The renown of William Branham
<mediaplayer>https://youtu.be/2OONP-cQ9h8</mediaplayer>
A testimony of a former message believer
I was raised in the message from birth and, under that protective wing of its embrace or rather "bubble", I did wonder why no one I spoke with had ever heard of this man, who was all too familiar to me.
I listened to his stories, I knew his family and children as though I sat at their dinner table. I visited his home town and saw all the places he told us about.
I cherished the stories I heard and I respected this man above most any other.
That message world I knew was my world. Why was it so very different from everything else? No one had heard of him. When I was asked what I believed, it was so much easier to just say: Oh, I'm kinda like a branch off of Pentecostal but nondenominational...
I reasoned in my own mind that perhaps, in his day, everyone knew him! Of course they did! Right? And my, how very privileged I was to know this "in my day".
I reasoned that he had indeed had a world-wide ministry but the world had rejected him and, therefore, we also were rejected. Billy Graham moved on. Oral Roberts went on. But William Branham.... He died tragically. His tapes still play in a small sect of homes here and there. That small sect still quote him as the prophet of "their day" though he died over a generation before.
They claim a word for "today" that has long gone by and they refuse to move forward. The mana isn't fresh. It doesn't produce a Christ-like spirit. It didn't move forward. It halted with a man and that man is what and who they continue to point you to.
A man the world by far really didn't know and has never heard of.
Go to the farthest places from you and seek out someone and ask them who Jesus is. Perhaps they follow him, perhaps they don't. But I'll bet you 9 out of 10 they have at least heard of him.
Jesus - the last true prophet sent by God. Jesus - the son of God. Jesus - who came to reconcile, redeem, restore. Jesus - the savior of the world. Jesus - the lamb of God, the mediator forever. Jesus - the one who spoke and said: IT IS FINISHED.
So tell me why no one has heard of William Branham? Why are message followers so delusional in their thinking that they abelieve that the Catholic Church would bother to alter documents? Why they are hated of the world, when the world truly doesn't know they exist? They are but a grain of sand on the beach.
Bring that to their attention and they will tell you, it's because they are one of the few. The number will be so small for their rapture as to be a thief in the night. Remember in the days of Noah.... Only 8 souls were saved.
Good thing God said to whosoever will, huh?
Ask them why, when William Branham died, no one knew him at the hospital and wondered why this man drew such a large numbers of visitors? Why did his hometown newspaper need to interview and ask what on earth was going on? - to which they were told, he would rise again.
A man. Not a popular man. Not a famous man. His name circulated within fanatical groups and became less than the shake of a head in those who were mainstream.
Now ask yourself, if God sent a prophet to your day or your generation, would he be dead? Would his words reflect another time or another world altogether gone by?
Would he be a secret?
I know my God doesn't do anything half way. When the pillar of fire led the children of Israel by night, it was also a cloud by day and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM SAW IT. It encompassed them.
When my God parted the Red Sea, there was no question.
When my God sent his son to die on a cross for the sins of the world, never one time was the words "one of the few" used. He said ALL. Whosoever!
He then told his apostles and disciples to go into all the world and share the good news.
Only a cultish mindset withdraw themselves to a point that even the world looks upon them as odd. They close themselves off from society and society in turn leaves them alone. The world continues to spin and the cultish group tries very hard to pretend they are important.
I know the reason may seem rather weak at first glance, but think of it as a whole.
I guarantee you when Jesus does what he promised to do and that is to return: all the world will know.
He didn't promise to send a prophet to gather lose ends or restore a word. He promised to come again.
When Jesus said IT IS FINISHED. He meant it.
- Anna Barone
Video script
Who was William Branham?
To his followers, William Branham was one of the greatest prophets of all time, if not the greatest... next to Jesus Christ himself.
At the very least, they believe that he was one of the seven church age messengers and, therefore, at least the equal of Paul the Apostle.
They also believe him to be the angel of Revelation 10:7, and the fulfillment of Malachi 4, a prophet with the spirit of Elijah.
The problem is, if this were in fact true, one would expect that William Branham would be a well known figure.
But it is surprising that today hardly anyone has ever heard of William Branham.
While tens of millions of people around the world knew about him in the 1940's and '50's, today most people in and out of churches are unaware he ever lived. Personally, I think that the primary reason is that Branham’s followers are few and self-isolating.
Compare this to the ministry of Jesus Christ. Jesus was not known outside of Israel at the time of his death, but within 30 years after his resurrection, the new Christian church came under the direct persecution of the Roman emperor Nero in A.D. 64.
In fact, at least two of the apostles, Paul and Peter, were killed by Nero. A mere 35 years after his death, the whole Roman world knew who Jesus Christ was and his followers, the Christians, were being actively persecuted.
So how is it, that to both the Christian and non-Christian world, William Branham remains virtually unknown?
This is something that cannot be said of Jesus Christ or of any other true prophet or apostle in the Bible.
And it simply proves one thing… William Branham was not who he claimed to be.
Footnotes