I heard a Voice Speaking to me
Said Brother William Branham
From the time when William Branham was just a small boy and throughout his ministry a voice spoke to him on many occasions. This voice would give him instructions about what to do in his ministry, reveal to him things that were going to happen before they came about and reveal to him about healings that were to take place. He said that he was commissioned by an Angel to take a ministry of divine healing to the people and was given two supernatural signs to assist him in order to get the people to believe that God would answer his prayers. During the course of his ministry it was reported that thousands of people received their bodily healing from God and millions of people received their salvation for eternal life by accepting the Gospel of Christ.
One voice that he heard, he said was speaking from a bright light which appeared over the River as he was baptizing new converts and told him that the message he was preaching, which was the Gospel of Christ, would precede the second coming of Christ to the Earth. Although he has passed away from this Earthly life, that same message is still being preached by thousands of preachers around the World.
For many years during his preaching William Branham would preach about God being in Jesus and would vaguely refer to what he believed about the possibility of Jesus actually being God in the flesh body of Jesus. I say vaguely refer to this belief because he was not absolutely convinced that was the case. The reason for this was because there were a few scriptures that could be interpreted that Jesus was God and many scriptures that indicated that Jesus was not. Even though, he used his belief in Jesus being God the Father to shape all of his future teaching in spite of the other scriptures which were not in agreement with his understanding.
Then on one occasion while he was in the woods hunting William Branham said that a voice spoke to him and said: “Jesus of the New Testament was Jehovah of the Old Testament”. When that happened, William Branham said: “That was confirming, of course, my message of Him, letting me know, assured that these thirty-one years hasn't been in vain.” This is what he recounted during a service when he was preaching on August 27th, 1961. Even before this voice spoke to him and as he said confirmed what he had always believed, all of his sermons had been instrumental in using the scriptures with his own interpretation to prove what he had always believed.
Now William Branham said on one occasion “If you say, "I heard a voice tell me this." If it's contrary to the Word, it wasn't God's voice. God's voice comes with the Word.” By the Word, he meant that Bible scripture had to conform to what the voice said or it was not from God because God does not speak to a person and contradict what is written in the Bible.
Let us just look at a few scriptures which should shed some light on this subject of Jesus being God the Father. I won’t quote them all here, but there are thirty six instances in the four Gospels where Jesus said that the Father sent him. Now if Jesus was the Father, did He send Himself? That’s not the way it works. A person doesn’t send himself; it takes two people, one to do the sending and another to be sent. It just doesn’t make any common sense for Jesus being God to send Himself. Following are just three scriptures where Jesus stated that the Father sent Him:
John 4:34 Jesus said unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God was your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
As you can plainly see in the last verse quoted, Jesus said that he did not come on His own, the Father sent Him.
Some quote the scripture in John 10:30 where it states Jesus saying: “I and my Father are one,” and use this as proof that Jesus and God the Father were the same person. Here is what William Branham said about this verse and others that speak to this same accounting.
He said: “Jesus prayed that the church and He would be one like He and the Father were one. That the church, we as members of the Body of Christ, would be one together just like He and the Father are one. And at that day we would know that He was in the Father--or Father in Him, and He in us, that together we were one.”
I agree with what Brother Branham about all believers being one with Him and the Father, but that doesn’t make us God the Father just because we are one with Him and it doesn’t make Jesus God because He is one with the Father. Following is more that Jesus said on this subject:
John 17:11 “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me that they may be one, as we are.”
John 17:20-22 : Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
There are many other scriptures in the Bible that can be interpreted both ways, that Jesus is God and that Jesus is not God, but the scriptures tell us that “no scripture is of any private interpretation”. We are not to interpret the scriptures; we are not to read between the lines, which means the same thing. What we should do it to accept the scriptures for what they are saying and nothing more.
Brother William Branham certainly must have heard a voice speaking to him about Jesus being God the Father, but the scriptures do not support that He is and if God spoke to Brother Branham and said that, then God contradicted His own Word and God would not do that. So it must be concluded that the voice he heard was not the voice of God.
To add more verification to the false belief that Jesus is God the Father, look at the following two scriptures that state things that Jesus the Son of God did not know, but was retained by the Father without anyone else knowing.
Mat 20:23 And he said unto them, to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
Mark 13:32 But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
If Jesus was God the Father, why would He not be aware of these things? Why can’t you see and accept what the scriptures are saying that prove that Jehovah and Jesus are two separate individuals?
A Prophet of God, if you still believe that William Branham was, could see these things and not contradict what the scriptures are saying. Let me give you another example as follows:
On August 30th 1964 Brother Branham was questioned about the apparent contradiction in the scriptures involving Acts 9:7 & Acts 22:9. Following are these two scriptures:
Acts 9:7 “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.
Acts 22:9 “And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard (not) the voice of him that spoke to me.
(The word “not” was added saying the opposite of what Acts 9:7 said)
Following is what he said when being questioned.
William Branham said: “How many has ever seen that before in the Bible? I have, and I can't explain it. See? I... The Lord will have to reveal it to me. I--I told you awhile ago; I have to be honest with you. See? I don't know. I'm sorry. If I--if I can't explain it, I'll be honest enough to tell you I can't. But I--I won't tackle it when--when I don't know.”
He went on to say: “I can't explain that, for one place it said they saw the Light and never heard the voice, or something like that; and the next place they saw the--heard the voice and never saw the Light. I can't explain it. See? I--I don't know what happened, and I won't know until the Lord reveals it to me; no more than I could tell you about marriage and divorce. I didn't know until He revealed it to me.”
Don’t you think that a Prophet of God would be able to explain something as insignificant as that? God shouldn’t have to reveal something as insignificant as this when all a person has to do is to do a word study on this and they would see that one of the translators added the word “NOT” in verse 22:9. This would then be obvious looking at both verses that those who were with Paul did in fact hear the voice.
Although, sometime after this he got it wrong during one of his sermons when William Branham said:
: “People were there to see these things, and know as Paul said in the days gone by, there's men with him who--who felt the earth shake and didn't hear the voice, but they--they seen the--the Pillar of Fire.”
Many have been taught that they must get the true revelation of what the scriptures mean. A true revelation is based upon understanding scripture and not accepting someone’s interpretation of what they believe the scriptures mean. Let us look at the following scripture as an example.
Matt 16: 15 He said unto them, but who say you that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
The revelation that Peter had was that Jesus was the Son of the living God; his revelation was not that Jesus was the living God. God gave Peter the true revelation about who Jesus was. How can anyone contradict what Peter said and how can anyone oppose the fact that Jesus knew and accepted that the revelation Peter received was true?
I don’t believe that your salvation is dependent upon your belief of William Branham’s assertions or upon my disclosure about the truth of scripture as I present them. Your salvation is only dependent upon the acceptance of the Gospel of Christ, that Jesus was the Son of God and was sent to secure your salvation for those who will believe. If there is a penalty for accepting someone’s private false interpretation of scripture I don’t know, that is left to God the Father who is the only Judge and author of our future for all eternity.
I heard a voice speaking to me and I believe it was the voice of God, so I leave you with this word. Let God and His Word be true and every interpretation of scripture be a lie.
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