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:
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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