What you are about to read here is about the Serpent who
began to interact with mankind in the Garden of Eden and what he is doing
today. To be certain that you know who the Serpent was and is today, let me
introduce him to you. This is nothing more or less than the devil incarnate,
first taking over a beast in the Garden of Eden that God had created and today
as an angel of light and the antichrist whose purpose in this day is to deceive
mankind about the truth of God’s Word in the Bible. There is a long history
about what the Serpent has done down through the ages since he introduced
himself in the Garden, but we are going to skip all of those years and
concentrate on his present and recent past exploits.
There is a lot of teaching that the antichrist is a
certain man with supernatural power that is coming to take control of all the
Nations in the World and perform many evil exploits in the end time, but that
is not true and is not going to happen. The antichrist is nothing more than the
devil in spiritual form who is taking over the churches by deceiving the church
leaders into believing that their own private interpretations of scripture is
inspired by the Holy Spirit who they believe is leading them in their ministry.
Although all of the present day churches are being
deceived and influenced by this antichrist spirit, we are going to examine just
one church ministry that has evolved over the past almost one hundred years and
has spread Worldwide causing believers everywhere to believe a false doctrine
instead of God’s true word.
We are going to focus our attention on the Ministry of
William Marrion Branham who started preaching in the 1930’s when he was about
21 years old. Even though the first major event in his ministry happened at
this time, we will first examine something that occurred some thirteen years
later and after that we’ll come back to the beginning with a clearer
perspective of the whole picture.
William Branham testified that in May of 1946 he was
visited by an angel that said he came from the presence of God. When this angel
spoke to him he knew that was the same voice that he had heard speaking to him
all his life, but this was the first time that he saw him as a man. I want you
to hang on to that statement that he made, speaking of the same voice that
he had always heard speaking to him, this is an important point. Well
anyway, this angel told William Branham that he was being given a gift of
divine healing. Now a gift of divine healing should mean that he could heal anyone
he wanted to at anytime. But everyone who has followed his ministry should know
that it didn’t happen that way. He couldn’t heal anyone. So the angel didn’t
give him a gift of divine healing. If the angel actually came from the presence
of God with a gift such as that, it would have worked every time that he wanted
it to.
The second thing that the angel told William Branham was
that he was being given two signs to help to get the people to believe him in
order for them to be healed. The angel said that he was being given two signs
just like Moses was given two signs to help him. But you see, that was not
true. The angel was wrong because Moses was given three signs, not two.
Now if this angel had come from God he wouldn’t have got that wrong. So the angel
was wrong on both counts. He didn’t give him a gift of divine healing and he
was wrong on the number of signs that Moses was given. Because of this I have
to conclude that this angel didn’t come from the presence of God. Now
there are two kinds of angels. God has his angels and the devil has his angels.
So what do you think?
Remember that William Branham made the comment that he
had heard that same voice speaking to him all his life. He started hearing that
same voice when he was just a small lad. That voice told him then that he had a
work for him to do when he got older. That same voice would speak to him in the
woods later on in his life when he was told that Jehovah of the Old Testament
was Jesus of the New Testament. This was in contradiction to scripture which
states that Jesus was the Son of God and not God himself. Do you now see how
that lying Serpent was moving down through time starting when William Branham
was a small child and continued to tell him things throughout his ministry.
One other thing this angel told William Branham was that
he would be with him as he ministered to the people. And for certain, the angel
had to be present because William Branham’s ministry could not succeed
without him. Many times in his services, William Branham said that he
could do nothing unless the angel was present. He said if the angel didn’t
show up, he might as well just dismiss the people and go home. You see, it was
this angel that did the work of telling William Branham the intimate secrets
and what knowledge Branham needed to know in order to get the people to believe
in his ministry of healing. Don’t believe this? You can read all about it in
the transcripts of his services. Like I told you before, the devil alias the
serpent has the power to do many things including giving William Branham
certain knowledge about things that were to take place making it appear that
William Branham was prophesying about things.
So as you can see, if you really want to know the truth,
that William Branham had no spiritual gifts other than the ability to hear the
things this angel of the devil told him. So you ask, why did this all happen if
you are really telling the truth? I’ll tell you why. This was all the plan of
the devil, to build William Branham up to the point where the people would
believe everything that he said and cause his false interpretations of
scripture to be accepted. Thus causing everyone to disbelieve God’s word which
is the entire plan of the devil from the very beginning.
Of course I will admit that healings did take place, but
not because William Branham had any gift of healing. Healings took place during
his meetings only because God honored the individual faith of the people and
provided the healing of their bodies that can only be done by God Himself. Way
too much emphasis has always been put on these healing services. Why is that?
I’ll tell you why. Even if a person receives the healing of their body, it is
only good for a short time and they will still die when their time comes. The
healing is only something to draw a person to God’s Word and to eternal life if
they believe His Word. In the case of William Branham’s ministry, obviously
which was not God ordained, the healings and the prophecies and the signs and
wonders were the devil’s method to drew the people to believing the false bible
interpretations taught from the pulpit when William Branham spoke. Do you now
see the trail of the Serpent?
Going back to when the angel visited William Branham,
there was something else that the angel told him. The angel said that it was
necessary for the people to believe him in order for them to receive their
healing. He also said that if the individuals didn’t receive their healing
then he should just pray for them and walk away. Does this sound like
someone having a gift of healing ordained by God? I don’t think so. Well, it
became very plain that William Branham did everything that he could think of in
order to get the people to believe him. He obviously believed that the end
would justify the means, but I can’t believe that was in the plan of God.
Deceiving tactics to obtain an end result is not the way almighty God would
approve of.
I saw many, many times in the beginning of his healing
services, before the angel showed up, that William Branham would refer to the
picture of himself with the light above his head in order to convince the
people that he was what he was promoted to be, a man with a gift of healing.
Then when his angel did show up he would immediately make the statement that he
was taking control of everyone’s spirit that was there. Since when does a man
need to take control of a person’s spirit? This doesn’t sound like the way God
would operate and it isn’t. But it does sound like something a spiritualist or
an evil spirit would operate. Do you really think that it would be necessary
for God to take control of a person’s spirit in order to heal a person’s body?
Now we will turn back to an event that happened near the
start of William Branham’s ministry. In June of 1933 after having a successful
tent meeting in Jeffersonville, William Branham was baptizing new converts in
the Ohio River when a strange thing happened. According to William Branham,
a bright light came down from above the baptismal scene and William Branham
said that he heard a voice speaking to him from above. He said that he heard
the voice tell him that just as John the Baptist was the forerunner of the
first coming of Jesus, his message would forerun His second coming. Here was
the first mention about William Branham’s message that would be the theme for
his followers for all the years of his ministry. For this to be such a
notable event, according to my investigation William Branham never mentioned
this in public until some 19 years later. Well it turned out that this
so called message of his has been adopted by those who have followed his
ministry as being everything that he preached about. This was the beginning of
the deception planned by the devil that he had groomed William Branham for
since he was a young boy when he first spoke to him. Over 1200 sermons that
this man preached over his lifetime that culminated in interpreting the
scriptures to mean something other than what was written.
Throughout his ministry William Branham had been promoted
to be associated with many bible characters and events in order to establish
his authenticity as a God sent prophet, teacher and healer. He was associated
with Moses in regard to the supernatural signs he was supposedly given,
with his name change to a last name with seven letters in it, which was
untrue, with the prophet Elijah, the messenger to the seventh church age
and many other things, all of which was designed by the voice of the angel
which led him all the way. The same angel which had spoken to him all his life.
But the devil needed just one more thing to insure that
his legacy as a prophet healer would remain long after he would die and provide
the incentive for future generations to accept his teaching as the true
interpretation of the Holy Scriptures. So during a meeting in Houston Texas in
1950 a photographer developed some pictures that were taken during the meeting
and found that one picture on his roll of film was of William Branham with a
light over his head like a halo. Now I’m certain that God could have caused
that to happen and even caused the light to appear above his head in the
presence of all who were in the auditorium, but I don’t believe that anyone
witnessed it. One thing that I do believe because of all that has become
apparent to me is that it certainly served the devil by giving the people
something for them to idolize and that certainly doesn’t serve God’s purpose.
Now this title that I have given to this article “The
Trail of the Serpent” was the title of a message that William Branham had
intended to give when he returned to Jeffersonville. Unfortunately he didn’t
quite make it. It was said that this message he intended to preach was to
expose some things that were wrong in his ministry and its organization. I
believe that he had recognized the same trail of the serpent that I have
described. I also believe that the devil didn’t want him to preach that
message and arranged for that drunk driver to be on the road that had a head-on
collision with him. Well no matter why it happened, it didn’t prevent the
serpent from continuing on in his mission to try and pervert the truth of God’s
Word because it is continuing on even today. Now the torch has been passed on
to William Branham’s sons who are diligently spreading the false teaching of
their father to those parts of the World where the people are more gullible and
accepting because of the signs they are told about. One thing that I am certain
of is that God is certainly not pleased with the fact of the Branham family
promoting this false bible teaching as “the Voice of God”. So that should certainly
make the devil to be pleased that they are accepting this false doctrine as
“the Voice of God”.
God’s people need to open their eyes to the fact that
“signs” mean nothing unless they are followed by sound, true bible teaching
just as it is written. It is written in scripture that even the devil can
produce signs and wonders for the purpose of deceiving the people into
believing a lie. Our only standard must be the written Word of God. That is why
God inspired the Holy men of past times to write the scriptures for us to read
and believe and not for some man to interpret for us.
It is my honest belief that William Branham was an
honorable God fearing man who was truly trying to do his best to serve God, but
he was no match for the devil who set out to deceive him for all of his life.
If Brother Branham would have just opened his eyes to the false things this
angel of the serpent was telling him, things that were not true according to
the scriptures, his ministry could have passed the scrutiny it has faced for
all of these years and would have been pure and without spot or blemish.
The trail of the serpent has traveled from the Garden of
Eden to the “Voice of God Publications” in Jeffersonville and because of the
efforts of Brother Branham’s sons, they have enabled the devil to publish his
lies around the World.
My prayer to God has been for a number of years to not be
passive in nature and allow me to write what I have written, but to be very
active and stop me in whatever way He would if what I am writing is not true.
When I started this article, I pleaded with God to prevent my publishing of it
if it was not completely true because it was my wish that I would not be
permitted to bring any harm to His Kingdom. So it must conclude that God is
pleased with the work I have done and all that I have presented is the truth.
If it wasn’t the truth, does anyone really believe that God would permit me to
say what I have said and allow me to cause a reproach on those that I write
about? I for one do not believe that Almighty God, the Creator of the Universe
who has the power to do anything He wills would allow me to without stopping
me. So it must conclude that God is pleased with my work and what I have said
is the complete and honest truth.
Now in regard to all the churches who are guilty of
allowing the people to be subjected to false teaching of bible doctrine and the
“Voice of God Recordings” who are misleading all of those who regard William
Branham as a Prophet Healer and his teachings as being a true revelation of
God’s Word, they will all fall and be laid waste when the Day of the Lord
arrives at the time of the end.
The following is a brief summary of why I have concluded
that the devil, the same serpent that appeared to the woman in the Garden of
Eden has planned and executed his work in Brother Branham’s ministry for the
purpose of deceiving God’s people to believe something other than the truth of
the Holy Scriptures.
1. The
result in the end was that God’s people have been taught that William Branham’s
interpretation of scripture, which was in violation of scripture, has been
revealed to him by God for those who are elected to receive it.
2. The
angel that visited Brother Branham in 1946 told him that he came from the
presence of God, but lied to him about being given a gift of healing and being
given two signs just as Moses was given two signs in his ministry.
3. The
angel visitor impressed upon him that he must get the people to believe him in
order for his ministry to be successful. Because of this mandate he did
everything he could to accomplish this by allowing the people to believe he was
a prophet and the fulfillment of many bible prophecies.
4. He
believed and fashioned his teaching on the premise that he was the fulfillment
of the return of Elijah because of the testimony of his wife who said that was
shown to her by God.
5. He
admitted that he was unable to minister to the people in the meetings unless
the angel was present to anoint him.
6. He
depended upon the angel to teach him the meaning of scripture including the
revelation of the Seals. Both of these things were against scripture. According
to scripture it is the Holy Spirit who is to be our teacher and the opening of
the seals is written to be by Christ and in Heaven, not on the Earth.
7. He
believed the voice of the angel when he was told that Jesus was God which is in
opposition to the testimony of Jesus in scripture.
8. Then
there were a lot of misleading things that he said during his services in order
to comply with what the angel said about the necessity of getting the people to
believe him. One was when he would ask the people before prayer for them, he
would say: “do you to believe me to be God’s prophet”, knowing this was wrong
he would immediately follow with: “I mean God’s servant”. Then he would ask the
people a question saying: ‘ have I ever said anything in the name of the Lord
that didn’t come to pass?” Now you know that no one is going to contradict him
during the service, so all you would hear was amen’s. The record shows that
there were many things that he said in the name of the Lord that did not come
to pass.
9. Then
one of the worst things that he did was to meet with some men in a motel room
the day after preaching his message on the seventh seal for the purpose of
changing a part of the message he had preached so what he said would not get
out to the masses of people. I wonder if the angel spoke to him and advised him
to do that?
Well,
that is enough of that because I believe that you should get the picture by now
that our Brother was being used and probably believed that it was by an angel
of God. I believe with all my heart that Brother Branham was convinced that he
was doing God’s will through all of this and that an angel of God was with him.
His Worldwide ministry and the effect of it on so many people was absolutely
extraordinary because of the signs that followed. This ministry could only have
been what it was because of a supernatural power behind it, but since it
consisted of teaching that deviated from bible scripture, it had to have been a
power other than God, because God would not contradict His own word.
The
trail of the serpent has traveled down through the ages and has corrupted all
of the churches along the way by making men think they are smarter than God.
The only way to put a stop to his deception of mankind is to flee from the
false teaching of man’s interpretation of scripture and let the Holy Spirit
reveal the truth of His Word to you just as it was written in the Bible by
God’s Prophets and the Apostles of Christ.
A
Footnote
I felt a need to include these additional comments
relating to what I have written just to state to the reader that I have not
written this article for my own benefit. I have agonized over the posting of
this for some time because I wanted to be certain that what I have written is
the truth and not some theory that I have developed on my own. I made a vow to
the Lord that I would not post this unless I was certain of the truth of it and
asked God to do one of two things so that I could be sure of its veracity.
So I begged the Lord to prevent my posting of this
article by whatever means He desired and keep me from doing harm to Himself,
Brother Branham or God’s people. I also vowed to Him that I would not post this
without receiving some kind of vindication of the truthfulness of what I have
written and assurance that it was His perfect will for me to publish it.
From this point on I will refrain to call this entity
that visited Brother Branham an angel and give him any credibility by doing so
and will in the future refer to him as the messenger of satan which is what he
was. Now with all respect to our Heavenly Father, I call on God to rid this
World of all things that are contributing to the deceiving of His people
including the picture, the Voice of God Recordings and all other things that
the devil is using to cause harm to true believers who are being fed with the
rotten manna of false doctrine instead of His true Word.
Written
by Ron Cox of Jeffersonville, Indiana
The
Bibleman
