William Branham, a Twentieth Century Prophet?

What is a Prophet?

A Prophet is a mouthpiece for God. God speaks through a person who is a Prophet in order to tell the people what He wants them to know. God said if there is a Prophet among you, I will speak to him through a dream or a vision. (Num 12:6) God said that when a prophet speaks anything in the name of the Lord, and it doesn’t come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. Deut 18:22) God said that if a prophet should presume to speak anything in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, that prophet shall die.

William Branham prophesied that God told him that his son Joseph was a Prophet. His son Joseph is now 58 years old and has never spoke anything in the name of the Lord to prove himself to be a Prophet of God. This is one of the failed prophecies of William Branham that he presumed to speak in the name of the Lord which did not come to pass.

William Branham prophesied that God told him Los Angeles would be under water before his son Billy Paul was an old man. His son Billy Paul is now 78 years old and will turn to age 79 this year. This is the age of an old man and Los Angeles is not under water as William Branham prophesied in the name of the Lord. God did not speak those words to William Branham. This is one of the failed prophecies of William Branham that he presumed to speak in the name of the Lord which did not come to pass. What does his son Billy Paul Branham say about this? Billy Paul said: “since Los Angeles is not yet under water, I must not be an old man”. I cannot give a prophecy about this because God didn’t tell me, but I will make a prediction. I predict that when Billy Paul Branham dies, Los Angeles will still be above water which will prove once again that his father was a false prophet.

William Branham prophesied that God showed him that the United States would be destroyed and be in ashes by the year of 1977. He continued to say that this same year would mark the end of the Gentile dispensation and the rapture would occur before the Lord turned back to the Jews. This is now the year of 2014. It has been 37 years since this prophecy was to have been fulfilled and the United States still stands and the rapture has not taken place. This is one of the failed prophecies of William Branham that he presumed to speak in the name of the Lord which did not come to pass.

William Branham presented himself as a Prophet of God to the people that he ministered to and the prophecies that he made in the name of the Lord did not come to pass, this makes William Branham a false prophet and not an ordained Prophet of God. God said that if a prophet should presume to speak anything in His name, which He has not commanded him to speak, that prophet shall die. William Branham did die at the young age of 54, a few years younger than his son Joseph is today.

In Old Testament times God had to use ordained Prophets to speak through for His people to know His will because there were no written scriptures for the people to read and know God’s commandments. It was not until God begat His Son Jesus who He sent to Earth as a Prophet to introduce God’s New Covenant with the people and through the mouth of Jesus was God’s words spoken. Those who were present during the ministry of Jesus and heard the words of God spoken through Him were responsible for the written Word of God to be published for all of us to read and know His will.

In these New Covenant times God has no reason to use an ordained Prophet unless He decides to inform the people of something new in His plan that is not covered in the scriptures that were written. If that is needed to be done, God speaks through someone with a gift of prophecy which is a gift of the Spirit, not for man to use, but for God to use.(1 Cor 12:10) Did William Branham have a gift of prophecy? It’s very possible and God could have executed that gift through him at times.

It is not necessary for a person to be a Prophet of God for prayers of healing to take place, because it is God who does the healing. It is not necessary for a person to be a Prophet of God for a prophecy to take place because it is God who does the speaking through a person’s lips. Having a picture taken with a halo of light appearing above a person’s head does not make that person a Prophet of God because there are other reasons for that to occur. Not even the Prophets of olden time, not the Apostles of the Lord Jesus, not even did Jesus have a halo of light appear above His head that is in any record. Was William Branham greatly anointed more than these who I mentioned?

One very important thing that we must keep in mind is that the scriptures of the bible contain the words of God that were published by those He used to pass down to us and nothing spoken by anyone can contradict those words of God. If any person that says they have a revelation to the effect that does not agree with written scripture, that revelation does not come from God, because God’s Word does not contradict God’s Word and any revelation that does that is a false revelation. William Branham, in his teaching of scripture erred in doing this throughout his ministry and was in error for doing this and because of his doing that, he lost his life at a fairly young age of 54 years old.

Now I want to quote exactly what William Branham said himself:

“Now, here we are then, right up here to the end of the time when... If God did call me (Now listen, this is not to be repeated.), if He did call me to be His prophet, then I'm certainly not holding the office of one. Prophets don't evangelize. A prophet hides himself in the wilderness alone with God, until he gets exactly directly what God wants him do, and he stomps right out and gives his Message, and back into the wilderness he goes again. He's not an evangelist, holding meetings and getting cooperations and all these things like evangelists do. He don't teach like evangelists. He has THUS SAITH THE LORD, and that's it, and that's all. He gives it, throws it out, and lets the chips fall where it will, and then away he goes again. Nobody knows where he's at, and he's in isolation somewhere. Now, I cannot... or... If He's called me to be that, I cannot be an evangelist. And if He's called me to be evangelist, I cannot be a prophet. Now, you get what I mean?”

William Branham allowed the people to believe that he was God’s Prophet for the purpose of increasing their faith in order for receiving their healing in his meetings. He said that the Angel told him that he must get the people to believe him in order for them to receive their healing from God and he did everything that he could to accomplish it. Because he allowed the people to believe that he was a prophet, the people believed everything he said even if it was against scripture and that’s where the greatest harm has been done in the church.

So there you are. William Branham knew that he was not a Prophet and said so. God’s Word proves that he did not pass the test that would qualify him to be a true Prophet and besides that according to God’s Word, he was a false Prophet whose prophecies did not come to pass.

I don’t know what else to say other than to believe the Word of God, believe the inspired scriptures, believe the bible, believe the words that Jesus spoke and turn away from the private interpretations of scripture that man has taught and which are wrong.

I apologize for quoting a lot of scripture here, but this is important and relevant for the church today.

2 Thess 2:7-12 For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now allows will allow, until he is taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

 Many good people have believed a lie in this day because of the signs and lying wonders and are under strong delusion and fail to believe the truth.

Yes, William Branham is gone, but there are a lot of his disciples who continue to teach in their churches the false doctrines that he developed. Without a doubt, many good men of God who have been deceived and believe the lies that have been promoted by the WBEA and the VOG recording organizations headed by William Branham’s sons.

What will you now do with this knowledge in light of God’s Word that points you to the truth?

Return to William Branham Index Page, click here