Mistakes made by William Branham

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William Branham never saw the very high cloud of 1963

MATTHEW 17:11   And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Jesus promised us a prophet at the end time. John the Baptist was a powerful prophet, but he too made a mistake; he thought Jesus was not the Messiah. That was a serious error. But Jesus simply corrected the mistake by quoting Scripture and then highly complimented John for what he had done right.

Let us follow that example.

William Branham from America had the most powerful supernatural ministry of all the Pentecostal preachers. In addition, he had, by far, the deepest insight into the written mysteries of Scripture. As a result, many of his followers made a big mistake, as they felt that he was Jesus Christ, or the Son of Man, or the Voice of God. Many regarded him as being infallible. Consequently, God had to allow him to make some mistakes. The true believers would then recognize him as highly gifted, but still a man and not infallible. Certainly not God.

Brother Branham’s big confusion concerned the 28 February 1963 supernaturally high cloud formed at 42 kilometers height just north of Flagstaff, Arizona. He knew nothing of the cloud when it happened, but three months later he was convinced that it was formed by the 7 angels who, on 8 March 1963, visited him near Sunset Peak in Arizona. The cloud was actually formed 8 days earlier near Flagstaff which is 200 miles north of Sunset Peak. So, he got the place and the time wrong.

Three months later was long enough for his memory to make a mistake. Let us not blame him as my own memory is very poor about what I did three months ago.

Then brother Branham got his cloud facts further confused as he thought he was standing under the cloud when it formed.

He said in one place that the cloud was hanging in the air at a great height.

He also said in another place that the cloud was coming down.

Then he also has the cloud ascending up.

Which version is correct? Remember he was guessing as he had never seen the cloud himself.

63-0628M  O  LORD  JUST  ONCE  MORE
“Now science took the picture of It, you seen It, went on Associated Press. They didn't know what It was.

There is a Cloud hanging, twenty-six miles high.

That's fifteen miles, or twenty, above even where vapor is at. They don't know what it's all going about, and they are trying to investigate It.

And there, right under It, I was standing. And those seven Angels roaring out their voices,

of those Seven Seals, standing there”.

Here he admits that the cloud never went up nor came down but was just hanging in the sky.

But he insists, wrongly, that he stood under the cloud.

63-0630   IS  YOUR  LIFE  WORTHY  OF  THE  GOSPEL

“And say, let's say, maybe it's fifteen miles till you can't get no more vapor.

But this is twenty-six miles [high], and she hung there all day.

See? They don't know what It is. But, thank the Lord, we do”.

Wrong. The cloud was only visible for 28 minutes after dark. At that height it was an unnatural noctilucent cloud that can only be visible after sunset for a brief time.

When the 7 angels came to him at Sunset Peak they announced their arrival with a loud blast on 8 March 1963.

There was no blast on 28 February 1963 when the cloud appeared.

63-0630  THE THIRD EXODUS

“Go to Tucson; foretell it before it happened. Stand north of Tucson, witnesses standing here with it, when a blast come, that shook the mountains off the ground, almost.

And at the same time, a circle of Light hanging yonder in the air, when the science took the pictures now.”

"At the same time" is a mistake.

Here he admits that the cloud, which he calls a circle of light because scientists could not explain it, was hanging in the air, not going up or down.

He was hunting in the morning when the angels came to him with a great blast. The cloud, being an artificial noctilucent cloud at that great height,

could only be seen after sunset against a dark sky.

In addition, that blast only occurred 8 days after the cloud was seen. The blast happened at eight o'clock in the morning, not after sunset.

So, brother Branham has his facts wrong because he never saw the original cloud. He wrongly guessed that the cloud formed when the angels visited him.

Now, in this next quote, he has the cloud ascending up.

63-1110   HE  THAT  IS  IN  YOU
“Now, some sister here, Billy just showed me, was nice enough to go get this Life magazine, this picture, and blow it up, of that of the seven Angels, and have it taken and sent to me. That is the picture. And now if you'll notice here, as it was leaving, ascending back, when the Angels had brought Their Message, it was in the form of a pyramid; just exactly what I told you, three months before it happened, the way it would be. Is that right?”

Brother Branham thought the angels formed the cloud as they ascended back up into the sky.

Then, in this next quote, he has the cloud coming down. Again, he claims he was standing under the cloud.

63-0802  PERSEVERANT

“And you know, not in that time, I didn't know it; but cameras from all over the country was taking the picture of That, as the white cloud settled down, went on the Associated Press. I think your Chicago paper packed it, all around. Life magazine packed it.....That, see, that was it right there, just exactly the way it said it,

standing right under It when It come down and formed.

And here It come, settling down”

STANDING  IN  THE  GAP    63-0623

“And, now, I didn't know at the time,

that they were taking pictures of that, scientists was,

as the Angels lowered themselves from Heaven,

to bring the Message.”

Please remember, the cloud was seen after sunset but the angels came in the morning.

The cloud and the angels were two separate events that happened 8 days and 200 miles apart. Unfortunately, brother Banham mistakenly thought the cloud and the angels were the same event. Hence the confusion.

63-0623  STANDING  IN  THE  GAP
“Brother Fred Sothmann, I know he's here. And I'm pretty sure Brother Norman is here. We was up...

I had to go to Houston about getting that little boy saved from the electric chair. And then I went back and I went hunting up there with the brethren.

And that morning, I was standing there picking cockleburs, or what they call goatheads there, burrs off of my trouser leg. And the blast did just exactly the way It said it. Is that right, Brother Fred? And I must have jumped way off of the ground. And just above me was the Angels of the Lord that sent Message back, for me to come here to break these Seals.”

He was in Houston, Texas on 4 March. So, this happened after 4 March and before 10 March.

The hunting season at Sunset Peak for javelina pigs opened on 1 March and closed on 10 March.

The angels came on 8 March according to his daughter Becky in her article “Return to Sunset”.

The cloud was photographed after sunset while it was visible for 28 minutes against the dark sky.

It was too high to be seen against the glare of the blue sky during daylight because the air particles and smoke particles are too far apart to be visible at that height.

But the angels came to brother Branham in the morning.

Brother Branham gets the date of the cloud confused

THE  SEVENTH  SEAL  63-0324

“Notice, there's witnesses of three setting in here,

that a week ago (a little over a week ago)

I was up way back into the mountains, nearly to Mexico, with two brethren that's setting here, picking cocklebur--or sand burrs off of my trouser leg, and a blast went off that almost, looked like, shook the mountains down.”

This was preached on the 24 March.

“A little over a week”  before the 24^th March would be about 10 days earlier on 14 March. The hunting season closed on 10 March.

“A little over a week ago” would be  wrong.

This is obviously not an accurate date but places the angel's visit long after 28 February.

The angels were certainly not on the 28^th of February as that would be a little over three weeks ago from when he was preaching on 24 March.

63-0601 COME  FOLLOW  ME

“And just as I looked, right there was them Angels just as plain as They could be, setting right there in that picture. See? I looked to see when it was, and it was time, same,

about day or two before, or day or two after I was up there.”

The Cloud was seen on 28 February. A day or two before was 26 February, but the hunting season only started on 1 March, so that is very wrong. He was not hunting illegally.

A day or two after 28 February would be 2 March. But he preached in Houston, Texas which is 1000 miles from Sunset Peak, on 4 March.

He drove from Houston to Tucson on 5 March, and thus, he only got to Sunset Mountain on 6 March. The angels came to him on 8 March.

He obviously got confused over the date of the cloud and the angels’ visit that was 8 days after the cloud.

Getting dates muddled up does not make him a false prophet. It just makes him human. But it proves that he was not infallible.

He knew nothing about the cloud when it happened.

The cloud was not an event.

The cloud was a sign pointing to a great event, the Revelation of the Seven Seals, that was soon to happen.

The Revelation of the Seven Seals would make it possible for us to understand the written Bible.

The importance was not on the man, William Branham, but on his revelation of the mysteries of God. That is what turns us into the wise virgins.

DANIEL 12:10   … but the wise shall understand.

64-0419  THE  TRIAL

One day at the river, I was baptizing five hundred people at the river, when, all of a sudden, this same Light that come in when I was a little boy. And I had told the people I had been seeing It. They said I was dreaming and it was some kind of a mental conception that I had. But before better than five thousand people, at two o'clock in the afternoon, in 1933, out of the skies come this Cloud coming down, speaking these Words, "As John the Baptist was commissioned to forerun the first coming of Christ,

your ministry will forerun the second coming of Christ,"

The emphasis was on John the Baptist as a man to forerun Christ as a Man. John pointed out Jesus as a Man amongst men.

But, the emphasis today is not on William Branham as a man, but rather on the mysteries he revealed in the King James Bible.

That way Jesus is revealed as the Word of God that can be understood because the mysteries reveal Jesus walking through the pages of the Bible.

REVELATION 10:7   “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery (singular) of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.”

The secret mystery (singular) of Revelation 10:7 was not brother Branham preaching the mysteries. The mystery (singular) is when the Bride individuals are able to prove what they believe just from the King James Bible.

Once we understand the revealed mysteries (plural) of God, only then we can return to the beliefs of the early apostles who wrote the New Testament. That return back to the beliefs of the first church age is the great mystery (singular) of God.

That is why brother Branham was not involved when the supernatural cloud was seen. The emphasis was not on him as a man, the emphasis is on the ability of the Bride individuals to understand the written mysteries that he revealed and return back or be restored to the beliefs of the early apostolic fathers.

MATTHEW 17:11   “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.”

Has his Message restored us to the apostolic New Testament?

The harvest only happens when the last seed is the same as the first seed that was planted by the apostles.

We are supposed to use his quotes to understand the Bible. We must not try to interpret his quotes into unscriptural ideas.

63-0707   THE  INDICTMENT

“I don't care what you believe; it's what the Bible says.”

63-0707   THE  INDICTMENT

“Where is He crucified at? From the pastors. You hypocrites.”

Nobody should preach unless they are Scripturally accurate.

64-0830   QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.3

“To make me the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, would be an antichrist.”

Brother Branham had much to teach us which should make us highly respect him, but we also need to check everything with Scripture because he did make mistakes at times.

The early church checked what Saint Paul said.

ACTS 17:10   “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

:11   These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind,

and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”

Br Branham was confused over Vicarius Filii Dei

The Roman Catholic church made the fatal mistake of getting involved in politics. Pope Stephen II went north to Paris in AD 754 in order to crown Pepin as king of the Franks.

He then fooled Pepin with his false “Donation of Constantine,” which claimed that all the land in the West had been given to the Pope. Stephen II claimed that Peter had written the document.

Pepin gave Pope Stephen land, shown in red on the above map, known as the Papal States. This made the Popes feel like kings.

This political involvement just dragged the Popes into the mess of human politics with its wars, ruthless ambitions, and endless greed.

This forged “Donation of Constantine” described Peter as “vicarius filii dei” (In place of the Son of God).

The Popes then claimed importance by pretending to be the Successors of Peter.

Pope Nicholas I then wore a single crown around AD 860 to show that he was equal to the kings.

By 1315 this had become the Tiara or Triple Crown to show that the Pope was above the kings.

“Vicarius Filii Dei” was never written on a triple crown nor on the Pope’s throne. It only appeared once on that forged document from AD 754.

58-0927  WHY ARE WE NOT A DENOMINATION

“I've often heard that over the throne of the pope of Rome, it's wrote, ‘Vicarius Filii Dei.’ I often wondered if that was true. Draw a line, and draw it up in figures in Roman numerals, and see if it is. It's exactly the truth. I stood that close to the triple crown of the pope in a glass: Jurisdiction of hell, heaven, and purgatory. See? So, those things, I've just come from there, just come from Rome and know it's the truth. Now, we know it's pictured out.”

‘Vicarius Filii Dei’ is not written on any triple crown. It is not written over the Pope’s throne. That is a mistake.

57-1006  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS ON  HEBREWS.3

“I stood right there in the Vatican City and verified it with the Bible.
The pope wearing a triple crown, Vicarius Filii Dei, all those things which I've heard and so forth, it's absolutely the truth. A religious group that governs every nation under the heavens, and it does.”

No triple crown has this writing on it.

58-0927  WHY ARE WE NOT A DENOMINATION

“And here the seven kings: five are fallen (which was at that time), and one is (That's the one that come now, which was Caesar.), and another is yet to come (which was Herod, which was wicked);

[Caesar was the Roman Emperor. Herod was the king of the Jews. Herod is not part of this list.

The one who is yet to come was Galba, the Roman military general who usurped the position of Emperor to end the line of Julius Caesar’s family.]

“Now watch, watch how perfect it is.

... and when he cometh, he must continue for a short space.

Does anybody know how long Herod reigned? Six months. Pulled his mother through the street on a single tree of a horse, and burnt the city, and laid it onto the Christians, and fiddled on the hillside while they were burning the city. Six months. And see, ‘And the beast...’ Now watch, look what a rascal that he was.”

Brother Branham is actually describing what Nero, the most evil Roman Emperor, did. He was called Nero Caesar.

Herod did not reign for 6 months, he ruled the Jews for about 40 years.

“Five have fallen.” Caesar. Augustus. Tiberius. Caligula. Claudius.   “One is”. Nero.   “One is yet to come”. A military general Galba ruled for 7 months and was killed.

Brother Branham got Herod muddled up with the Roman Caesars.

54-0513  THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST

“If we'd take the history, and go right back and show it, where the kings had fallen in Rome, since the Babylon kingdom.

... one is (Nero) and one is to come; and he must continue a short space (about six months when he comes.)”

‘One is’ (Nero). Correct.   Then Galba followed for seven months as a military usurper.

61-0806  THE  SEVENTIETH  WEEK  OF  DANIEL
“In the Latin--Roman alphabet is 666 is Vicarius Filii Dei, which is ‘Instead of the Son of God,’ on the pope's throne.”

“Vicarius Filii Dei” was never written on a triple crown nor on the Pope’s throne. It was mentioned once in the forged document of AD 754 called “The Donation of Constantine”.

58-0927  WHY ARE WE NOT A DENOMINATION
“I've often heard that over the throne of the pope of Rome, it's wrote, ‘Vicarius Filii Dei.’

I often wondered if that was true. Draw a line, and draw it up in figures in Roman numerals, and see if it is. It's exactly the truth.

I stood that close to the triple crown of the pope in a glass: Jurisdiction of hell, heaven, and purgatory.”

‘Vicarius Filii Dei” was never written on the Pope’s throne nor on his Triple Crown.

54-0513  THE  MARK  OF  THE  BEAST
“Watch, it's the number of a man.
And up over the pope of Rome, it's wrote, ‘VICARIUS FILII DEI.’ It's wrote in Roman letters.”

Not sure of what brother Branham means when he says that Vicarius Filii Dei is written over the Pope. Nothing is written over the Pope on his throne.

63-0319  THE SECOND SEAL

“In other words, up over the Vatican (Now, I've been right there.) it's wrote Vicarius Filii Dei, and it's wrote in Roman numerals.”

Now, brother Branham claims that Vicarius Filii Dei is written over the Vatican. That is meaningless because the Vatican is a country. You cannot write something over a country.

54-0515  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS
“What are the Latin words over the Vatican City? We want to know how they add up to 666 and what they mean.
Well, it isn't over...

The Latin words isn't over the Vatican City; it's over the throne of the pope where he sets on his throne.

It's wrote up there, VICARIUS FILII DEI.”

Here, brother Branham denies that it is written over the Vatican. But he claims, wrongly, that it is written over the Pope’s throne.

“Vicarius Filii Dei” was only written once on a forged document in AD 754. And it only referred to one man, Saint Peter.

REVELATION 13:18   “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:

for it is the number of a man;

and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”
A beast is a power. The power of the Roman Catholic Church is based on their false claim that only their succession of Popes has the authority of Saint Peter to open the door to Heaven.

His facts for rebuilding the Temple are wrong

Consider the rebuilding of the Temple and the city wall after the captivity of the Jews in Babylon

THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“Now, the going forth of the commandment to rebuild Jerusalem, which was on the 14th day of March. If any of you want to put that down, in the Hebrew you'll find it called N-i-s-a-n-Nisan, which means "March." The issue was given on the 14th day of March,

B.C. 445--the issue went forth to rebuild the temple.

You understand it, as you people have read the Scriptures then. Until it was completed,

it taken forty-nine years to complete the temple and the city--to rebuild it.”

These facts are very muddled up. The date 445 BC is wrong.

In 538 BC Cyrus gave the order to rebuild the Temple, NOT in 445 BC.

Babylon fell in 538 BC and Cyrus gave the order to rebuild the Temple. In 536 BC they laid the foundation. The Temple was finished about 516 BC.

So, it took 21 years to complete the temple, which happened in the sixth year of Darius who ruled from 522 BC to 486 BC.

“To complete the temple and the city”

Build the Temple was one command in 538 BC.

Build the city wall (buildings only became a city when they had a wall around it) was a different command about 91 years later.

In 445 BC Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah the order to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. This took 52 days. Jerusalem could not be a city until it had a wall around it.

So, the time to rebuild the Temple and the city wall was about 91 years. About 86 years of that time saw nothing being built.

THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“Look, there's exactly forty-nine years in the time of the building of the temple, the seven prophetic weeks, seven weeks, 'cause there's was seven weeks determined to the temple, to rebuild the temple; and it was built in exactly forty-nine years. Now, we have the meaning of the time of weeks, 'cause if the Bible said, the Angel said it taken seven weeks until the building of the temple... And it was exactly forty-nine years building the temple from March the 14th B.C. 538 until the temple was restored again and the streets was restored, exactly forty-nine years.”

Here brother Branham is correct. Cyrus gave the order to rebuild the Temple in 538 BC.

Brother Branham thus has two starting dates for the Temple:   445 BC or 538 BC.

445 BC was not the rebuilding of the Temple.

They built the Temple in four years. But they had to stop working for 17 years after the foundation was laid. So, it took about 21 years to complete the Temple.

There was no 49-year period of building a Temple.

Then from 516 to 446 BC there was a 70-year gap until Nehemiah rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem in 52 days.

Ezra brought the treasure back to the Temple but no building occurred.

Basic factual mistakes are made

THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“Now, we got two--three different calendars. We go back to the old astronomy calendar, and we find out that in the Julian calendar there is 365 ¼ day in a year. They timed that by the passing of Sardis and the different stars and so forth, they timed it. Now, we find in the Roman calendar, that we live under now, 365 days in a year by the calendar. But in the Christian or prophetic calendar we find there's only 360 days in a year.”

There is no star Sardis.  The Egyptians learned about the 365¼ days by timing the calendar from the first appearance of the star Sirius each year as it rises with the sun. Sirius is the brightest star in the sky.

The Romans, under Julius Caesar, learned about this calendar from the Egyptians.

THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“Now, now, Jesus, Messiah, rode into the city of Jerusalem, triumph, on the back of a white mule on Palm Sunday, April the 2nd, A.D. 30. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, A.D. 30.”

Jesus rode in on a donkey, not a mule. 

White? There is no mention of the colour of the donkey.

AD 30 is the wrong date.

61-0806  THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“From the time God made the promise to Abraham (Don't miss this.)--

… . Or when they rejected Christ and killed Him in A.D. 33 from the time God made the promise to Abraham, Genesis 12:3, to the time of Christ being rejected in A.D. 33, by the Jews,”

In this same study he says AD 33 and AD 30.

To get the correct date we must refer to the Bible. Palm Sunday was AD 33.

He speaks of a seven year tribulation

THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“Do you know where all the great miracles of Revelation appeared? Over in the Jewish age, not in ours. There's nothing recorded in it, just the church getting ready and going out. Sure, with the power of God we can do--work miracles and exploits; we know that. But the real thing was over here to the Jews; I mean, the real working power, miracle working.

…  And now, we see that all this stuff was to take place was over in this time of the seventieth week, the last week. Now, if they've already had sixty-nine weeks and lived it exactly the way God said they did, and it happened exactly the way God said it would do,

then there's one more week promised to the Jews.

…  The moment He starts that seventieth week or seven years, the church is gone

…  Well, God did with the Jews just exactly what He said He would do in them sixty-nine years--or 483 years, but sixty-nine weeks.

And one week left, one week's yet determined.”

He keeps claiming there are 7 years left, when there are actually 3½ years left to the Jews.

53-0729  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS  ON  GENESIS

"There's seventy of weeks still determined on Thy people, and Messiah shall be cut off in between them." When He's taking away, the Gentiles will be given a place, and then they got three more years and a half to be preached to, of Jesus Christ.”

Here he says the Jews only have 3½ years left, not 7 years. That is correct.

A very wrong prediction concerning 1977

61-0806  THE  SEVENTIETH  WEEK  OF  DANIEL

“A striking statement: From the time God made the promise to Abraham (Don't miss this.)--from the time God made the promise to Abraham, Genesis 12:3, to the time of Christ being rejected in A.D. 33, by the Jews, according to Galatians 3:16 and 17, and according to Usher's (U-s-h-e-r-s) Usher's Chronology of the Hebrews, the power of God was with the Jews exactly 1954 years. God dealt with the Jews 1954 years according to the chronology of the Jews and according to Galatians 3:16 and 17. I got many more Scriptures, but just give that. Then after they rejected Christ, He turned to the Gentiles to take a people for His Name. You want a Scripture on that, the place? Acts 15:14.”

[Irish Archbishop Ussher’s date for the call of Abraham (then known as Abram) was 1921 BC.

1921 BC to 33 AD =  1921 + 33  =  1954 years.]

“Now, counting the time, we find that we have exactly (Listen.) seventeen years left, and we will have the same span of time given to us as God dealing with us in the power of the Holy Spirit since A.D. 33 until 1977, the same span of time of 1954 years. God deals with us the same as He did with the Jews. See? How about that?”

But here he makes an arithmetic mistake. And Message-pastors were too scared to try to correct him.

33 + 1954 = 1987     NOT 1977.

So, the date of 1977 was a miscalculation that nobody checked. And nothing happened in 1977 in terms of America being destroyed (vision 7)  or a cruel woman ruling America  (Vision 6).

So, the stigma of a wrong prediction has many consequences as critics of brother Branham could attack him.

Worse than that is Message-believers thinking that they must defend his errors and condemn those who correct his errors.

LAODICEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.9

“The Laodicean Age began around the turn of the Twentieth Century, perhaps 1906. How long will it last? As a servant of God who has had multitudes of visions, of which NONE has ever failed, let me predict (I did not say prophesy, but predict) that this age will end around 1977.”

Brother Branham has 7 prophetic visions in 1933. But nothing ended in 1977 which was a prediction based on an arithmetic mistake.

LAODICEAN CHURCH AGE  -  CHURCH AGE BOOK  CPT.9

“Then in the sixth vision there arose up in America a most beautiful, but cruel woman. She held the people in her complete power. I believed that this was the rise of the Roman Catholic Church, though I knew it could possibly be a vision of some woman rising in great power in America due to a popular vote by women.

… The last and seventh vision was wherein I heard a most terrible explosion. As I turned to look I saw nothing but debris, craters, and smoke all over the land of America.

Based on these seven visions, along with the rapid changes which have swept the world in the last fifty years, I PREDICT (I do not prophesy) that these visions will have all come to pass by 1977. And though many may feel that this is an irresponsible statement in view of the fact that Jesus said that 'no man knoweth the day nor the hour.' I still maintain this prediction after thirty years because, Jesus did NOT say no man could know the year, month or week in which His coming was to be completed. So I repeat, I sincerely believe and maintain as a private student of the Word, along with Divine inspiration that 1977 ought to terminate the world systems and usher in the millennium.”

1977 did not see the Roman Catholic church ruling America. Nor did it see America destroyed. This failed prediction gave much ammunition to the critics of brother Branham.

Pastors elevated to rule the church

Brother Branham made the mistake of elevating the pastor to be the complete authority of the church.

In the first church age, each local church was run by a group of local elders.

57-0922   HEBREWS CHAPTER SEVEN.2

“But the full and complete authority of the church is the pastor.

Read that in the Bible, see if that's not Bible order. That's exactly right. There is no one above the elder. I have nothing to do with what Brother Neville does here. That's up to you and Brother Neville.

If Brother Neville wanted to preach Jehovah Witness doctrine, that's up to him and you. See?

If he wanted to preach anything he wanted to, that's between you and him. That's all. If the congregation votes for him in there, to preach that, that's all right. That's up to him.”

No Scripture says that the pastor has complete authority. The Roman Catholics elevated a priest to be in charge of a church.

No Scripture says that a pastor can preach what he likes. If he is not Scriptural he should not be in the pulpit.

Message churches adopted the denominational system of having one man in charge of a church as the head of the church. The pastor could preach whatever he thought was the truth. But pastors disagreed with each other. Different Message-churches evolved, believing different things. People owed their loyalty to their specific pastor, not to the Bible. Bible teachers became discredited for daring to disagree with the pastor and were condemned.

A sad irony developed from this mistake of allowing pastors to preach what they like. Pastors misinterpreted brother Branham's quotes.

Brother Branham never said the 7 Thunders had uttered.

But Pastors, desperate to be considered clever, quickly invented various 7-Thunders doctrines. Being in charge of the church, it was easy to force their congregations to agree with their different versions. Message-churches became increasingly Bible-illiterate. Especially as brother Branham was claimed to be infallible. Pastors could freely interpret carefully selected quotes to suit their doctrines.

Brother Branham did say that the function of the seven Thunders were revealed in the Seven Seals.

What the Thunders are about.

64-0830 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.4
Have the seven thunders which equals seven mysteries already been revealed? Were they revealed in the seven Seals, but are yet--but are yet not known to us as the thunders yet?
No,

they were revealed in the seven Seals; that's what the thunders was about.

But the Seven Seals revealed the Thunders to be a total mystery that we know nothing about in terms of what they are or what they say.

From the Seven Seals we only know the function of the Thunders, what they will do.

They will somehow give the Bride rapturing faith and give great power to Moses and Elijah to help them pull out the 144000 Jews. The Thunders will reveal the new name of the Lord but that will only happen when they utter and enable us to change into our new bodies. Brother Branham never revealed the new name of the Lord.

REVELATION 19:12   … and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

63-0324  THE SEVENTH SEAL

“And you'll find out that in that room, the revelation coming from God (just like all the rest of them has), that them... One of the mystery of that Seal, the reason it wasn't revealed, it was seven thunders that uttered their voices, and there it is perfectly,

because nothing knows anything about it; wasn't even written.”

63-0324   THE SEVENTH SEAL

“Did you notice when the Jews asked Him that? You know when we compared the Scripture here with Matthew 24 with the six Seals, the Seventh Seal was left out; because (You see?), Christ said only God Himself knowed, not even the Angels. No wonder, it wasn't even written. You see, they hushed; nothing take place then. Angels don't know it; nobody knows when He's coming. But there'll be a... There'll be seven voices of these thunders that will reveal the great revelation at that time.

So I believe, to us who... If we don't know it, and we--we--it won't be knowed till that time, but it will be revealed in that day, in the hour that it's supposed to be revealed in. So the thing for us to do is to be reverent before God and serve Him, and do all that we know how to do, and live good Christian lives.

Here now, we find that the Sixth Seal has been opened to us; we see it, and we know that this Seventh Seal cannot be broke to the public until that hour arrives.”

Message preachers now claimed that Message-followers are not part of the ignorant public that knows nothing about the 7 Thunders. They claim that we, the Message-believers know the Thunders.

63-0324   THE SEVENTH SEAL

“Now, that is this Seventh Seal. It's still is a notable thing. And we are... We don't know what it is as yet, because it's not permitted to be broken.”

Here he says we do not know.

63-0324   THE SEVENTH SEAL

“Now, there was some reason that God let this seven voices be thundered, because it must come (See?), for the... We find that Christ, the Lamb took the Book in His hand, and He opened that Seventh Seal. But you see, it's a hidden mystery. No one knows it. But it--it's right along with what He said: no one would know His coming; they also would not know about this seven thunder mystery. So you see, it's connected together.”

Here he said no one would know the seven Thunders as they are connected to the unknown Seventh Seal.

63-1110  SOULS THAT ARE IN PRISON NOW

“Remember, the Seven Seals was finished, and when those seven revealed Truths...

One of them, He wouldn't permit us to know.

We... How many was here at the Seven Seals, and heard? All of you, I guess. See, the Seventh Seal, He wouldn't permit it.”

The Seventh Seal cannot be known to us. The Bride.

63-0728  CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD REVEALED

“God's great mystery of how, it's a secret. He kept it a secret. Nobody knowed nothing about it. Even the Angels didn't understand it. See, He didn't reveal it. That's the reason, under our seventh mystery, when the seventh seal was opened, there was silence. Jesus, when He was on earth, they wanted to know when He would come. He said, Even the Son Himself don't know when it's going to happen. See, God has this all to Himself. It's a secret. And that's the reason there was silence in Heaven for a space of a half hour, and seven thunders utter their voices, and John was even forbidden to write it, see, the Coming of the Lord. That's one thing He hasn't revealed yet, of how He will come, and when He will come. It's a good thing that He doesn't. No.”

64-0719  THE FEAST OF THE TRUMPETS

“The Seventh Seal hasn't opened yet, you know. That's His Coming.”

The Seventh Seal never opened.

It is a total mystery as it reveals the Coming of the Lord.

65-1125 THE INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

And there when the Seven Seals opened, it declared it and proved it.

This statement is wrong. All Seven Seals cannot have opened if the Seventh Seal has not opened.

Do the Thunders utter from Heaven or from earth?

62-1230  IS THIS THE SIGN OF THE END SIR
Look where the voices was, the Thunders. Not in Heaven; on earth! The Thunders never uttered from the heavens.

The Thunders uttered from the earth. NOT from the Heavens.

63-0324  THE SEVENTH SEAL

The seven thunders in heaven will unfold this mystery. It'll be right at the coming of Christ, because Christ said no one knew when He would return.

One quote says not in Heaven. The other quote says in Heaven. You cannot just rely on a quote as quotes can contradict each other.

The many pastor-driven wrong beliefs about the seven Thunders have splintered the end-time Message into numerous opposing factions.

This is the sad consequence of brother Branham giving complete authority to the pastor.

But in another place, brother Branham gives the power to any local elder for a local assembly.

57-0908   HEBREWS CHAPTER FIVE AND SIX.1

“Show me by the Bible what's greater, in the Bible, than a local elder to a local church?”

This is Scriptural.

ACTS 20:17   And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.

ACTS 20:28   Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,

to feed the church of God,

which he hath purchased with his own blood.

The group of elders is responsible for preaching and Bible teaching. Bible teaching means proving your doctrines just from the King James Bible.

Peter said the same.

I PETER 5:1   The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

:2     Feed the flock of God which is among you,

taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

Elders do not demand a salary for feeding the flock. They work with their own hands to support themselves.

The Apostle Paul said:

I CORINTHIANS 4:12   And labour, working with our own hands:

Pastors, however, do demand to be in charge of the money, which is called filthy lucre.

Brother Branham admits his mistakes when corrected

Message-pastors claim that brother Branham is infallible and cannot be corrected.

Elijah had 7000 secret followers. While preaching on the Seven Seals brother Branham said, "Seven hundred" seven times. This insistence on the wrong number worried people. When they checked with him, he freely admitted that he was wrong and the Bible figure was right.

So, anyone who says that brother Branham cannot be corrected when he disagrees with the Bible is just totally wrong.
63-0324 QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS  ON  THE  SEALS

“Question 20. Brother Branham, did you mean to say seven thousand who had not bowed their knee to Baalim, or seven hundred?

Answer:
Seven thousand, I meant to say. Forgive me for that.

...  I just happened to say seven hundred. I didn't mean just seven hundred, I meant, you... I just didn't read it out of the Scripture. It just come to my mind while I was talking, and I just said seven hundred instead of seven thousand.

I make them mistakes all the time. I'm sure a dummy, so you forgive me. See? I didn't mean to do that.”

He admits that he often makes mistakes.

More factual mistakes that he makes

Four factual mistakes occur on one page of the Serpent’s Seed book.

Brother Branham’s sermon on Serpent’s Seed was a remarkable insight. But near the beginning he made four obvious factual mistakes.

58-0928  THE  SERPENT'S  SEED

“After the death of the apostles, there what come the Nicene fathers, and they went on for several years (three hundred and twenty-five years) finally came to Nicaea, France, where they had the great Nicene Council.”

‘Nicaea, France’. Nicaea is NOT in France, it is a city in Asia Minor, (called Turkey today) just below Istanbul or Constantinople.

He also says “…Nicaea, Rome”

61-0806  THE SEVENTIETH WEEK OF DANIEL

“… then come the Nicolaitanes who wanted to form an organization. The dignitaries got into it.

This was at Nicaea, Rome, when they had the Nicene Council.

And what did they do? They organized the church, then it begin to persecute the Christians. Then in the next church age, it almost, Christianity in the way of the baptism of the Holy Ghost was all wiped out.”

“Nicaea, France”  and “Nicaea, Rome”. Two conflicting statements.

Nicaea, France is wrong.

Nicaea, Rome meant that the Council of Nicaea was used to build up the power of the Trinitarian Roman church by forcing all the churches to believe the Trinity.

58-0928  THE  SERPENT'S  SEED

“And as I said it in the teaching this morning, each one of those church ages on up to that Thessalonica church age, the fifteen hundred years of dark ages, there was not one time but what He said, You still have My name."

There was never a Thessalonica church age. He meant the Thyatira church age.

The Dark Ages were 1200 or 900 years long depending on whether you count both the third and fourth church ages or just the fourth church age.

The Dark Ages ended around 1520 with Luther’s Reformation.

If the Dark Ages were 1500 years long, then Jesus was in the Dark Ages. Impossible. He was the Light of the world.

“And it's exactly three hundred and twenty-five years to the Laodicean council.”

No, it was 325 years to the Nicene council. The Laodicean Council was AD 363-364. At this Council, they left out the Book of Revelation.

Laodicean Council is a mistake. It should be the Nicaean Council.

He makes the destruction of Jerusalem by the pagan Roman General Titus to be the year AD 96.  It was the year AD 70.

54-0514  THE  SEAL  OF  GOD

“In A.D. 96, coming of Titus, coming down from the part, Jerusalem was compassed about with armies.”

Titus came in AD 70.

54-0515  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS

“And Titus besieged the walls of Jerusalem in A.D. 96, and burnt the city.”

Wrong. It was AD 70.

The claim that Noah watched Enoch cannot be true. Enoch died before Noah was born.

60-1124  IT IS I

“We're watching just as Noah watched Enoch, and knowed immediately after Enoch come, the judgment was going to strike the earth.”

62-0531  THE  CONFLICT  BETWEEN  GOD  AND  SATAN

“But Noah went right on preaching, anyhow. And all of his family and all the converts went right on believing, anyhow. All that was following Noah believed Noah. That's right. They had to make their choice, to believe what the world said, or believe what this mighty anointed prophet said.

So, he said, Now watch.

Enoch is going to leave, one of these days, church. And when it does, when Enoch goes away, we better get in.

We're going to miss Enoch. He's going to be taken up. So, we better get in. So, they watched closely as the days passed by.”

63-0318  THE  FIRST  SEAL

“You know, Noah watched Enoch, for when Enoch come up missing, he knowed judgment was at hand. He got to hanging around the ark,”

Noah did not watch Enoch because Enoch died 69 years before Noah was born.

Noah was 600 when he got into the ark.  That was 669 years after Enoch was caught up by God.

Getting the secret Old Testament name of God wrong.

63-0318  THE  FIRST  SEAL

“J-V-H-U.   It isn't Jehovah.”

It is J H V H       There is no U as Hebrew has no vowels.

Jesus did not change the name of Simon to Peter. Jesus gave Simon the surname of Peter. He became Simon Peter.

63-0318  THE  FIRST  SEAL

“Jesus changed his name from what? From Saul to Paul.

… Changed from Simon to Peter.”

Jesus did not change Simon to Peter. Jesus gave him the surname of Peter.

MARK 3:16   “And Simon he surnamed Peter;”

After that he was called Simon Peter.

MATTHEW 16:16   “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Brother Branham got the dates for the life of Irenaeus wrong.

63-0319  THE  SECOND  SEAL

“That was Irenaeus about four hundred years after the death of Christ.”

Irenaeus lived about AD 130 - 202.

2 PETER 3:8  “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years”

63-0320   THE THIRD SEAL

“Three minutes is… about thirty-five years. A thousand years is only about one day to Him.”

Wrong.  On that scale, 3 minutes is about 2 years

He was mistaken about the Mosque of Omar

He also claimed that the Mosque of Omar stood on the temple site in Jerusalem.

61-0723E  GOD  BEING  MISUNDERSTOOD

“In A.D. 96, Titus came in and captured Jerusalem and burnt the temple, and they built the Mosque of Omar (the Mohammedan religion) right on the temple grounds,

and still stands there to this day.

And it will stand there until God returns to the Jews again. "And the abomination (that is the Mosque of Omar) that maketh desolation of the holy place," standing in the holy place... See?”

The Mosque of Omar is not on what most people think is the Temple Site (Al Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock are built there). The Mosque of Omar is next to the church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is about  half a kilometer to the left of the Dome of the Rock.

The current mosque of Omar (built in 1193) is located at a different site than the one where Omar is believed to have prayed and where the earlier mosque was located after Jerusalem fell to the Muslims in AD 637, since it stands to the south of the church of the Holy Sepulchre rather than to the east of it.

By Usmanreddy at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6063644

This is the Mosque of Omar, and it is not on the Temple site in Jerusalem.

53-0729  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS  ON  GENESIS

“The Mohammedans set up the Moslem of Omar there.”

There is no such thing as a Moslem of Omar.

The Mosque of Omar is half a kilometer away from the Temple site where the Dome of the Rock is.

54-0103  QUESTIONS  AND  ANSWERS.1

“Now, He said, That time's near at hand, for they're going to tear down this temple and put up the

Moslem of Omar, is going to stand on the same place here,

the Mohammedans, Gentiles. And it's going to stand there."

DANIEL 9:7   “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week the sacrifice and oblation to cease”

61-0618  REVELATION  CHAPTER  FIVE.2

“And Christ came and preached and prophesied just exactly three and a half years, and the daily sacrifice was taken away,

everything just as perfect as it could be. And the Moslem of Omar was right... built on the same grounds and stands there to this day. And they will tread down the walls of Jerusalem until the Gentile dispensation will be finished, the Church is taken up (the Elect, the Bride) out of there.

And the two prophets,

Elijah and Moses, turns to Israel for them other three and a half years.

It's the most beautiful thing when you see it brought out.”

61-0723E  GOD  BEING  MISUNDERSTOOD

“The abomination (means filthiness) that maketh desolation, the abomination was the Mosque of Omar that was built on the temple grounds where the holy place stood.”

No, it is built half a kilometer away.

“In A.D. 96, Titus came in and captured Jerusalem and burnt the temple,

and they built the Mosque of Omar (the Mohammedan religion) right on the temple grounds, and still stands there to this day.”

Titus came in AD 70, not AD 96.

Dome of the Rock (built in 692) is not a mosque. It is in the centre of what many people call the Temple Site.

Al Aqsa Mosque  (AD 705)  The covered mosque building was originally a small prayer house erected by Umar, the second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, but was rebuilt and expanded by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. The mosque was completely destroyed by an earthquake in 746 and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754. It was rebuilt again in 780. Another earthquake destroyed most of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built another mosque whose outline is preserved in the current structure.

The white area is the so-called Temple site.

Dome of the Rock in the green circle.  Al-Aksa Mosque in the red rectangle.

We have to check what brother Branham said as he can make mistakes.

But the revelations that he got right were incredibly deep.

As such, Brother Branham has taught me more about the Bible than any other source or person or church in my, so far, fifty-four years of research.

I prefer to give him great credit for the amazing revelations that he got right rather than to be petty and just focus on the things he got wrong.

But those mistakes confirm that he is a man, not the Voice of God. A very gifted man who revealed the mysteries of God (plural), but not the Son of man. Jesus alone can be the Son of man as He opens our eyes to reveal how He walks through the pages of the Bible. As Jesus uses the revealed mysteries to show us individually how to return to the first church age beliefs, so we can help finish the mystery of God (singular). The great mystery of God (singular) from Revelation 10:7 is for the final church-age individuals to return to the beliefs of the first church-age.

REVELATION 10:7   But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God [singular] should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

The end-time prophet was on the scene until 1965. From 1966 until 2024 (so far) we have been dwelling in the days of his voice that he recorded between 1947 and 1965. We should be using his quotes that revealed the mysteries (plural) of God to gain a better understanding of the written Word. That is the only way to finish the mystery of God (singular) by being restored to the faith of the early apostles.

The seed that is harvested (pulled off the dead plant when the Lord Comes) must be the same as the seed that was originally planted by the apostles.

The first and last must be the same. You cannot tell the difference between them.

Many that are first shall be last as there are no differences to tell them apart.

When the harvest happens, the plant (the churches) are dead.

Only the seed has life.