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 59 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 to receive 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?

Repent and believe what the Bible says and NOT the “Message of the Hour” or “The Revealed word for the day”

 

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I am not a prophet

According to William Marrion Branham

When William Branham started his ministry after the visitation of who he said was an Angel of God who told him: “If you can get the people to believe you, nothing can stand against your prayers, not even cancer.” It was not enough for the supernatural signs to be in operation during his ministry to convince the people to believe him, they needed to believe that he was a prophet of God, so he allowed them to believe just that in order to strengthen their faith.

He first began to address himself as God’s servant only, then proceeded to let the people believe that he was a prophet to insure the belief of the people for their healing. Some of what he said is as follows:

Quoting William Branham

“Sir, you standing there. You believe with all your heart now. Do you believe me? Do you accept me as God's servant? Do you believe I'm His prophet that was sent here for your purpose, that you might be healed? Then will you obey what I tell you to do?”

“Now, look this way, sister. Will you obey me as God's prophet”

“Do you believe me? Will you obey me as God's prophet and servant, and believe that God sent me here for your healing?”

“Have you believed me, sir? Do you believe that I am God's servant, that I am His prophet, that He sent me here for you?”

So for years he allowed the people to believe him to be a prophet and that belief contributed to the success of his healing ministry.

Then nearing the end of his ministry as he observed the people elevating him above what God wanted to occur in his ministry, He attempted to make it clear that he was sent to be an Evangelist and not a prophet. During one of his services in Jeffersonville Indiana on June 1, 1962, he made the following statements.

Quoting William Branham

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? I don't know what to do. I've done reverently when He told me first, about me holding the people's hand and praying for them, and then know the secret of their heart, and all these different things. And brethren, that's infallible. You know that's to be the truth. Every one of you knows that. See? And how He told me it would blast across the world. And it's done it, just exactly. Every nation under the heavens has heard it. Everywhere, newspapers, tape recordings, everywhere. I don't know how it's ever done it, but throughout all the world letters coming in and people from way down in Thailand and the Hottentots back in there, how those missionaries has crowded back in there with those tapes and given that interpretation of the Word. And now, we hear from all over the world (See?), around the world”

“Now, as I have done the work of an evangelist (And here's my plea.), if that is pleasing to God, and I've done the work all right, trusting that I've pleased Him, asking forgiveness for all my mistakes, then He may be calling me from the field of evangelism to be His prophet. Then if it is, I'll leave evangelism. But if He calls me to be a prophet, I cannot be an evangelist. If I'm to be evangelist, I cannot be a prophet. I'm mixing the two offices; that's where I've always fussed about. Standing on the platform... It's never been good, successful. God has used it, but I've never thought it was His direct will; it's been His permissive will. Stand on the platform, a vision or two will knock you out almost. See? And then if you tell this person how to straighten hisself up and what to do, and then the next person stands there, he's expecting the same thing, and you can't tell him 'less Something tells you to tell him. And then the other people feel like you're a traitor or a backslider or--or a--a demon or something because you don't tell them what they want to know. See, that's not the office, the way a prophet operates.”

 

“A prophet stays back here till he stomps right into the hospital, or wherever he's going, with THUS SAITH THE LORD and say it and stomp back out again. He's no evangelist at all. He don't hold meetings and discuss things, he's got the Word of the Lord for whoever he's sent to.

If he's sent to the White House, he stomps right up in front of the White House and it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. If it's to the Governor of the state, whoever it is, it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. He don't fool around with a group of churches, trying to get them to come in and take the Word, and preach these things like evangelists, he's not an evangelist.

So you see, brethren, that's the reason I don't call myself a prophet. I'm not even in the office of one. See? Now, you understand what I mean? “

So, can you see and understand what William Branham said. He was not a prophet, God didn’t send him to be a prophet and he didn’t minister as a prophet. God, through His permissive will, allowed the people to believe that he was a prophet to be successful in his ministry.

Then because his followers believed him to be a prophet and when he began to teach, everything he taught was accepted as the correct interpretation of scripture. Not only was William Branham not sent as a prophet, he was not sent to be a teacher of scripture and consequently entered into error in his teaching. But his followers accepted everything he said and made a little god out of him. That’s just the reason that God removed him off the scene at such an early age.

A prophet of God would never contradict the written word of God which our Bible contains. No prophet of God, who serves as the mouthpiece of God would ever give his own interpretation of the written word of God, he would just state it the way it is written.. No prophet of God would ever state that you cannot accept just what is written in scripture, instead you have to read between the lines of scripture in order to get the true meaning, but William Branham did just that. See the following quotes from his sermons.

Quoting William Branham:

At first he taught the following:

“So anything, any teacher, any Bible expositor, anything else would teach you or try to get you to believe anything one little iota different from what this Bible says it, it's a false teaching. It's Satan again just exactly like it was to Eve. God goes right on, no matter what he does, what Satan does, God goes right on proving it to be so.”

 

“Now, I'm going to tell you what you must not do. Now, you must not misinterpret the Word. It means just what it says. It needs no interpreter. But if you're reading between the lines and try to make It say something, that in between the lines says something different than what the lines says, then it's wrong.”

 

William Branham said: “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.”

 

“If anybody teaches anything contrary to the Word, I wouldn't believe it”

 

William Branham throughout his ministry preached that if you hear a voice, or have a revelation, or read something between the lines (your own interpretation) and it doesn’t conform to what the scriptures say, then it’s wrong. Then he turned right around time after time and did the exact thing that he said you shouldn’t do.

Here is what he taught also and contradicted himself.

“You know, do you believe the Bible's written so you have to read between the lines, as I've said? You read between the lines. Not... The lines is right, but there's a between the line.”

“This Bible is hid from the wise and prudent. I don't care how great your school is, your seminary, you will never know nothing about God, until you get in love with God. You have to read between the lines. It's hid.”

“The Bible, you must read between the lines, because God has hid It from those who just read the word alone. I am quoting Scripture that He has hid It from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and will reveal It to babes such as will learn”

“Do you like to read between the lines? Why, the best part of the Bible is wrote between the lines. Sure it is.”

“Now, you're going to have to read between the lines. Now, you know, the Bible is written, the message is not altogether right on the letter, but it's between the lines. Did you know that?”

This teaching is in error in God’s eyes and must be rejected because it was not in God’s perfect will for it to take place. The truth of God’s Word as it is contained in the Bible is clear as it is written and does not appear between the lines. If you declare that you are reading between the lines of scripture, you are doing nothing but adding your own interpretation to it. The Bible says that the scripture is of no private interpretation.

Just as a footnote:

William Branham admitted that there was just one thing that had not happened that the Lord showed him. His interpretation of the tent vision that he received as being the start of a new ministry for him and declared it as “thus saith the Lord” never did occur during his life and ministry.

A true prophet of God is always one hundred percent accurate in all his prophecies or he is not a true prophet of God.

 

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