“‘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.
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If you would see the Kingdom, you must be born again. If you would enter into His life, His Word of life must come into you as a seed and begin to grow.
