Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 6 months ago
John Collins and John McKinnon explore the roots of a controversial belief system that traces back to the unusual claims of a 20th-century preacher. They begin by examining how William Branham’s story of speaking squirrels into existence became a pivotal doctrine in his ministry, known as the “third pull.” This event, though seemingly bizarre, laid the groundwork for significant teachings that would later appear in various spiritual movements. The conversation connects Branham’s experiences and theology to the formation of belief structures within later groups, especially those emphasizing supernatural speech and manifestations.

As the discussion continues, John and John expose the influence of Branham’s doctrine on the development of what would become Word of Faith and New Apostolic movements. They highlight the way Branham’s “spoken word” ideas mirrored the future practices of speaking healing or wealth into reality. The story also becomes a case study in how spiritual leaders sometimes revise or reinterpret their own prophetic claims when outcomes don’t match the declarations. The episode closes with a reflection on how these ideas contributed to larger patterns of authority, control, and suppression of critical thinking in spiritual communities.

00:00 Introduction
01:02 Branham’s influence on Word of Faith and early revival movements
04:12 Introduction to the squirrel story and its connection to “spoken word” theology
06:00 Theological significance of the third pull
10:06 Rejection by Pentecostal groups and reinvention through new miracles
14:50 The squirrel hunting story begins
22:23 The contradiction of four squirrels vs. the prophetic word of three
30:01 Attempts to rationalize the extra squirrel and protect the narrative
38:46 Tony the deacon’s doubt and Branham’s reaction
44:54 The broader impact on Word of Faith and NAR movements
50:06 Authoritarianism, suppression of doubt, and the legacy of “spoken word” ministries
______________________
Weaponized Religion: From Christian Identity to the NAR:
Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1735160962
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DCGGZX3K
______________________
– Support the channel: https://www.patreon.com/branham
– Subscribe to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSpezVG15TVG-lOYMRXuyQ
– Visit the website: https://william-branham.org
– Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamBranhamOrg
– Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@william.m.branham
– Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wmbhr
– Buy the books: https://william-branham.org/site/books

Category

📚
Learning
Transcript
00:00Transcription by CastingWords
00:30Hello and welcome to another episode of the William Branham Historical Research Podcast.
00:36I'm your host, John Collins, the author and founder of William Branham Historical Research at william-branham.org.
00:42And with me I have my co-host, researcher, and friend, John McKinnon, the author of The Persuasive Preacher, The Gifted Prophet, and The Noble Politician.
00:51John, it's good to be back and to talk about the Word of Faith movement.
00:56More specifically, the backbone to what developed into the Word of Faith movement.
01:03Not many people are aware of this history, and you can see it in the comment feeds.
01:07People just, they get up in arms.
01:10If you mentioned that William Branham actually was the prototype for a lot of this stuff.
01:15And there are others too, you know, Branham wasn't the only one, but the full gospel businessman, as Charles and I have gone through the history of this,
01:24it was founded specifically for this healing revival movement that Branham was the forefront, the leader of.
01:32And it started back with Avok Hagopian, you can find that history, I've got it published on the website.
01:39The Kardashian family and the patriarch's nephew, Demas Shakirian, founded the full gospel businessman.
01:47And there was a co-founder, and he lived not far from my house.
01:52He was a Branhamite.
01:54Charles and I go through that history.
01:55If you want to learn more about that, you can find it in the Revival History series.
01:59But this movement, which was all funded, organized, you know, grew into the entertainment industry through the full gospel businessmen,
02:10it produced people like Kenneth Hagin and other Word of Faith leaders.
02:15They were in the movement.
02:16And there was a period of time in which they all believed that in one way, shape, or another,
02:21God had sent his son Jesus Christ through the form of William Branham.
02:25And there were varying levels of this.
02:27Some of them just believed it was a spirit of the end time.
02:31Others, like T.L. Osborne, who was also in the Word of Faith movement,
02:35a very strong component to the Word of Faith movement, just like Kenneth Hagin.
02:41T.L. Osborne said at William Branham's memorial service that God had sent his son again in human flesh.
02:47I'm paraphrasing, but that's the kind of movement that this spawned.
02:51And the reason why this is so important and significant to understand is because, like the story we're about to get into,
03:00which is completely absurd, there were people that either believed it or decided they could make a lot of money off of it.
03:06And it was the notion that God had sent his son or the Spirit or whatever form they wanted to take into William Branham.
03:15And Branham had this gift of speaking things into existence.
03:19And it's so weird to believe.
03:22I've got a meme out there somewhere that, you know, it's got the face of Jim Carrey with his silly look on his face.
03:29And he says, yes, I too believed a man from Indiana claiming to be from Kentucky could speak a squirrel into existence.
03:37And that's what these people were believing.
03:40And, you know, Branham got most of his theology from people like F.F. Bosworth, who came out of John Alexander Dowie's cult.
03:49Bosworth openly admitted that he studied E.W. Kenyon.
03:52E.W. Kenyon, most people attribute him to be the founder of what became Word of Faith.
03:57But they missed that lineage.
03:59They missed the fact that it went from Kenyon to Bosworth to Branham to people like Kenneth Hagen.
04:05And it all really revolves around this one story that we're going to get into, this story about a squirrel.
04:12Hi, John. Yes, good to be back again.
04:14I'm ready to talk more about these nuggets we're finding and digging as we dig deeper into the message.
04:21And the subject today is just a little bit unusual.
04:23You know, today I'm going back to a story William Branham told about those pesky, rat-like creatures with tails we call squirrels.
04:31I really didn't expect to get into this subject, but I'm really excited about it today.
04:36And there's a lot to be said about it.
04:39And I was thinking about what I had known about in the past about the squirrels.
04:43And there were two times he said he had spoken the word and created squirrels and then killed them.
04:49So I want to review those details again and get it real clear in my mind as to what happened.
04:54I know he said the spoken word in one sermon in 1963, Look Away to Jesus in December.
05:01He said it was used five times.
05:03So I just wondered why squirrels were used twice, you know, by God rather than something else, you know, why use squirrels twice.
05:12But I actually found some details that should be of a concern to us because when we talk about Branham speaking for God, you know, that's a serious thing, especially when you're speaking the spoken word of God, which is something that will materialize as if God is speaking.
05:26And so if the word just didn't come to pass exactly, then there's a problem there.
05:32So that's what led to today's broadcast today.
05:36We've been speaking on some stories that we've talked about so far in the message that have been told about events.
05:42You know, we spoke about the cloud and then I started talking about the bending of Scripture in our second episode.
05:48And in the third episode, we use an example of Scripture, you know, taken out of context.
05:52And it led to the careless use of Scripture for your own ends.
05:56You know, there's more to come on that, of course.
05:59But this is much different.
06:00This doesn't really relate to Scripture too much at all, except he mentioned Mark 11, 23.
06:05If you say in your heart and you don't doubt but believe what you say comes to pass, you know, you'll have what you say.
06:11And he was trying to show how that Scripture came to pass in his ministry.
06:16But these things that we find, as we're finding today, are very prevalent in the message if you just look.
06:22And William Brandon referred to what he was doing and creating, with his own words, he called this the third pull.
06:28So this was the capstone, his new ministry, what God was going to do in his ministry.
06:34It all culminated in the third pull, and which he believed was part of the rapture going away of the bride as well.
06:41So I know I'll be accused of not understanding the ways of God after this broadcast, or even something worse.
06:48But there's some things we need to look at here, and I want others to know.
06:52I want to detail these issues with the story as vindicating the third pull.
06:56But also to tie this into the latter reign and the New Apostolic Reformation, there's some ties to that as well.
07:03So he spoke of those five manifestations of the spoken word and said it represented, you know, faith, F-A-I-T-H or G-A-R-C-E.
07:12The number five is significant, you know, in the Bible.
07:16And so he liked to use numbers and numerology to make it sound significant.
07:21Anytime he could relate numbers in his ministry to the Bible, he would do that.
07:26So he used it like he did in 62, actually.
07:29And another example we had was his vision of five angels representing grace.
07:35But then, strange thing, you know, seven days later, he changed it to seven angels for some reason.
07:41And William Brown's ministry visions did have a way of changing and updating over time.
07:46So I think this squirrel situation is no different.
07:50You know, I think the squirrel should be thought of as one of the sacred creatures in the message,
07:54just as much as the eagle, the dove, or the caribou, or the grizzly bear.
07:59And it probably should take the center stage because, according to the message, you know,
08:03God used them to manifest the third pull, not only once, but actually twice.
08:08And I can show you a third time that God used it to manifest the third pull as we go through this broadcast.
08:16You know, we might get into what the third pull is at some point.
08:19But for now, we can just say it's another capstone of this ministry, the manifestation of the Son of God on earth,
08:25where you speak and it happens just as you say it.
08:28There's some issues with the squirrel story and how many times the third pull is actually manifested here.
08:33There's issues of what he spoke and what actually took place.
08:36There's also issues of him ignoring or downplaying why his words didn't come to pass as spoken.
08:43And then also calling out someone who questioned him about his word.
08:48And on and on it goes.
08:50So there's an element in two of the cases of the spoken word where William Graham displayed some unhappiness.
08:55Now that we're talking about the five times the five manifestations, and we'll go through those two.
09:00But there's two cases of these where he displayed some unhappiness and with some kind of tension and conflict that led to the spoken word.
09:12He was always unhappy when he was doubted or disrespected.
09:17And we'll find that also in these cases that I'll mention.
09:22It's strange that the cases of the spoken word involved either William Graham being angry or God being angry.
09:29In one case, you know, God was even angry.
09:31So and in one case, he also spun the story.
09:36And, of course, in the squirrel case, he spun the story and put the pressure on the deacon that doubted.
09:40So the outcome of the spoken word was true, even though it didn't exactly manifest as spoken.
09:45But in the other case, it was dealing with his wife.
09:49The spoken word was manifested as a result of the judgment of God on his wife for showing him probably some much deserved disrespect, John.
09:58You know, when I started to research the third pool theology of William Branham, it was an odd study because no matter which sect of the message you go to, they all have a different interpretation of what exactly this so-called third pool was.
10:11And, yes, Branham does mention things like the squirrel and other events with it, but they all look to it like it's this great supernatural thing.
10:20And this thing was happening and was supposed to bring the fulfillment of Branham's theology, which was that he would rise up and he would lead the entire nation of Israel back to God.
10:31He said he would be the one to do it before he died and that there would be this sudden pool of people and they would go up into the rapture and then he died.
10:41And so after he died, everybody's, you know, what was this?
10:44What was the third pool?
10:45What did it mean?
10:46What is the significance of it?
10:48And at the time I was studying that, I was looking into all of the Klan-related things, and I found this old handbook from the 1915 Ku Klux Klan, which I don't know if I believe it or not, but Roy E. Davis, William Branham's mentor, at one point claimed that he wrote all of the bylaws and constitution of the 1915 Klan.
11:10There is some evidence that kind of backs up what he says, but he was a scoundrel and he, like Branham, he liked to tell things that weren't true.
11:19I'll just say it like that.
11:21But in the handbook, it was talking about all the different coded language that they used, and this allowed them to talk openly in public about things that were related to the Klan and the public just couldn't hear it.
11:32And I found it interesting, as I'm studying that and I'm studying the history of the Klan, I find that the third wave of the Klan is happening exactly the time of William Branham's third pool.
11:44And this led to all kinds of conspiracy theories that, you know, I don't go down that path very often, but, you know, you start to wonder, was it loaded language?
11:54Because some of the things he's saying is just so absurd and it doesn't really fit the pattern of the other things that he said and did this, this really took a, took things to a new level.
12:04So was it coded language?
12:06Was it just nonsense or did he go insane?
12:08I, you know, I could go down all three pathways.
12:12It's just hard to believe that, that we believe this kind of stuff, but, you know, we're talking about squirrels.
12:18And one of the things that in the support groups, everybody likes to go back to is whenever they want to have fun, they talk about the squirrels.
12:26So this episode is going to be something else.
12:29Yeah, this episode is going to be fun all the way through, John.
12:31So I want to give a little background.
12:34Let's keep in mind the events that are surrounding William Branham's ministry at this time.
12:38You know, at this time, he has a clear-filled prophecy under his ministry, and I'll go into that at a later date.
12:45And it happened in 1952, and after that prophecy was spoken, he went around the country to raise funds for these overseas meetings given to him by a vision, and that meetings turned out to be a failure.
12:59Then he was rejected by the Assemblies of God around 1953, and then eventually by Oneness Pentecostals.
13:06By 1955, his meetings had failed to raise enough money to support, and he found himself 15,000 and dead in one meeting out in California.
13:15And he had another vision about that time when he was at a low spot of a great tent revival he was going to have, and he started prophesying about that as well.
13:23And then, right after that, he began ministering with Jim Jones from the mid-50s to about 1957 to 58 in some conferences, and that's pretty significant as well for a prophet of God to associate with a man like Jim Jones.
13:40He then associated, of course, he'd always been associating with Latter-Rain Christianity, and Mattson Bozé was pretty much a leader in that group.
13:49But they promoted the Manifest Sons of God ministry, modern-day apostles and prophets, and that's now led to the New Aspasolic Reformation and all the things you've been speaking of in your podcasts.
14:03So by 1959, he finds himself again at this low point, and I figure he has to find a way to reinvent himself.
14:10He's a very unpopular minister at the time because he just got through preaching a serpent seed about a year earlier, and everyone knew where that came from, so that was in 58.
14:21So in order for him to remain relevant to the broader Christian world, he has to come up with something more, a new ministry, a new manifestation, which could draw crowds and lift him back up in the eyes of the people.
14:33So this event of the spoken word supposedly occurred three years before the vision of the five angels in December.
14:41So the five angels in December occurred in 62, and this occurred in 59.
14:46And then a couple months later, in 63, of course, after that vision of five angels, the cloud appeared.
14:53So these are very significant things here and worth looking at.
14:59But talking about the manifestation of a third pull, there was a pro-message website that said this.
15:06He said,
15:06God manifested the third pull twice more in October, November, 1959, while out hunting in October.
15:13Brother Branham was meditating on Mark 11, 23, and God revealed to him that a man can be so anointed with the Holy Spirit that when he opens his lips, it's as if God is speaking.
15:22After showing Brother Branham this, the Lord instructed him to say whatever he desired, and it would be granted him.
15:28Brother Branham requested squirrels to meet his hunting allocation.
15:32The Lord pushed him to speak squirrels into existence twice, and they materialized out of nowhere before being shot by Brother Branham.
15:39Later, God showed him that these signs pointed to a change in his ministry that would soon culminate in a magnificent ending.
15:46So that's pretty much it as to how the squirrel situation came about.
15:52So at this time, he preached a couple of messages called New Ministry.
15:56And one was in the spring, and of course, one was in the fall after he shot the squirrels.
16:01And so the background for the spoken word was occurring right around 1957 when he was ministering, of course, with Jim Jones.
16:08And here's a quote he mentioned in Faith Once Delivered to the Saints.
16:12He said, God's obligated to his word when that real, not put on, not make believe, but a real subtle faith in a man's heart that don't vary from God's word a bit.
16:21It is God's word being spoken by mortal lips.
16:24And he said, that is the faith once delivered to the saints.
16:28And another message in 1959 in April, you know, this was before the squirrels.
16:33He said, if a dreamer dreams a dream or a prophet prophesies and it's not according to God's word, forget it.
16:39God is not in it.
16:41But if God brings it back and proves it by his word, then it's God's spoken word, confirming what he said was the truth.
16:48So we see here he lays the foundation for the word of God having to be exact.
16:54So this is troublesome when you get to the squirrel event, because we find it's not very exact.
16:59And he also says, forget it if it's not prophesying according to God's word, if it's not as if he had spoken.
17:06But he said, God has to bring it back and prove it by his word for it to be the spoken word to confirm it was the truth.
17:13And we'll find this interesting situation here with his deacon, where as he was praying through that evening, you know, he was he was had some doubts in his heart.
17:22And we'll see some interesting things there.
17:25So in another one, 1961 paradox, when he talks about the spoken word, he said, your spirit came into the car.
17:33And there I said, you shall have it.
17:36And today I hold this fine little baby boy in my hand, your spoken word, your promise, talking about his grandson in that case.
17:45So many cases I could read here about him talking about the spoken word.
17:49And when he said I only had five times of it being confirmed, I've just read one here where that would be a six time.
17:55So there was really more cases of the spoken word that he preached about than just these five cases we'll talk about.
18:02So I want to mention a little bit about the latter rain group, just talking about the underlying goal within the latter rain message.
18:13And this is by a man named Bill Heyman.
18:14He wrote a book called The Eternal Church.
18:17And it really dovetails and goes right along with William Branham's ministry because William Branham's ministry really a product of the latter rain and all that they believed.
18:27And so he was making his ministry relevant to the latter rain at this time, I fully believe, because he had lost the assemblies of God, the mainstream Pentecostal world and the oneness Pentecostals by this time.
18:40So Bill Heyman says the whole creation is waiting for the last generation church.
18:45The earth and all its creation are waiting for the manifestation of God's last day apostles and prophets and fully restored church.
18:52He said again, this can only take place when the church realizes its full sonship, its bodily redemption will cause a redemptive chain reaction throughout all creation.
19:03Heyman states at that time, the sons of God will be fully manifested on earth.
19:06Widespread spiritual warfare will result with the sons of God doing battle with Satan and company.
19:13The non-Christian nation of the world will also be defeated.
19:16Once the earth has been subdued, Jesus will come back to earth and be given the kingdom that has been won for him by this man-child company.
19:24The manifested sons of God doctrine teaches that these sons will be equal to Jesus Christ, immortal, sinless, perfected sons who have partaken of the divine nature.
19:33They will have every right to be called God's and will be called God's.
19:39That's a book, Prophets and the Prophetic Movement by Bill Heyman.
19:44William Branham said this in the Church Age book.
19:47He said he knows, God knows, that if the people get the true revelation of the true church and what she is, what she stands for,
19:55and that she can do the greater work, she will be an invincible army.
19:59He also said in other places, if the church can only realize who she is or the bride can realize who she is, the rapture would come.
20:08So this message of the latter reign ties directly into what Brother Branham was doing here with the spoken word,
20:16showing that he was a manifested son of God on earth.
20:19But I can show more than five times.
20:22I mean, even in 1957, this was June 22nd, he preached a sermon where he talked about speaking a fish back to life,
20:30that the guts had been pulled out of it after they caught it, and he spoke it back to life.
20:35So that was an example there.
20:36Then in 59, two instances of the squirrels in October.
20:40And actually, as part of that squirrel event, there was a fourth squirrel killed, and that squirrel had to be spoken to be found.
20:51In 1959, right after that, you know, Hattie Wright spoke as he was talking about the squirrels,
20:56it's nothing but the truth, and he supposedly gave her her two sons in salvation.
21:01In 19, I think it's either 1960 or 63, I couldn't tell which, because I've seen two different accounts there,
21:09he supposedly spoke the storm out of existence in Colorado while they were hunting,
21:13and he was, you know, not caught up in the storm because it was coming on him while he was in the mountains,
21:18and he couldn't get down, so he spoke it out of existence so they could have clear weather while they finished their hunting trip.
21:24And in 1963, around November, his wife, Mita, had developed a tumor,
21:32and he spoke that tumor to be gone by the time the doctor touches her, and he said it was so.
21:40In December of 63, he spoke about all these events, really only five of them.
21:46He really didn't talk about the fish or the fourth squirrel, so he only spoke about five events happening.
21:52But I just showed you up here a quote where he was talking about his grandson, and this was in 61.
21:59He says,
21:59Your spirit came in the car, there I said, you shall have it, and today I hold this fine little boy in my hand,
22:05your spoken word, your promise.
22:07He says,
22:08But we're coming to something greater than that now.
22:10We're rising above that.
22:11See, we're coming to that spoken word.
22:13That was in the Sermon Paradox, 1961, December the 10th.
22:17So you see, there's even more instances than just these five.
22:20So you can't say that because it was five number of grace that it only happened five times.
22:26Because really, with all these, there turns out to be eight cases I've found, and I'm sure there's probably more.
22:32I just haven't looked.
22:34But eight cases there of the spoken word where I can see that he spoke something after God told him to
22:41or after he spoke it by feeling the inspiration, and it came to pass.
22:46So there you are.
22:49He really didn't count that fourth squirrel as significant, really.
22:53But the spoken word did come to him, and he said and told him to speak for him as he did the other five or six squirrels that he killed.
23:01And this would have been the seventh squirrel that he killed.
23:04And God told him to speak that he would find that squirrel, and he did find it, and he had to speak it to find it, evidently.
23:12So I mentioned those five times that he talked about.
23:17If you go back and listen to the sermon, Look Away to Jesus, and December 29th of 63, he explains those five times.
23:24So I won't spend time maybe going through that, but I will mention briefly about maybe what he said here.
23:32He says, So I'm going to say something to you now I haven't said all along, and the thing we've looked forward to for so long, for many years, four or five years, or maybe longer,
23:42the third poll has now been vindicated.
23:45I'm sure you all know what it is.
23:46He said, How many remembers about the squirrels?
23:48And when it happened down in Kentucky, which was the second time it happened, first time it was in Indiana,
23:56he said, Just simply speaking into existence things it wasn't.
24:00He said the third time it happened was Hattie Wright.
24:02The fourth time it happened, I just explained here, when I was here last, I was up on the mountain when the storm raging.
24:08And he said he spoke the storm out.
24:11Just speak to the storm, it'll cease.
24:13Whatever you say, that's what will happen.
24:14And that's where he said, Storm you cease, sun you shine, normally for four days, till we're out of here.
24:20And he said it happened.
24:21Meet his tumor.
24:23He said, Just then I heard something in the room.
24:26I looked up, and a voice said, Stand up.
24:28Now whatever you say, that's the way it'll be.
24:31I'll wait just a minute before the doctor's hand shall touch her.
24:34The hand of God shall take the tumor away, and it won't even be found.
24:37What was it?
24:38Just exactly according to the word of the Lord.
24:40He said, That's the fifth time.
24:42He said, Five is the number of grace, a number of faith, too.
24:46F-A-I-T-H.
24:47There's no more doubt in my mind.
24:49I know what the third pull is, and I know what it does.
24:51Now be reverent, keep quiet.
24:53The hour will soon arrive where God is going to do something for us.
24:57So here in that sermon, he says five times.
24:59But as I've just shown, there's a few more times that you could probably point to where the spoken word was actually spoken.
25:06And I want to pause there, because that phrase, the spoken word was actually spoken.
25:11Not many people realize that in the Branhamite cults and all of their splinter groups, that this phrase, the spoken word, is so commonly used.
25:20And they also, the people who are in it don't realize that it is used by other splinter groups, such as Jim Jones of People's Temple, also used the phrase spoken word.
25:30The entire movement was using this phrase as though the words that they spoke, because of their divine authority as apostles and prophets in the five-fold ministry, their word was a spoken word.
25:43Or they called the Bible the word, so this was a new word, a new thing, a new, and rhema is one of the phrases that, you know, Kenneth Hagin used.
25:52It all means the same thing.
25:53Everybody who's in this movement from its inception, probably from 19, I guess it was 1940s whenever Branham started using it on the recordings.
26:04But I can assure you it was probably used before this, because the way that this thing has developed from John Alexander Dowie into Bosworth, into Branham and his mentors, this was probably a phrase that was evolving over that time, largely due to E.W. Kenyon.
26:21But through Bosworth's training of Kenyon and then that flowing into Branhamism, this became a big thing, the spoken word.
26:28And now we have Rhema Bible College, all of these other things that are basically, they're just pillars that are built on top of the foundation that Branham and Bosworth and those like him laid.
26:40So, John, let's continue on about these squirrels in detail.
26:44William Branham preached on the squirrels very detailed two times on the 15th and 23rd of November, just supposedly after it happened in October.
26:53And he mentioned it many more times in other sermons just as a reference, but he went into very great detail if you go back to these two sermons.
27:00The first one was 1959, November the 15th, called My New Ministry.
27:05He preached this in Jeffersonville.
27:06The second one was in San Jose, California on November the 23rd.
27:12So, and he also titled it My New Ministry.
27:16So, this is another, the second time he preached a sermon called New Ministry that year.
27:20So, he said on the 18th, the season would close in Indiana, we would have no more squirrel hunting.
27:25So, I said, this will be the last time I can go out.
27:28And then he went to Salem, he said.
27:30That's about 40 miles from Jeffersonville, you know, a little bit to the north.
27:34He said, season was late, squirrels were few.
27:36I've been out several times just getting one squirrel at a time.
27:39Now, I want you to notice as we go through this quote here that he always gives the backdrop that squirrels are very scarce.
27:44It's late in the season, there's hardly any squirrels out there, and should not be very many seen, if any at all.
27:52I think he does this just to kind of build up the expectation that, you know, God would have to do something miraculous for him to even see a squirrel.
28:01And so, I think there's something pretty deliberate there.
28:04He even says this,
28:04So, this morning I made my way to the same woods, and a wind rose that began to blow, and anyone who hunts knows that's a bad morning.
28:12So, you know, he's always, he's talking about how bad it was, and how it wasn't good for squirrel hunting.
28:18So, while he was hunting out there, he said, I just sat under a tree, got snugged down, and warmed, and the sun shined on me.
28:24Something said,
28:25So, he goes into that scripture, he said, he was thinking about it, musing on it.
28:41He said,
28:42And then he begins to think of it more, what God did with the prophets, and after he was kind of musing upon that, something, he said, he realized he was talking to somebody, and he said,
29:04Something said to me, that's in the atonement, for if a man or woman is so consecrated and surrendered to God, that God just moves in and uses her voice, it isn't man speaking, it's God in him speaking.
29:15He said, I thought, that's right.
29:16So, God keeps speaking to him, you know, internally like that.
29:21He said, God asked him, is it the individual or the spirit of the living God?
29:26I said, that is true, I see it.
29:27It's God that's speaking, and all the church needs is a step closer to him and more of a consecrated life to live with him.
29:35If you notice, he mentions, you know, you've got to get more consecrated, more surrendered.
29:40You know, in William Brand was mine, and throughout his ministry, it was always kind of a works-based religion.
29:46You know, we didn't get there by grace.
29:47We had to become somehow more and more consecrated, more and more devoted to God, do more works, you know, to get there.
29:54And that was really true in this, in this same thing here.
30:00The way he talks, it's more like you have to devote yourself more and more.
30:05So, and then he said he caught himself speaking to someone, and I said, what do you?
30:10I said, who am I talking to?
30:12Who are you?
30:13Who's standing here with these bushes that I can hear the voice talking to me?
30:16Who are you?
30:17Speak out to me.
30:18You know, I think this was so humorous to me for him to say that, because if you listen to him on tape,
30:24he really dramatized this thing, like he almost jumped out of his skin, like, who is this talking to me?
30:30But, you know, for a man that's heard from God all his life, he seems very confused right now as to who's talking to it.
30:38You know, maybe he's just trying to be overly dramatic to play it up, but he just got all excited and jumped up from between the trees, he says.
30:47I said, speak to me.
30:48Who are you?
30:48I can't see you.
30:50And so, anyway, he keeps going on trying to say who was speaking to him.
30:54And God said, prove all things.
30:57I said, Lord, that be you.
30:58And this is a sign that you're fixing to change my ministry from those visions to something greater I've looked to for so long.
31:04Let it come to pass.
31:05You'll answer my prayer.
31:06So that's when he was talking about the squirrels, and then he mentioned November he was in Kentucky, and he started in the woods.
31:15Squirrels are very scarce.
31:17They'll know the leaves deep on the ground.
31:18I started up in the woods, and something said to me, how many squirrels do you want this morning?
31:23So this was the second time.
31:24I didn't go through the first time all the details about the three squirrels that he hit, but he hit them pretty solidly, you know, one after the other after that, after he asked for them.
31:33So I want to hop over to November when he went to Kentucky because things are a little different there.
31:40That was a few weeks later, and things, he said, now that it was scarce.
31:47The squirrels were scarce.
31:48The leaves deep on the ground.
31:50And then something said to him, how many squirrels does he want that morning?
31:54He says, well, I've got 114 this year, 117.
31:59If I had three more, it would make 120.
32:01That would make an even number to stop on.
32:03And I said another thing.
32:04It would be giving me six to take home, which I love them better than any meat there is to eat.
32:10And I said, if I could just get three more.
32:13And then something said, say to it, speak to three squirrels, and you'll have it.
32:17And that anointing comes so great, till I could hardly stand on the ground.
32:23And I said, speak, what do you say?
32:26Don't doubt, and you can have what you said.
32:28And I said, I shall get three squirrels.
32:31And then it said, where will they come from?
32:34And then he pointed different ways they came from.
32:36And then he said, make it radical.
32:38God don't care how radical it seems.
32:41He's the God of circumstance.
32:42And I just want to deviate just a little quick detour here.
32:48When I say God of circumstance, I wonder what that was.
32:51And I looked up a few quotes on God of circumstance.
32:54He said a couple of times, he said, if the doctor can't do you no good, you've got a right to go to God.
32:59That's what you should do.
33:00Call on God.
33:01God is the author of circumstance.
33:03He can do when nothing else can.
33:04When a man comes to the end of their line, God can do.
33:07And we just believe what you said.
33:10No matter how unreasonable it seems, you're the God of circumstance.
33:14You're able to keep what you have promised.
33:16So he uses this little term, God of circumstance, just to say that this was impossible.
33:21It was an impossible situation to kill squirrels or for this to happen.
33:25But he's the God of circumstance.
33:26He's going to make it come out all right.
33:29So then he continues on.
33:31He saw his first squirrel way back up there around 90 yards.
33:34He said he shot it.
33:35He hadn't killed it.
33:37He said, there's one.
33:38Might as well turn and look the other way because they're coming.
33:40He said, now listen real close to this.
33:43And this is going to be tape recording that will go all over the world.
33:46So see what he's doing.
33:48He's now realizing, he knows these tapes go all out.
33:51He's saying this tape will go all over the world.
33:53So he's really careful about what he's saying.
33:56But he also wants to build it up as, you know, something miraculous that has happened here.
34:00So he says, he kept watching.
34:03He said, there come a gray squirrel.
34:05Oh, just exactly that way.
34:06That's right, Lord.
34:07I turned down, raised up to shoot him.
34:09And there come another squirrel.
34:11And so there you have two right there together.
34:13That would be three.
34:14He said, there's two.
34:15Just exactly make my three.
34:17And I raised down, shot the first squirrel.
34:19Two are dead now.
34:20So two are dead at this point.
34:22He knows he shot two.
34:24Then the other one, run under a log.
34:26I could see him cutting on a hickory nut or something under the log.
34:29He said, the log was about that high on the end, raised up a foot.
34:32I could see the squirrel.
34:33He said, I killed the first one.
34:35Now I'll get the other one.
34:37So actually, when he's talking about, I killed the first one, he's talking about the second
34:41squirrel.
34:42Now he's going to try to get the third one.
34:45And then he did shoot at it.
34:47But he shot and hit the log.
34:48He shot four inches above him.
34:50He shot a foot under him.
34:52So he couldn't hit that squirrel.
34:53And he said, the squirrel just went up on up through the woods.
34:56So that was the third squirrel got away.
34:58And he said he believed it got away.
35:00Or he said he wouldn't have got it anyway, because he claimed it had to come from the north.
35:06So he missed that third squirrel.
35:08And so he waited on at around four o'clock.
35:11He says, well, I'll go get my squirrels.
35:13So he gave up about that point.
35:15He went up and got his two squirrels.
35:17And he come back.
35:17And he said, it was so dark, he could hardly see.
35:20And then he said, the voice said, why aren't you going to go up there and get that squirrel,
35:23which would have been the third squirrel he needed for the word of the Lord to come to
35:27pass.
35:28He said, well, I wish I could somehow see what, hear that, what that really means, friends.
35:33See, under that anointing, it wasn't me that said it.
35:36It was God said it.
35:38I walked a couple of steps, said, turn and go back towards the north.
35:41Your squirrel's there.
35:42And that was the third squirrel.
35:44So then he looked up there and said, after a while, he saw a knot on a tree.
35:48And he said, way up there, it was dark.
35:50He said, I'll try that anyhow.
35:51And I shot.
35:53And so that's the third squirrel that he killed.
35:55He saw that knot.
35:56He thought it was the squirrel's head.
35:57He shot and it killed it.
35:59He said, but when I did, the squirrel run around the tree and run down.
36:02I heard it hit the ground.
36:03He said, I thought it jumped off.
36:05Same time that happened, about 20 feet from it, run up another one, up a white oak.
36:12So he thought he had missed that squirrel and it had run up a white oak.
36:16So actually what is happening here, he had killed that third squirrel.
36:20Then another squirrel ran up a white oak and that would be the fourth squirrel.
36:24And then he goes on.
36:28He said, I said, he run down one and run up the other one.
36:31That's what he thought.
36:32He said, now surely, Lord, you won't let me miss him after I've already said under that
36:35anointing that this would be, you're confirming my ministry.
36:38This will be six times that you've confirmed it to me.
36:41The number of man, six times.
36:43I said, you won't let me miss him.
36:46So he thought he had missed when that squirrel ran up the white oak.
36:50But he actually had hit him more fine.
36:54And so now he said, I looked up and down the tree, way up there.
36:58I thought I'd seen some leaves, seen something moving in it.
37:00I raised up and shot and the squirrel dropped to the ground, stone dead.
37:04So that was the fourth squirrel.
37:07So now we have the, he claims he had going to have six squirrels, but now he's now killed
37:12a seventh squirrel.
37:14But he said, up to the hill, I went happy and rejoicing.
37:17I went to the first tree over to my left and there laid the squirrel.
37:21Which was the fourth squirrel.
37:22He said, well, I know I got that one, but I wasn't sure of this one, which was the one
37:26he shot and killed.
37:27He wasn't sure of.
37:29And then he said, Lord, you give me one for good measure.
37:32So he believes he did shoot four.
37:36He wasn't sure, but now he realizes he had shot four.
37:39And he says, you give me one for good measure.
37:42So since the squirrel, the third squirrel was already dead, even if he didn't know it,
37:47you know, for the word of the Lord to come to pass when that squirrel went up,
37:49the white oak, you know, really it should have ended as if God was in this, it should
37:54have ended a squirrel hunting.
37:56That fourth squirrel wouldn't even have been there.
37:59He would have gone back and just said, I only got two, couldn't find the third one.
38:02But in his mind, I think at that time when that squirrel ran up that tree, he really needed
38:07three because he spoke three.
38:09And then he goes and looks for that squirrel now, even though he doesn't need him.
38:14He killed four, but if he would have just kept quiet about it, he really could have claimed
38:19he only shot three.
38:21But I think, of course, he wouldn't want to tell a fib about it.
38:25You know, he would want to be truthful.
38:27So he'll find a way out of it anyway.
38:30So he goes over and finds the other squirrel, which was the third squirrel, but he wasn't
38:34there.
38:34He said he looked and looked, searched on the leaves, raised up little pieces of chunk,
38:38tore open an old log.
38:39So he couldn't find that squirrel at all.
38:42Then he just went on back to the house for supper that night.
38:48And before going to bed, you know, Brother Charlie asked Brother Tony Zabel to lead in
38:53prayer.
38:53Now, he related all this to the brothers there about these squirrels.
38:57So he told all about, you know, shooting them and then not being able to find that one.
39:03And so he says, now, I don't say this to conflict or hurt Brother Tony.
39:09He's one of the finest Christian gentlemen that I know of.
39:12But just to show you how the Lord works, Tony in his prayer that night said, Lord, let
39:17it be known to us that our brother's telling the truth, that tomorrow he will find that
39:21squirrel in the stump.
39:23So he told this occasion about another one here in the next sermon he preached and speak
39:30to this mountain in San Jose, California.
39:33He said, and one of my deacons by the name of Tony that was in my church, he was with me.
39:39He said, now, Lord, we asked him to lead in prayer.
39:42He said, now, Lord, to confirm that our brother's told the truth.
39:45He said, it looked like my heart just dropped out of me.
39:48Know that I've told the truth of something like that.
39:51And how would tell a lie about it?
39:55God forbid such a hypocrite.
39:57And I thought, how would a man that loves me, a man of that caliber, a man that his wife
40:03laid down on the floor and the doctors had walked away from her, went over and offered
40:07prayer for her.
40:08And she got up and went to the church with me.
40:10How could he question my word?
40:12How did he say that?
40:13And the other brethren caught it.
40:14Now, I'll come back to the sermon where he said, he was still talking to Brother Tony.
40:22He said, that was, I never said I'd find a squirrel in a stump under that anointing.
40:26I said, I shot the squirrel.
40:28Of course, I couldn't get the squirrel because if I did, that made more than I said.
40:32Just exactly what I said under that anointing.
40:34That's what God produced.
40:35So I didn't say nothing about it.
40:39You know, since he couldn't find three squirrels, he had to shoot a fourth one so he could take
40:44three home to fulfill the word that he spoke.
40:47And then he says, but Brother Tony didn't get it.
40:52He said, if that squirrel is there, then we'll know our brothers told us the truth.
40:56And then something interesting here, he says, he says, Brother Woods, Brother Charlie, all
41:00them picked it up.
41:01We said nothing.
41:03He said, I slept with Brother Tony that night.
41:06The next morning, early before daylight, well, Brother Branham, we'll go up to get your
41:10squirrel.
41:10We'll get one anyhow, because it'll be there.
41:13I said, Brother Tony, you just didn't understand.
41:15When I spoke under that inspiration, I said three squirrels.
41:19The fourth one had nothing to do with it.
41:21I'm picturing the people who's outside looking in at this.
41:24You hear something like this, and you know the guy's making it up.
41:27You can tell that he's just pulling it straight out of his backside, and people are eating it
41:31up as though it's religious nonsense.
41:33And it's unbelievable.
41:36Tony said, oh, it'll be in that log anyhow.
41:38We'll know by that.
41:39He said, I looked across the table, and I thought, Brother Tony, would you doubt me telling you
41:44the truth?
41:45And I never said it.
41:46The brethren looked at each other.
41:48You know, William Branham at this time, he must have been angry a little bit.
41:52He thought this.
41:54He thought this.
41:55He never spoke it out, but he thought it.
41:56But it seems the other brothers knew by him saying it, you know, by him saying they looked
42:02at each other, they kind of knew that there was tension in the room during this time.
42:06So then he goes on, when they start looking for that squirrel, he said, and something said
42:12to me, you know, if it isn't there, or if it isn't there, what makes a difference?
42:17I said, he will.
42:18He wouldn't believe me.
42:19He prayed and said that if we find that squirrel, he would know that our brothers told us the
42:23truth.
42:24And that great anointing come.
42:26Said, just say the squirrel will be up there, and you'll get him.
42:29I thought, surely, Lord, surely.
42:31This will be seven times straight while this anointing is on me.
42:34I said, is that you?
42:37Here he even says, finding that fourth squirrel makes seven times.
42:41So now the squirrel event becomes three times the spoken word was manifested, makes a total
42:46of six times.
42:48So for him to have to speak that squirrel to get the seventh one, God said, say what you
42:54will.
42:55I said, I shall find that squirrel.
42:57The anointing then left me.
42:59And then he went on hunting.
43:00He said, I hunted on until 930.
43:02So they were hunting again that next morning.
43:06And then he did find that squirrel eventually.
43:10And he says, down the hill I went, told them about it.
43:12We rejoiced.
43:13When I come to the car, Charlie's standing right there.
43:15Banks, they were talking.
43:17Wasn't that strange that Tony would say a thing like that in his prayers?
43:20Willis, he loves Brother Renum.
43:22And why would he doubt his word and say that?
43:24See, he just had to say it that way.
43:26For God knew that I'd stand in this pulpit this morning and claim the same thing.
43:29So you see, he had to smooth over the fact that, you know, hey, there was a fourth squirrel
43:36I killed, but I'd only spoke three.
43:38But it was all because, you know, God knew Tony was going to pray that prayer.
43:43And then we'd have to go back and find a squirrel.
43:45It was an easy way to try to get out of the situation.
43:47You know, when you're making stuff up as you go, as he obviously was, and people are going
43:52to eventually catch it.
43:54Whenever you slip up, you make some mistake.
43:56And so we have three squirrels, third pull.
43:59Well, now there's a fourth squirrel.
44:00What do you do with this?
44:01And the sad part about it is because of the way people are manipulated in these types of
44:07movements.
44:07This is the word of faith.
44:08This is the rhema.
44:09This is God speaking.
44:11Well, now there's a fourth one.
44:12What do you make of this?
44:13There's no real description of the fourth squirrel.
44:15Well, so people, you know, will jump to their own conclusions is to try to spiritualize.
44:21What is the meaning of the fourth squirrel?
44:22Maybe it means that I'm the next prophet to rise up and become William Branham's successor.
44:28Sadly, I think that may have actually happened.
44:30So you've got all these squirrel successors.
44:32So the whole thing is just really absurd.
44:34And I think if people in the word of faith movement and all of its descendants were to realize
44:40that this came from nonsense of a man claiming to have spoken squirrels into existence,
44:45and doing so by claiming it is the spoken word, robbing from EW Canyon through FF Bosworth,
44:51I think people might just take a step back and say, wait a minute, is this movement really
44:56from God or is this just some nut job who's saying that he could speak a squirrel into existence?
45:02Yeah, John, I hope that was very clear to everyone.
45:04So I just want to wrap up and say what we've learned, you know, in these events is really
45:09eye-opening, just highlights another issue, you know, with this ministry.
45:13You know, first, I'd say the word of the Lord really changed.
45:17It didn't seem to matter to William Branham that four squirrels were killed when he said
45:22the word of the Lord says there were three.
45:24William Branham seemed to think, what difference does it make?
45:28He says God told him to speak and whatever he spoke would come to pass and what was said
45:32was three.
45:34He got the three, but then got one for good measure, you know, perhaps because he didn't
45:38realize he had killed that one at the tree and he was probably a little desperate.
45:42He said it was getting dark, been a little desperate.
45:45He saw another squirrel, he shot him.
45:47So maybe by accident, he got this one.
45:49So since he couldn't find the third one he hunted until he'd be sure he had the three.
45:53So his words, you know, didn't come to pass exactly because you would think that if God
45:58was in this and spoke three, that he wouldn't even allow that other squirrel to be seen and
46:04he wouldn't even come out.
46:06And other times, you know, William Branham made a big deal about there being no squirrel around
46:10and how hunting conditions were so poor there were no squirrels.
46:13How God's spoken word is to be exact, that the squirrels had to come exactly the way it
46:18was spoken.
46:19And then to avoid lying about what happened, he had to say he shot four, but then he had
46:25to provide a cover story for the word of the Lord not being exact by saying the Lord said
46:29it to him.
46:30It made no difference if there were three or four.
46:33However, he actually had to speak the word again to find the fourth squirrel.
46:36So this made even more times the spoken word was used.
46:40His mistake was telling about a fourth squirrel.
46:43It caused his deacon to even pray as he did.
46:46You know, the deacon had some doubts.
46:48He was pretty sure that third squirrel hit the ground, but he just didn't find it.
46:52And so he needed that three squirrels.
46:55It would seem that if this was the word of the Lord, that he would not have shot that fourth
47:00squirrel and they would have gone back the next day and even found the third, just as
47:04he did.
47:05And even if he would have hunted all day and night, he would not be able to shoot a fourth
47:10because the word of the Lord that was spoken said three was all.
47:14And so this should be a huge issue when we're dealing with something like the spoken word
47:17and this new ministry.
47:20You know, the second thing or more we glean from this is his influence on the people who
47:25question things.
47:26He couldn't find the third squirrel.
47:27Tony, his deacon, had a question about why four, not three.
47:31So the situation reveals William Branham's attitude toward people who question.
47:36William Branham was careful to pay attention to everyone in the room's attitude at the
47:41time, too, because he realized the other brothers picked up on what was going on.
47:45And he even spoke that in a sermon.
47:47But after that night spent sleeping with the prophet, you know, Tony must have straightened
47:51up and didn't openly question anything because he continues to be a deacon at the church.
47:55And that's the really sad part.
47:57I think people who are in these cults, deep down, they know something's wrong.
48:02Deep down, everyone wants to be in something that is following truth.
48:05And sadly, people are just hoodwinked.
48:08But when you've got a ministry that's claiming that I have the spoken word, the rhema, whatever
48:12you want to call this thing, and that this is divinely inspired words coming directly from
48:18God, everything that I say must be the truth because it came from God.
48:22Through cognitive dissonance, people take, here's the thing that I know that I'm questioning
48:26is to be false, but here's the spiritual authority of this person speaking to me.
48:31Let's reconcile this and let's just make it true in some way, shape, or form.
48:36And sadly, that's what happens.
48:38And like this gentleman who stayed to be a deacon, it's really sad to watch because people,
48:43they bury their self deeper into the movement whenever they start to question and then suppress
48:48their critical thinking.
48:49I'll read a couple of quotes in closing here.
48:52You know, he said, talking about being judged, he believed himself to be a prophet.
48:57And of course, a prophet in his mind is not to be judged.
48:59He said, now, those are the spirits of the gifts that's in the church, talking about the
49:03gift of prophecy.
49:04But the only person that has a right to say, thus saith the Lord, is a vindicated prophet.
49:09You've never seen anybody judging Isaiah or Jeremiah or those people.
49:13They were prophets foreordained and born in this world to be prophets.
49:16And they foresaw things by a vision and then said, thus saith the Lord, for the Lord had
49:21already said it.
49:23In 1964, Christ is identified the same in all generations.
49:26He said, before the prophecy can be received by the church, it has to be judged by five
49:31spiritual judges or three spiritual judges.
49:34But not a prophet.
49:35A prophet is born a prophet.
49:37Gifts and callings or without repentance is something that is in you, is something you
49:41were born in you.
49:42God has ordained it in you.
49:44So we see in these two quotes and many others, you know, he thinks himself to be a vindicated
49:50prophet and he is not to be judged.
49:52That's why he tended to look down on others who questioned, you know, his, what he said.
49:58And that's just it.
49:58Like I said, when you are speaking, claiming that the words coming out of your mouth are
50:03the spoken word of God.
50:04In other words, this is a new Bible being spoken out of my mouth to you, whether you
50:09call it the spoken word or rhema or any of the things that they're saying, many of these
50:14people are speaking opinions and calling it prophecy because they're labeled as a prophet
50:18in the movement.
50:20It, you know, people just shut off critical thinking.
50:22It's a problem.
50:23And this is the foundation that was laid that eventually developed into all the apostolic
50:28networks that developed into the new apostolic reformation.
50:31And so each one of these prophetic figures or these apostle figures, they rose into power
50:38and governance over the bodies of people in such a way that their words become the word
50:43of God to the people.
50:44And from the outside looking in, everybody's wondering, well, why are they submitting to
50:48this authority?
50:49Why do they go to this man, this human being as a divine authority on doctrine and scripture?
50:54Why don't they just go to the scripture itself?
50:56And it's because of the foundation that was laid here.
50:59And like it or not, I know that there are people that argue with this, especially in
51:04the people in the Kenneth Hagan support groups and fans, they, in the cult of Kenneth Hagan,
51:09I guess I'll say it outright.
51:11They look at this and they say, no, this has nothing to do with Kenneth Hagan because
51:14Branham was a nut job.
51:16Well, if you understand that that nut job is what laid the foundation for your movement,
51:20you can't really make that argument.
51:22And sadly, that's what we have here today.
51:24So, so much more we could get into.
51:26Maybe we'll save it for next time.
51:27If you've enjoyed our show and you want more information, you can check us out on the web.
51:31You can find us at william-branham.org.
51:34For more about Roy Davis and William Branham, you can read The Persuasive Preacher, The Gifted
51:39Prophet, and The Noble Politician.
51:41For more about the dark side of the New Apostolic Reformation, you can read Weaponized Religion
51:46from Christian Identity to the NAR.
51:48Available on Amazon, Kindle, and Audible.
51:51Weaponized Religion from the New Apostolic Reformation
52:05in Da minimize that the all over the end.
52:11For more about the New Apostolic Reformation, you can find us at thefa wegen of the planet.
Comments

Recommended