“‘At the end of 1965, He who now stands in the forefront of the healing ministry as a prophet will be taken out of the way. He’ll make a false step and Satan shall destroy his life, but his spirit will be saved, and his works will follow him. Ere 1966 shall come, he shall be gone.’  –Kenneth Hagin

The prophecy stated that the leader of the deliverance movement was soon to be taken in death, because he was getting into error and the Lord was having to remove him from the scene for that reason. Gordon took the prophecy and placed it in his desk. After Brother Hagin left I asked, ‘What do you think about this? Is this Branham?’  Gordon answered gravely, ‘Yes, it is Branham. He is getting into error. He thinks he is Elijah. He thinks he is the messenger of the covenant. The sad thing is that unscrupulous men around him are putting words into his mouth, and due to his limited background he is taking them up.'”

William Branham was a man sent from God.  No one else in the modern century has come close to his accuracy, humility, and giftedness.  He also got off.  Way off, if you talk to some.  If you read some his published works, not to mention his nearly 2,000 recorded sermons and broadcasts, you will come across it.  He was a man, and just as we do not rush out to stone every woman caught in adultery, we do not, in New Testament Christianity, rush out to stone every man when his doctrine gets off.  Surely, every one of us had our doctrine a little “off” before we got saved, and it took at least a little while to get it straightened out after that.  He was a man with less than an eighth grade education!

Whether Branham as a prophet was false stands on something else, although his end does matters as well.  But, if we judge by the same standard for us, I would err on the side of mercy and grace, believing for the same for myself one day.

One of Branham’s major works, published at the end of his life, was his Exposition of the Seven Church Ages.  In it, he presented his teaching that the seven churches of the first three chapters of the book of Revelation were to be interpreted as church ages, or periods of time, each one to follow the other in sequence, through the two thousand years of church history we have had.  Following this, would come the fulfillment of the ages, the tribulation and sequence of events following in Revelation 4-22.

From the end of the book, the very last paragraph in fact, I quote the following:

Not for one moment do I bring a message to the people that they may follow me, or join my church, or start some fellowship and organization. I have never done that and will not do that now. I have no interest in those things, but I do have an interest in the things of God and people, and if I can accomplish just one thing I will be satisfied. That one thing is to see established a true spiritual relationship between God and men, wherein men become new creations in Christ, filled with His Spirit and live according to His Word. I would invite, plead and warn all to hear His voice at this time, and yield your lives completely to Him, even as I trust in my heart that I have given my all to Him. God bless you, and may His coming rejoice your heart.

While baptizing on the Ohio River, a light was seen, and a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “As John the Baptist was sent to fore-run the first Coming of the Lord, so are you sent to fore-run His second Coming. . .”.  Numerous times, the light, or angel, was witnessed, often photographed and even scientifically verified.  I remark on the life of a unique man, born under a sign, and who sparked the greatest wave of healing and gospel power of this century.  Though he fell into error, and hence into obscurity, I ask, “Can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37).

William Branham wrote, “[I]f I can accomplish just ONE THING I will be satisfied.”  What was that one thing?  Read the above.  “To see established a true spiritual relationship between God and men, wherein men become new creations in Christ, filled with His Spirit and live according to His Word.

This is the heart of the book, the heart of the man, and I believe, the heart of his message.  Religious trinkets and “devotional literature” clutter our book stores, as well as “training manuals”, creeds, rituals, and our own take on modern Christian wardrobes.  Churches are built up often either around doctrinal tenets, bylaws, and handbooks more than by the word, or, in rebellion, build themselves so against them, they often reject the authority of the true Word itself.

Yet, as Branham points out, it is the Word that gives life.  What made the dark ages dark?  The word of God being locked up in the church.  What made every man of God sharp, powerful, living, and active?  The Word within him.  What brings faith to a man?  Hearing the Word.  Nothing else ever can.

And, as Branham pointed out, as the churches throughout history organized into bylaws, creeds, and human wisdom (training manuals, handbooks on prayer, etc), they traded the power of God for human philosophies.

Consider the following illustration:

If a man discovered a well, and how to draw water from it, he could draw water forth from it, cultivate a garden.  He could cause trees to grow, produce fruit, and give away the fruit to those around him.  He could even share the garden with others, let them enjoy the trees, the climate it produced, and the bounty of it.  But, so long as people only ever saw the trees, and not the source of life, the well and its water, and learned how to draw it on their own, the garden would live only a generation, and all the plants would die shortly after the man did, simply because no one would know how to sustain them.  If you taught the people instead where the well was, they could cultivate their own garden.

This illustration demonstrates some of the short-coming of our gatherings today.  A minister discovers the power of God, the anointing and presence of God, and, as he should, he labors to share it.  But, so long as it stays there, it is only the minister’s relationship that others are enjoying.  They are blessed by the spiritual overflow coming from the life in one man, and they eat its fruit, and can even enjoy the atmosphere about him.  But, if they never learn of the well, the source, and how to get the Presence themselves, they are not disciples.

William Branham was taken home early.  His death was prophesied two years before his death on Christmas Eve, 1965, and history demonstrates the accuracy of the prophecy regarding it, as well as what fell to the ground because of it.

This is not the place to discuss what all William Branham did or did not do, nor fulfill, or how right or wrong he was.  But, as he wrote his final paragraph of his book, I believe it is being fulfilled even to this day, despite his home-going.

What is a true spiritual relationship?  It is living with a person, albeit one you cannot see.  Emmanuel, the name for Jesus given by the angel, means “God with us”.  It is that place of living by the Spirit (Gal 5:16).  It is that place of the Light and Easy Yoke (Matthew 11:30).  It is the place of abiding (John 15:4).  This is the life that can only be lived by God, through God, to God.  It is relationship.

The best way to kill a revival is to organize it.  The best way to nullify the power and Word of God is to exalt, or create, traditions that go against Him (Matthew 15:6).  As it was in Jesus’ day, so it is today.

What made Smith Wigglesworth a great preacher?  He knew the Word.  In fact, it was the only book he ever read.  Perhaps he missed the advertisement and book promotion from the local Christian Bookstore about seven easy steps to the Christian whatever.  Perhaps we should too.  If you want something from God, maybe you should just follow Jesus’ advice and to ask and keep on asking, believing to receive.  The best way to teach unbelief is to give people everything BUT what brings faith.  You can give them anything else, from the latest multi-media presentations to  drama to dance to cookies and doughnuts, but if you give them the Word, someone will begin to hear it, and it will begin to grow.

The Christian life, the true, spiritual relationship between God and man isn’t in the other books I’ve read or written, it is in the faith in who He is, as He speaks and makes Himself real and alive to me, through His Book and His Spirit.  Everything else is meaningless.

The church today needs to hear this heart of William Branham’s message.  As Paul wrote, the only thing that counts is faith working through love.  I believe William Branham’s one thing was accomplished through him, and continues to be.  It is only through that place of abiding in the vine of Christ, the person of Jesus, through His Spirit, in His presence, clinging to nothing else, that we come into a deeper and deeper true relationship with the one God.  We must turn our eyes to the unseen, to the Spirit, and learn to recognize love, and faith, and hope, not as words, but as realities, as Him, and surrender our entire lives to His flame.