statement that there are many sects outside of the message of William Branham, you are correct. There are many differences in even what could be called “basic Christianity” today. But I heard recently something from a very wise man… in fact, a former message minister. Forgive me for paraphrasing, but this captures the essence of his thought. He said something like this:
“In the essential things, UNITY.
In the non-essential things, LIBERTY.
In everything, GRACE.”
The essentials that we look to here are three specific items… 1) understanding of Christianity by the profession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 2) the inspired Word of God, the Bible, is our absolute, and 3) God does not get confused.
As you say, there are many scriptures which can be considered the hallmark of a particular sect or group of Christians. But they are scriptures from the inspired Word of God. So, I will use this simple saying when I consider questions and answers during this discussion.
As for the paragraph which you added that states a position concerning Law and Grace and the 10 commandments, I reviewed the email that I sent to you, and I didn’t see that there. So, I assume you are taking that from the web site, or perhaps the Facebook forum. And I would be delighted to discuss it with you appropriately.
If you would let me know if the guidelines are acceptable to you, then we can certainly start the discussion. Perhaps even with a discussion about Law and Grace. But I would suggest that we start with an agreement about how God’s Word defines a prophet of God. This is relevant to the discussion of Law and Grace, and frankly frames many more future discussions about whether William Branham is a prophet of God, or a false prophet. So, if you wouldn’t mind as we begin… could you please let me know how you frame the term “prophet of God” from a scriptural perspective. That would help me to place your comments into context as I read them and I would not wish to be over-reaching with my assumptions.
Let me know if the guidelines work for you, and then if you wouldn’t mind, could you please make sure I have your scriptural basis for what God’s Word defines as a “prophet of God”.
Then, as the guidelines suggest, I am happy to forward a question to you.
I hope you had a restful holiday season with your family, and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you,
BTS 2
Footnotes