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William Branham Historical Research
  • 6 hours ago
John Collins and John McKinnon examine William Branham’s use of Matthew 3:17 and Colossians 2:9, focusing on his repeated phrasing, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am pleased to dwell in.” They compare that wording with the passages themselves and discuss why adding “to dwell in” changes the meaning of the baptismal declaration, affects the doctrine of Christ, and shifts interpretive authority from the biblical text to the teacher.

They also trace how this teaching connects in Branham’s sermons to adoption, manifest sons of God, divine embodiment, spiritual authority, and later ideas associated with Word of Faith and the New Apostolic Reformation. The discussion explores the difference between God indwelling believers and claims that elevate human ministers or believers toward divine status, while emphasizing the importance of keeping distinct passages and their meanings intact.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
07:58 When Scripture Is Changed to Support Doctrine
14:14 Branham's Teaching on Jesus' Baptism
19:21 How Adding Words Changes Biblical Meaning
25:43 The Transfer of Authority from Scripture to the Messenger
31:14 Connecting Branham's Doctrine to His Prophetic Claims
36:15 From Divine Indwelling to Word of Faith
43:29 How Branham's Teaching Elevated the Messenger
48:42 The Influence on Modern Charismatic Theology
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Learning
Transcript
00:31Hello, 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
00:40at william-branham.org, and with me I have my co-host and friend, John McKinnon, author
00:46of Godhead and Their Own Words, Voices of Oneness Preachers of the End-Time Message.
00:51John, it's good to be back and talk about this subject, which is going to be a little
00:55bit unusual to all of the listeners.
00:57I'm not going to lie to you, whether you were in Branhamism or whether you were in New
01:02Apostolic Reformation, Charismatic Movement, if you're listening to this and you hear
01:07me say what the subject is, which I'm going to call it indwelling versus embodiment, you're
01:13going to think, what in the world is this?
01:15Why are you having this conversation?
01:17And yet, honestly, in my journey out and trying to unravel all of this mess that was implanted
01:24in my head, indoctrinated, this is probably the most important subject, because it really
01:30came down to the question for me that I was trying to answer.
01:35Was Branhamism based off of the Jesus of the Bible, or did Branham purposefully, and I'm
01:41using that word specifically, did he purposefully alter Jesus to set himself up as the end-time
01:47messenger?
01:48That was a question that plagued me as I left, and I began to understand that a lot of the
01:54things that he said simply was not true, but I wanted to know why he did it.
01:58And for a lot of people who have been begging me to answer the question, why did Branham
02:04do all of this?
02:04I really can't historically answer that.
02:07He's not here to ask him.
02:08He's not alive.
02:09And to my knowledge, he never apologized or confessed to what he did.
02:14So I can only assume what was his intentions, and this is one of the doctrines that he taught
02:21that because of the way he taught it, it looks as though his intentions was to alter the
02:28nature of Jesus.
02:29And we know what the Bible says about those who come teaching a false Jesus or a different
02:34Jesus.
02:35Well, this is what was happening.
02:37But think of the implications of this.
02:40He was the foremost leader of the post-World War II healing revival.
02:44As such, he was connected to all of these ministries, many of which flourished into big organizations.
02:51Christ for the Nations Institute, for example, is connected to Branham because Gordon Lindsay,
02:55the founder of Christ for the Nations Institute, was Branham's campaign manager.
03:00So for a period of time, if you're in Christ for the Nations today, for a period of time,
03:05your founder was working with somebody who was altering the nature of Jesus, specifically
03:11for the intention to lift himself up as a deity before the people, as God's messenger.
03:18There's different ways that he set this up.
03:20And it all comes back down to this one doctrine.
03:23So usually I avoid doctrine, but this is one of the more important historical aspects of
03:29Branhamism that really flows downhill from Branhamism into everything that we see today.
03:35By altering just one little phrase, by adding to it, Branham changed the course of Christianity
03:42for the movement.
03:43So with that set up, here is John McKinnon, and I'll let you further introduce it, John.
03:50John McKinnon Hello, John.
03:51It's good to be with you again today.
03:52So today we're going to look at a method very carefully used by William Branham while
03:58he taught the message of the hour and how he handled scripture that really has detrimental
04:04consequences, has caused real confusion in the church.
04:07As we stated before, William Branham used the practice of taking phrases from different
04:13verses and then blending them together into new sentences that the Bible never actually
04:18wrote or meant to say the same way.
04:21We'll focus especially this time on how William Branham took this Matthew 3.17 and Colossians
04:282.9 and blended those together and why that kind of approach is not only poor interpretation,
04:34but can lead to serious doctrinal problems, including teachings that blur the lines between the
04:41creature and the creator.
04:43You know, John, I'm looking forward to working through this with you today, and so let's get
04:47right into it.
04:48You know, this example today is one of the most serious examples I can see of scripture blending
04:54in William Branham's teaching.
04:56We'll start with the baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan, and this is in Matthew 3.17.
05:04The Father's voice speaks from heaven and says,
05:07This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, or in whom I am well pleased.
05:13God, who was the Father of Jesus Christ when He was born in flesh, was just directly here
05:19affirming His Son's identity and of His delight in Him.
05:24It was meant to be total approval of the Son.
05:28He said He was well pleased with Him.
05:30It means God looks at Jesus and finds zero fault in Him, fully accepting and delighting
05:38in who He is and what He does.
05:40It also identifies His mission and His identity.
05:44It's spoken at the very start of Jesus' public ministry to identify who He is, serves as an
05:49open divine confirmation of His identity as Son of God and His readiness to accomplish His
05:56redemptive mission.
05:57The phrase, in whom I am well pleased, which is used by the King James and the New King
06:02James Version, mean certain things because it's also said, with whom I am well pleased in
06:09the English Standard Version and the New American Standard Bible.
06:13Even in the easy to read version, it says,
06:16A voice from heaven said, This is my Son, the one I love.
06:20I am very pleased with Him.
06:23So, each time we see these verses are just stating an approval of the Son of God and who
06:28He was.
06:29Young's literal translation says, on verse 17,
06:33And lo, a voice out of heaven saying, This is my Son, the Beloved, in whom I delight,
06:39or I did delight.
06:41So, there's another scripture in Colossians 2.9, and we'll get to a minute how William
06:47Branham used Matthew 3.17 and others in the Gospels in the same event, and also used this
06:54Colossians 2.9, which is just one of probably others, to create a whole new scripture.
06:59But in Colossians 2.9, Paul writes,
07:02For in Him the fullness, or the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.
07:08That is a high Christological statement in Colossians.
07:12It tells us that the entire fullness of what God is resides in Jesus in bodily form.
07:18It's about the unique deity of Christ.
07:22But Branham took these two separate statements, or two separate scriptures, combined them into
07:27one sentence, and here's how he stated it on many occasions.
07:31He stated it this way,
07:33This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased to dwell in.
07:38He says that in 1957, one of the first times in Hear Ye Him, where he preached many messages
07:45titled Hear Ye Him.
07:47He says,
07:48Our Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast said, Thou hast said,
07:51This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, or pleased to dwell in.
07:58And, John, that's where the major problem with these two scripture blendings begins.
08:04And it's such a huge problem.
08:06When I left Branhamism, I left as a oneness Pentecostal.
08:09I knew that there were things that he taught that was incorrect.
08:12I had not yet really gone through the exercise of tearing down everything that I believed.
08:17I just simply left, and I intended to fully examine everything he taught.
08:21So, when I came across this problem where he's adding words to the Bible, and for the specific
08:28purpose of altering the nature of Jesus, my question to myself was, well, is that a problem?
08:34Because if you believe the oneness version of Jesus, what he says actually isn't that
08:39problematic, except for the fact that he's adding words to the Bible.
08:43And everybody knows what it says at the end of the book of Revelation, whoever adds to
08:47or takes away.
08:48That's a verse that he also quoted frequently.
08:50So, I'm faced with this complex conundrum.
08:54On the one hand, he said, whoever adds to or takes away, and he would frequently preach
08:58about this, blaming other people for their doctrines.
09:02And at the same time, he's literally doing it.
09:04He's not even doing it from just a doctrinal standpoint.
09:07He's actually adding the words to the Bible.
09:09So, what do you do with this?
09:11I went down the journey, and it was a tough one, to try to understand what the Bible says
09:17about the Godhead, and I'm not going to open up that discussion in this podcast, but I just
09:23want to say this.
09:24There was a difference, and here is the problem.
09:27If you look at everything that he says about this verse, you'll find that he does add the
09:33words to it.
09:33That's a problem, a clear problem.
09:35But the other problem is, he knew the correct words.
09:38If you go back through the table and you do some searches, you can find that he actually
09:42knew what the correct words for this passage was.
09:46So, why did he choose to add the words?
09:49And for me, as we get deeper into this, that's really what I want to focus on, because there
09:55was an intention of him purposefully altering the Bible.
09:58And when I discovered this, I was angered.
10:02I can't express to you how angry I was, because the things that he said in twisting the Bible
10:09text were programmed in my head.
10:12So, when I'm reading the Bible, I'm reading it through the context that he planted here,
10:16and then to find out some of the words he planted weren't in there, now what do I do?
10:22How do I erase my memory?
10:23I can't.
10:24So, I'm having to relearn everything, and worse than that, for those of you who don't
10:29know what this is like, I had to re-memorize everything, and that is a real challenge, especially
10:35if you get older in life like me.
10:38So, this is a huge, huge problem, but pay close attention to the fact that he knew he
10:43was doing this.
10:44So, John, yeah, we really, we have no right to blend scriptures together to make them say
10:49something different.
10:50We have no authority to do it, and neither did William Branham have any authority.
10:54to do such.
10:56But he's laying the foundation all along that gives him the authority to do kind of what
11:01he wants to do with scripture, and also to declare that he's the last day prophet.
11:06And all this strategy that, what he's doing here is really laying that foundation.
11:11And so, from 10 times, from 1950 to 1955 in his ministry, very early on, he quoted the scripture
11:18exactly.
11:19And really, every time he quoted the scriptures, he never added that little bit to dwell in.
11:24But in 1957, he began to change the scripture and started to blend two verses to make the
11:31word say something different.
11:33You know, as we know, William Branham did work with Jim Jones about this time from 1956 to
11:391957.
11:40He also worked with the latter rain heavily during this time, because he'd already really
11:45been shunned by the Assemblies of God and the UPC groups, which one was Trinity, one was
11:50oneness, around 1953.
11:53So, this was a few years after that when he had to find some way to hold some meetings,
11:58and he was trying to find his allegiances.
12:00But he found it in the latter rain and in Jim Jones at the time.
12:05So, this shift in the statement begins around this time.
12:09Latter rain, of course, focused on the doctrine of manifest sons of God and becoming a little
12:15God on earth, God manifesting in flesh, and the minister being the embodiment of God.
12:22But Jim Jones became this doctrine, as we know, and he went out on his own as well, even departing
12:28from latter rain and William Branham, and preached that he was the very Christ embodied.
12:33So, this was all about this same time.
12:36But Branham preached this message, Hear Ye Hymn, six times in one year, from March of 1957
12:41to March of 1958.
12:43After March of 1958, he consistently quoted the scripture after that in a blended manner.
12:50And I believe it was right after he had a lot of connection with these groups here we just
12:55mentioned.
12:55But what is significant to this is that it represents a more public exposition of his
13:01teaching on the Godhead.
13:03You know, prior to this, while he was still popular with most of the denominational Pentecostal
13:08world, he only mentioned his beliefs about the deity of Christ and about God in an expounded
13:14way in 1950 in his sermon, Who is God?
13:18And now he was becoming very open about his belief that Jesus Christ was really not God,
13:24nor was he deity on his own accord, but only a man in whom God decided to dwell in to
13:32accomplish
13:33redemption.
13:34And this flies in the face of sound doctrine, John.
13:38Jesus was God in the flesh, and I'll say from the cradle to the cross.
13:42And at no time was he ever not God in flesh, because the Bible said he was born in Christ
13:47the Lord, and the Word became flesh.
13:51So when he became flesh, he was God in flesh from the beginning.
13:54He wasn't waiting for some baptism of the Spirit to make him God.
13:59And there's where the difference is.
14:01But he was a dual person, God on one hand and a regular man on the other hand.
14:07But how being, however, he was born in a divine way through a virgin birth, still sinless.
14:14But his statements, Brother Brown's statements here are very clear on what he meant, because
14:19listen to how he presents Jesus Christ in his sermon called The Baptism of the Holy Spirit
14:24in September of 1958.
14:27He says, we was baptized by John the Baptist.
14:30He's speaking about the apostles in Acts 19, which that's another subject I want to go
14:35in at some point.
14:36But he was speaking to that scripture in Acts 19, where those disciples said, well, we
14:41was baptized by John the Baptist, the same man that baptized Jesus Christ, same hole of
14:46water.
14:47That's pretty good baptism, don't you think so?
14:50Looks like that would stick all right, don't it?
14:52Looks like it'd be all right.
14:53If the man that walked in the water with our Lord Jesus Christ and baptized Jesus, and God
15:00sanctioned it, till he come down in the form of the Holy Ghost and went into him, and he
15:06said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased to dwell in, right after that baptism.
15:12So we see in this quote here, William Branham is making that distinction that Jesus was an
15:17ordinary man and not God in flesh until John the Baptist baptized him.
15:22Now, he was using this example for another purpose, of course, is that to promote baptism
15:28in the name of Jesus Christ.
15:29But in this case, the way he stated this, he says, God sanctioned it, and then till he
15:35came down in the form of the Holy Spirit and went into Jesus.
15:39And then he said, right after the baptism, now this is my son in whom I'm pleased to dwell
15:45in.
15:45And we find that, I've mentioned this before, what Lonnie Jenkins preached, he said, it was
15:51only after that time that he became God in flesh.
15:54So we see the teaching runs concurrent through the message the same way.
15:59And another message in 1959, June 28th, questions and answers.
16:05Now listen to how he states this.
16:07And his name was called what?
16:09Jesus.
16:10All right.
16:10Father, Son, Holy Ghost.
16:11Now, Father and the Holy Ghost is a self-same spirit.
16:15What is ghost?
16:16It's the spirit of God.
16:17And when it was, he came on the baptism of Jesus and dwelt in him.
16:24This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased to dwell in.
16:28He came down and dwelt in Jesus.
16:30And then he says, and that made him Emmanuel on earth.
16:35Emmanuel means God with us.
16:37So, not until that time was he God with us.
16:40But like I said, I contend with that in the way I say he was God from the cradle to
16:46the
16:46cross.
16:48Not any time other than, you know, before or after.
16:52He was God all the way through.
16:54So, around this time, William Branham began preaching the series on adoption as well.
16:59And we went over that in prior episodes.
17:01But adoption, in the way William Branham preached it, ties right into why he blended these two
17:07scriptures.
17:08It was to support his doctrine concerning manifest sons of God and very subtly denies, at the
17:14same time, the deity of Jesus Christ in the process.
17:18And we've covered that previously as well, John.
17:21And so, to me, this adding and taking away from what God has said is very, it's a very dangerous
17:26platform to be standing on.
17:27And it's very dangerous to ride the coattails of William Branham in the ministry, as ministers
17:33are doing, and believe in the message.
17:36And it's very dangerous to do that as well, because now you're adhering to what he said.
17:41Now, we'll listen again in another quote here in Questions and Answers on the Seals in 1963
17:47and March 24th.
17:49He said, now in there, it said, the Bible, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
17:55You see?
17:56Now, that's wrote in the actual form of the Greek, putting verb before adverb.
18:01But you notice here, it'd actually be this.
18:04Now, just take the word, see?
18:06The Bible says in the translation of St. James here, this is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased
18:12to dwell.
18:14And I'll break into this just what he said here.
18:16The Bible does not say this.
18:18And there's no St. James translation.
18:21I think he was referring to the King James.
18:23But here's what the King James actually says.
18:27And lo, a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
18:33Brother Branham just got through saying the translation of St. James here says, this is my beloved son
18:39in whom I'm pleased to dwell.
18:42The Bible says no such thing.
18:44I'll continue on with Branham's quote here.
18:47He said, but actually, if we would say it like today, this is my beloved son in whom
18:52I'm pleased to dwell in.
18:53You turn it around, see?
18:55See?
18:56This is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased to dwell.
18:58See?
18:59Now, we would say it today.
19:01This is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased to dwell in.
19:05See?
19:05The same word just turns it around, see?
19:08So I would have to say that after he answered this question, he probably had the people's heads
19:13spinning and turning around for good, because he sure brought in a lot of confusion there.
19:21And John, I'll go on here in just a minute, but I'll say, you know, this is just a clear
19:26example of where he took scriptures and made them say something they really didn't say.
19:30I have had people ask me, so what does it matter?
19:34So William Branham added words to the Bible text.
19:36Well, if those words are in alignment with the rest of the context of the Bible, what
19:41does it matter?
19:42And my question to them is always, well, why would you want to do that in the first place?
19:46If you have the Bible context, why not point to the Bible context and let the listener
19:51decide for themselves?
19:52But this turns into a complex problem for this reason.
19:57He isn't just saying that God is dwelling in Jesus.
20:02You could go there and stop, but what he's doing is he's actually, by adding these words,
20:07he's requiring that you take away other words.
20:10In other words, the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus, all of that passage where it's talking
20:16about this, the one that the Trinitarians always point to, he's totally erasing it.
20:20You can't have this because God is dwelling in him, to dwell in.
20:25He's basically reassigning the entire order of the scripture so that you can erase here
20:30because he added here.
20:32So the problem becomes twofold.
20:35You're having to work to establish what passages you're allowed to accept and which ones you
20:40must reject.
20:41And again, my question goes back to why would you want to reject it if you believe it?
20:46I don't think he actually believed it because, as I said before, he knew he was adding these
20:51words.
20:52He knew what he was doing.
20:53So the problem, like I said, it's a complex problem.
20:57But what happens whenever that complex problem mirrors your own ministry?
21:02And for me, this is where it turned into such a mess that I got sick to my stomach because
21:08what he's trying to say outside of this, if you follow his other doctrines as they're
21:14building at that same timeline, you mentioned when Jim Jones is coming onto the scene, well,
21:19that's about the same time he starts really, really focusing on his manifested sons of God.
21:24So if you go into the context of manifest sons of God, like you said, now this new theology,
21:30adding these new words actually supports your new doctrine.
21:33So now instead of two problems, we actually have three.
21:37He's requiring you to reject certain passages while you accept his new additions to the passage,
21:43and both of those are to support his new doctrine.
21:47This is a huge problem, as anybody can understand, but I had to take a step back and look at
21:53it
21:53and say, well, what's the purpose of all of this?
21:55Why would you even do any of this?
21:57And for me, the agenda seems to be the problem here because we're talking about a timeline
22:04whenever he is starting to introduce things into his ministry to support his own deity.
22:10And the point at which, like you just said, the point at which you start adding to it,
22:15well, he can overcome your rules because if you're God, you can do anything.
22:20And that's literally what he was trying to achieve was God-like status.
22:24I agree.
22:25You know, this is a very dangerous platform to be on.
22:27That's why I want to present this because, you know, really it should be a warning to the ministry out
22:33there
22:33and the congregations as well to please, please come to the Word of God
22:39and just see what the Word says and don't rely on a man's word.
22:43But I'm going to continue on here about what this Greek actually means
22:47that William Branham said it meant to dwell in,
22:50and he had their heads spinning after answering this question.
22:54It's a significant example because his argument rests on a claim about the Greek text
22:59that is even not supported by the Greek text itself.
23:03What the Greek actually says in Matthew 3.17 is literally,
23:07the Greek is along the lines of,
23:10in whom I was well-pleased or in whom I took delight.
23:14The verb is edu-kesa.
23:18It means to be well-pleased, to take delight in, or to approve.
23:22It's the first person singular verb.
23:24But there's no Greek word there in this whole sentence meaning dwell in Matthew 3.17.
23:31That's the fundamental problem with Branham's explanation.
23:35Branham's claim about the word order is not even accurate.
23:39Branham says that's wrote in an actual form of the Greek,
23:42put in verb before adverb.
23:44And then he says,
23:45the right translation is,
23:47this is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased to dwell.
23:50You know, the Greek does not contain a verb meaning dwell.
23:54That word,
23:58edu-kesa,
23:59it means I was well-pleased,
24:01I delighted,
24:01I took pleasure in.
24:02It does not mean I was pleased to dwell.
24:04Well, this isn't simply a matter of rearranging the Greek words into a more natural English at all.
24:11You're saying something totally different than the Greek even says.
24:14So, he's treading upon ground that he has no authority to tread upon
24:19because he hasn't even studied very thoroughly the Greek to be able to answer it correctly.
24:24But the added concept of dwell changes the whole theological argument here.
24:30And this is where William Branham's interpretation becomes very important.
24:35The text only says,
24:37it's my son in whom I'm well-pleased.
24:40But changing it to dwell substantially changes the claims.
24:45And the biblical statement identifies Jesus only as a beloved son whom the father is pleased with.
24:50But Branham's version introduces the idea that God himself is now dwelling in Jesus at this point,
24:57and not before.
24:59It makes Jesus only God when God's Holy Spirit descended upon him and came into him, as he said.
25:06Before that, Branham would make the claim that Jesus was only an ordinary man,
25:10however, being born divine through a virgin birth.
25:13And that's being an ordinary man without being God in flesh from birth is totally anti-scriptural.
25:19And this is one error that's really not small.
25:22It's the cornerstone, actually, of the Christian faith in general.
25:26And I think this goes very far to show that message doctrine itself,
25:31and I want to emphasize the doctrine and what he's preaching here, not the people,
25:38but the doctrine of William Branham is far from the orthodox Christian faith.
25:43For me, this problem is much bigger than just simply a Greek mistake.
25:47As I've mentioned quite a few times, whenever I left this thing,
25:50I started reading the Bible cover to cover over and over again,
25:54mainly to try to wash this nonsense out, but partially to learn,
25:58because at the same time I'm doing it, I'm reading it in the interlinear.
26:02So I've read the entire New Testament like this, and that's, if anybody's ever done this,
26:06this is really, really time-consuming, because you're taking words and phrases
26:10and then comparing it to the Greek words and phrases and see how they match and how they align.
26:15But Branham is doing something different.
26:17Instead of saying that there's a Greek mistake here,
26:22he's saying literally that your Bible says X, but the original language actually means Y.
26:28And he's going a step further by saying, I can tell you what that actually means.
26:33So he's actually telling the people to go outside of the text
26:36and try to understand why he has the authority to inject words into it.
26:41That's huge.
26:43That's an enormous transfer of authority from God to himself.
26:47And by doing that, he's actually belittling the Bible.
26:51He's making the Bible seem less powerful than it is,
26:54because he knows the actual Bible text,
26:57while the listener or the reader of the Bible can't know the original meaning.
27:02And the sad truth of it is this.
27:04I was going to churches from Indiana to Arizona and South Carolina,
27:09everywhere in between, going to all of these places,
27:12and there were many places where they would do exactly this.
27:16They would say, he knew what was being written in the text, even if it wasn't there.
27:21They didn't come out in so much and say it in those words,
27:24but they were preaching sermons to lead you to believe
27:27that when he was reading the Bible text, he was seeing a whole world we couldn't see.
27:31And that's a problem, because he's not only seeing that world in his mind,
27:36he's actually writing the text of it,
27:38then telling you that his version of the text is correct,
27:40and the Bible text that is there is incorrect.
27:44So in doing so, his audience can accept the fact that he is adding to
27:48and taking away from the Bible.
27:50Have you ever wondered how the Pentecostal movement started,
27:54or how the progression of modern Pentecostalism transitioned through the latter reign,
28:00charismatic, and other fringe movements into the New Apostolic Reformation?
28:04You can learn this and more on William Branham Historical Research's website,
28:09william-branham.org.
28:11On the books page of the website,
28:13you can find the compiled research of John Collins,
28:17Charles Paisley, Stephen Montgomery,
28:19John McKinnon, and others,
28:21with links to the paper, audio, and digital versions of each book.
28:25You can also find resources and documentation
28:28on various people and topics related to those movements.
28:32If you want to contribute to the cause,
28:34you can support the podcast by clicking the Contribute button at the top.
28:39And as always, be sure to like and subscribe to the audio or video version
28:43that you're listening to or watching.
28:45On behalf of William Branham Historical Research,
28:48we want to thank you for your support.
28:50I've been digging deeply into the different movements
28:54that converge to make what would eventually develop
28:56into the New Apostolic Reformation.
28:59One of those is the Restorationist movement.
29:01And I recently recorded a podcast talking about the destructive cults
29:05that have developed because of Restorationist movements.
29:09And that really applies here.
29:11If you haven't heard it, I recommend you go listen to it.
29:13But the idea that these Restorationist-type cults bring
29:18is that something has been lost,
29:20whether it's the truth or five-fold ministry
29:23or the gifts or the authority, whatever it is,
29:25they're teaching you that something has been lost
29:28and that God was not in control of the church,
29:31therefore they were sent to restore it.
29:34And that's the real problem because when they preach it,
29:37they'll never say, I'm here to restore it.
29:40They'll say, God is here to restore it.
29:42But then the people immediately connect them as the Restorer.
29:46In other words, they become the agent of that Restoration.
29:49And that's where the authority starts to creep in
29:52because they start telling the people,
29:54I'm the one who knows the answers.
29:56I'm the one who can tell you what the original text would have said,
30:00and I can tell you why the translations are wrong,
30:03and the people start to trust their interpretation
30:06of what should have been there and isn't
30:09over the actual text itself.
30:11And that turns into an even bigger problem
30:13because essentially what you're doing when you do this,
30:16you are telling people that you cannot trust the text
30:19that is written in the Bible.
30:21I had this conversation whenever I left.
30:23There were people who were in Branhamism.
30:26There was a handful of people that contacted me after I left.
30:30And I started explaining to them,
30:32well, look, the Bible says this,
30:34and he's trying to tell us this other thing,
30:36and it's completely night and day different.
30:39And they said, well, I just don't know.
30:40I can't understand it.
30:42And that's the problem.
30:43He has taught them that he cannot,
30:44that you as the reader cannot understand what is in the Bible
30:49because you literally cannot trust it.
30:51You have to instead go to the messenger for your hour,
30:54and that messenger for the hour will tell you
30:56what should have been written in the Bible.
30:58For me, this is disastrous.
31:00We're getting into some very deep things here,
31:02and it's some very strong statements I'm making,
31:04but I believe I have a lot to back me up by.
31:08And we're going to see more about his blending
31:10and twisting of Scripture,
31:12twisting the very meaning of it.
31:14Later in 1963,
31:16we now can begin to see the whole picture
31:19of why he says it this way,
31:20as we've been talking about.
31:21In 1963, August 25th, perfect faith,
31:25he said,
31:26this is my beloved son in whom I'm pleased to dwell in.
31:30At the day of his baptism,
31:32I'm pleased to make my abode in there.
31:35There's no condemnation to him at all.
31:37Now, when the same God comes to you
31:39and is pleased to dwell in you,
31:42pleased to honor your word,
31:44what your decision is, and so forth.
31:46In other words, he's saying,
31:48now you can write the blank check.
31:49The blank check is there.
31:51You just got to fill it out
31:52with what your request is before God
31:54because he's pleased to dwell in you
31:56like he was pleased to dwell in Christ.
31:59But notice he always makes that distinction
32:01is that it was at the day of his baptism
32:03before God ever dwelt in him.
32:06You know, the Holy Spirit coming down,
32:09you know, Jesus is already the fullness
32:10of the Godhead bodily.
32:12He didn't need the Holy Spirit to come down
32:14to now enter into him to dwell in him.
32:16And we'll see another quote later on
32:18where we know that's exactly what he means to say.
32:21But the Spirit was only there to identify Jesus to John
32:25because the Spirit had told John in the wilderness
32:28upon whom you see the Spirit descending upon
32:31and remaining, that is the Son of God.
32:34So it was only a sign to John the Baptist,
32:36not a time when God decided
32:38he was going to dwell in Christ.
32:41All right, in 1964, in March the 18th service,
32:45we would see Jesus.
32:46William Branham said,
32:48he was the vindicated promise of God for that age.
32:51He, that made him the Word.
32:53Is that right?
32:54Well, he'd be the same thing today,
32:56the Word again, see?
32:57And he, he, he, he told them to look at that.
33:01And that's what he was.
33:02He was the Word.
33:03The Word made flesh.
33:04That's what he was.
33:05Now, when he became the Word
33:07and God came down in the form of the Holy Spirit,
33:10form of a dove and went upon him and said,
33:12this is my beloved Son
33:13whom I'm pleased to dwell in.
33:16Again, in 1964, in March, he said,
33:19we are told that in the last days
33:20that will repeat again.
33:22There's going to be a message come forth
33:23that will introduce the Messiah to the people.
33:27So the whole background
33:28and the whole reason he's laid this framework
33:29of God coming into somebody
33:32is so that he can now declare
33:33God has come into me
33:35and I'm the prophet of the age.
33:37The message has come forth.
33:39It introduced,
33:39I'm demonstrating Messiah to the people
33:42through his discernment gift, of course.
33:44And that's where he always took it back to
33:46was that he was demonstrating the Messiah.
33:48He was now God in flesh to the people.
33:52On the wings of a snow white dove,
33:54one of his last messages he preached in 65,
33:57he said,
33:57a loyal voice came from heaven.
33:59This is my beloved Son
34:00in whom I am well pleased
34:01and in parentheses, in other words,
34:03in whom I am pleased to dwell in.
34:05So he quoted the scripture correctly,
34:07but then he has to go back
34:09and correct the scripture
34:10to his point of view
34:11to say it the way he's been saying it all along.
34:15And so we see he never changed his pattern on that.
34:18So notice what has happened.
34:20The original words of the Father God
34:23in Holy Scripture has been altered.
34:25The phrase to dwell in
34:27has been inserted into the scriptures.
34:29The result is a sentence
34:31that neither Matthew nor Paul the Apostle
34:33never ever wrote.
34:35It's a hybrid text
34:36created by cutting and pasting.
34:39It's not a careful comparison
34:40of scripture with scripture.
34:42This is a creation
34:44of a new theological doctrine,
34:46a claim that the Bible itself
34:48is not even making.
34:49But let's be precise now
34:51about what the blending,
34:52the blending of this does
34:53to the meaning of the text.
34:55In Matthew 3.17,
34:57the Father is declaring
34:58only his pleasure in the Son,
35:00his approval, his delight,
35:02his affirmation of who Jesus is
35:04and his perfection.
35:05The focus is only relational
35:07and identification.
35:10In Colossians 2.9,
35:12the focus is ontological.
35:13It's about who Jesus really was.
35:16It says he was the fullness
35:17of Godhead bodily,
35:19the fullness of deity,
35:21permanently residing
35:22in the incarnate Christ
35:24when the word incarnated
35:25into him as a baby.
35:27So when you force
35:29the language here
35:30of dwelling
35:30into the baptismal declaration,
35:32you change the subject
35:34of the Father's pleasure.
35:36It's no longer simply
35:37that the Father's
35:38well-pleased with his Son.
35:39It now sounds like
35:41the Father's well-pleased
35:42to now dwell inside the Son
35:44at some point in his life.
35:46The emphasis shifts
35:47from the Father's approval
35:48of the Son's person
35:50to the idea
35:50of the Father
35:51now taking up residence
35:53in him
35:53as the primary point
35:54of the statement.
35:56And that's distortion,
35:58plain and simple.
35:59It makes the text
36:00say something
36:01that it does not say.
36:02It takes two true statements
36:04from two different passages
36:05and creates a third
36:06hybrid statement
36:08that is not true
36:09to the original passage,
36:11either or.
36:12And this is why
36:13the method itself
36:14is dangerous.
36:15You know,
36:15once a preacher feels free
36:16to rewrite the words
36:18of Scripture
36:18in this way,
36:19and it feels like
36:20he has the authority
36:21to do so,
36:22that authority
36:23has now moved
36:24from the text itself
36:26to the teacher.
36:27And I want to pause there
36:29to show the significance
36:30of this.
36:31I have had people
36:32contact me
36:32to try to understand
36:34what did Branham
36:35actually believe
36:36on the Godhead?
36:37Because some of the statements,
36:39you read them
36:39and you think,
36:40well,
36:40he's a oneness Pentecostal.
36:41He's matching 100%.
36:44And then you'll find
36:44historians that say,
36:45no,
36:45he's not really oneness.
36:47He's more of a modalist.
36:48And they'll go off
36:49into their tangent.
36:50But you find Branham himself
36:52prayed to the gods
36:53of the Trinity.
36:54And I say gods plural
36:56because he later said
36:57that anybody who prays
36:59to the persons
37:00of the Trinity
37:00are praying to the gods,
37:03plural.
37:03And yet he himself
37:04prayed to the persons
37:06of the Trinity.
37:07So if he's doing this,
37:08he must have believed
37:09at that point
37:09that they were three gods.
37:11However,
37:12all of this to be said,
37:13I don't think that
37:14that is really
37:15where people should focus.
37:16Instead,
37:17it should be like this.
37:19Exactly what you said.
37:21What he's doing
37:22is he's building up
37:23to something
37:23that he can introduce
37:25as a doctrine
37:26that empowers the people,
37:27but while at the same time
37:29keeping him
37:29a level above their power.
37:31In other words,
37:32he's telling you,
37:33you can enlighten yourself
37:34and come up
37:35to this higher plane.
37:36I will always be up here.
37:38And so everybody
37:39is coming into this faith
37:41trying to get
37:42to this higher plane.
37:43Well,
37:43think about the timeline
37:44of when the Word of Faith
37:46movement began to emerge.
37:47He's bringing in
37:48the manifested sons
37:49of God doctrine.
37:50He's bringing in
37:52this idea
37:52that you too
37:54can be a person
37:55who God comes to dwell in
37:57and therefore
37:57you can speak.
38:00And think about
38:01how Word of Faith works.
38:02You too, my brother,
38:04you can speak
38:04and just name it.
38:05You can claim it.
38:06That's literally
38:07what he is saying here.
38:08He is bringing
38:09this doctrine together.
38:10Did he invent it?
38:11No.
38:12This was a cross-pollination
38:14of many different
38:14people's ideas
38:15that is coming
38:16into his own version
38:18of God heads theology.
38:20I'm saying that plural
38:21because he had many.
38:22He really did not
38:24have a doctrine.
38:24He didn't care
38:25so much about the doctrine.
38:26It was more about
38:28making himself
38:29the leader of the people
38:31so that people
38:32would respect him more.
38:33And by doing this,
38:35he's essentially
38:35telling the people
38:36that I am your mediator
38:38between God and man.
38:39If you follow me,
38:40you too can speak
38:42and it will happen.
38:43And from there,
38:44we know the rest
38:45is history.
38:45It began to develop
38:46into this Word of Faith,
38:47prosperity gospel thing.
38:49So while he's not
38:50the originator of that,
38:52he was a catalyst
38:53for that movement
38:54as well as a catalyst
38:55for the latter rain movement.
38:57So John,
38:58you know,
38:58we've gone over here.
38:59He's setting himself
39:00on a platform
39:01and you've stated
39:02it so well there
39:03in what you just said.
39:05But, you know,
39:06now I want to focus
39:08on something else.
39:08What is it doing
39:09to the Orthodox Christian faith
39:11in general
39:11for this to be happening?
39:13We've seen one example
39:14in a past episode
39:15and now we're seeing
39:16another example
39:17and I've got a few more.
39:18But we need to look
39:19at the doctrinal damage here.
39:21The Orthodox Christian faith
39:23has always confessed
39:24that the Father,
39:24Son,
39:25and Holy Spirit
39:25are distinct persons
39:27sharing the same divine nature,
39:29the same essence.
39:30And the baptism of Jesus
39:32is one of those
39:33clearest places
39:34where that distinction
39:35is displayed openly
39:37in front of the people.
39:38The Son's,
39:39of course,
39:39in the water,
39:40the fullness of God,
39:41the Son in the water.
39:43The Spirit,
39:44the Holy Spirit
39:45being the fullness of God,
39:46descends like a dove
39:47and the Father
39:48speaking from heaven.
39:49But, you know,
39:50they're distinctions,
39:52but they're all the same
39:53and all one,
39:55one essence,
39:56and all have one mind
39:57and one will.
39:58They're not three
39:59separate beings.
40:00And it's amazing
40:01that God can do that,
40:02but we just have to accept
40:04the fact of Scripture
40:05that God does that,
40:06just like He separates Himself
40:07into every believer
40:08and every believer
40:10has the Holy Spirit
40:11dwelling in Him.
40:12Well, that's God
40:14separating Himself
40:15in multiple ways.
40:17Now,
40:18there's many mysteries
40:19like that
40:19we will not fully understand.
40:21I just have to accept it
40:22because it's in the Scripture.
40:24But there's an additional
40:25problem here.
40:27Brandon presents
40:27his interpretation
40:28as a translation
40:30of the actual Scripture.
40:32And this may be
40:33the most important
40:33criticism to make.
40:35He doesn't merely say,
40:37I believe God
40:38was dwelling in Jesus
40:39because that would be true.
40:40He says, in effect,
40:42the Greek
40:42has actually said this.
40:44The translators
40:45actually got it wrong
40:46when they printed
40:47your Bibles.
40:48And this is a much
40:49stronger claim.
40:51When the Greek text
40:52is actually examined,
40:53and this is by scholars
40:54and by anything
40:56you can look up,
40:57there's no verb
40:58to dwell in
40:59to translate here.
41:01multiple Greek
41:02textual resources
41:04give the same
41:04basic wording,
41:06the same translations
41:07consistently render
41:08the final clause
41:09as,
41:10in whom I am well pleased,
41:12or,
41:13with whom I am well pleased,
41:14or,
41:15in him I take
41:15great delight.
41:17Even translations
41:18that differ
41:19considerably in style
41:20do not translate
41:22the passage ever
41:23as,
41:24in whom I am pleased
41:25to dwell
41:26or to dwell in.
41:27So by rewording
41:29God's declaration
41:31into,
41:31I am pleased
41:32to dwell in,
41:32the blending phrase,
41:34the blending of this phrase
41:35begins to blur
41:36the distinction
41:37that's trying to be
41:38made in Scripture.
41:39It can easily be heard
41:40as the Father
41:41essentially identifying
41:42His presence
41:43with the Son
41:44in a way
41:44that leans towards
41:46modalism,
41:47actually,
41:47and the ancient era
41:48that Father,
41:49Son,
41:49and Spirit
41:50are not distinct,
41:51but only different modes
41:52of,
41:52you know,
41:53one being
41:54going from person
41:55to person.
41:56So we know
41:57that William Branham
41:57did not embrace
41:58modalism
41:59or Trinitarianism,
42:00but created
42:01his own version
42:02of the Godhead
42:02where the Word
42:04was just a halo
42:05of light
42:05that went out
42:06of the Father
42:07as a Son
42:08in the beginning
42:09and had a beginning
42:10rather than
42:11being eternal,
42:12which we know
42:13the Son
42:14was always eternal.
42:15But William Branham's
42:16doctrine removes
42:17the deity of Christ
42:18as being God
42:20in the flesh
42:20because if the Son
42:22had a beginning,
42:23He's not eternal.
42:24and it forever
42:26changes that
42:27from His conception
42:28to the cross
42:29as God
42:30and makes it
42:31an antichrist
42:32doctrine
42:32in the end.
42:34It risks
42:34diminishing
42:35the uniqueness
42:36of the incarnation
42:37of Christ.
42:39Colossians 2.9
42:40is true of Christ
42:42alone
42:42in the way
42:42Paul states it.
42:44The full deity
42:45dwells in the body
42:46of Jesus
42:47in a manner
42:47that is not true
42:48of any other person,
42:50no matter
42:51who they may be.
42:51But when that language
42:53is imported
42:54into the baptismal voice
42:56and then later
42:57applied more broadly,
42:58the uniqueness
43:00of Christ
43:00and His deity
43:01becomes threatened.
43:03Orthodox Christian faith
43:05depends
43:05on precise speech
43:07about God
43:08and being very particular
43:10when we define
43:11our terms
43:12so that we're not
43:13misunderstood.
43:14So when we
43:16alter the words
43:16of Scripture,
43:17interpret Scripture
43:18wrongly
43:19and place things
43:20or trying to say
43:21things that are
43:21in the Greek text
43:22which are not
43:23even there
43:23about the Son of God,
43:25we put all our
43:26precision language
43:28at risk.
43:29And here is where
43:30that embodiment
43:31that I mentioned earlier
43:32really, really matters.
43:34Think about this.
43:35It isn't just
43:37that William Branham
43:37was adding words
43:38to the text.
43:39That alone
43:40should make
43:41any Christian
43:41run screaming,
43:42here's a man
43:43who's adding statements
43:44to the text
43:44of the Bible.
43:45I don't want
43:45to hear him
43:46or anything
43:46he has to say
43:48about the Bible.
43:49But it isn't just that.
43:50He was literally
43:52altering
43:52what Jesus meant
43:54to the church.
43:55And think about
43:56all of the ministries
43:57that are connected
43:58to him
43:59who were accepting
44:00of the changes
44:02that he was making
44:02to the nature
44:03of Jesus
44:04and what Jesus
44:05meant to the church.
44:06He is literally
44:07saying that
44:08Jesus came,
44:09yes,
44:10but that was
44:11for a time
44:11long ago
44:12and God came down
44:13and dwelt in him.
44:14In today's world,
44:16we have a messenger
44:17of the hour
44:18and God
44:18will come down
44:19and dwell in him
44:20and God
44:21will also dwell
44:22in you
44:22so you can get
44:24to a higher plane
44:25than Jesus
44:25and I will be
44:26at a higher plane
44:27than you.
44:28That is the pyramid
44:30that he is creating.
44:31He's using Jesus
44:32as a stepping stone
44:34for his own ministry
44:35rather than pointing
44:36people to the return.
44:38Look at all
44:38of the churches.
44:39If you're in one
44:40of these sects
44:41of Branhamism,
44:42you're hearing continually,
44:43Brother Branham
44:44did this,
44:44Brother Branham
44:45did this.
44:46I've been in
44:47family meetings
44:48where it's just
44:48literally a family
44:49gathering like
44:50a family getting
44:52together for a meal
44:53or whatever
44:53and we would have
44:54long discussions
44:55on William Branham
44:56said this,
44:57William Branham
44:57said that.
44:58Fast forward
44:59to the New Apostolic
45:00Reformation.
45:01People are still
45:02mentioning his name
45:03as though it's
45:03a good thing
45:04and not a single
45:05person in the
45:06congregation knows
45:07that William Branham
45:08was altering
45:09why Jesus came
45:10to the church
45:11to point to himself.
45:13All of these
45:14ministries that have
45:14built huge empires
45:15upon this,
45:16none of them
45:17are going to tell
45:18the people
45:18that he did this
45:19but instead
45:20they'll point to
45:21the things
45:21that Branham did
45:22because of that
45:23empowerment,
45:24that embodiment
45:25because they too
45:26want the same
45:27embodiment.
45:28They want the same
45:28power.
45:29So for me,
45:30that's an even
45:30bigger problem
45:31than just simply
45:32adding to the text
45:33but adding to the text
45:34alone is heresy.
45:36The whole thing,
45:37it's a huge mess
45:38that I think
45:39everybody should
45:40run screaming from.
45:42So John,
45:43we don't want to
45:43risk misinterpreting
45:45scripture.
45:46We want to do
45:46all we can
45:47to get it right
45:48and William Branham
45:50seemed to not
45:50care about that
45:52because evidently
45:53it appears more
45:54and more
45:55as I study this
45:56more and more,
45:56I can see he was
45:57very superficial
45:58in his study of
46:00scripture.
46:00He might have read
46:01it over and over
46:02but he came to
46:02his own conclusion
46:05and his conclusions
46:06were not always
46:07the best way
46:08to interpret scripture
46:09and we're going
46:10to find out
46:11what happens
46:11when you do that
46:12because his
46:13blending of scripture
46:14now supports
46:15the theory of
46:17little gods
46:17or the word of
46:18faith teaching.
46:20So here's where
46:20the problem becomes
46:21even more practical
46:22in our day
46:23and widespread
46:24in our day.
46:25You know,
46:25once the Father's
46:26voice has been
46:27rephrased as
46:28I'm pleased to
46:28dwell in Christ
46:30at that point,
46:31the next step
46:32is almost inevitable
46:33in certain circles
46:34of Christianity.
46:35The logic goes
46:36like this,
46:37if God is pleased
46:38to dwell in Jesus
46:39and if believers
46:40are now in Christ
46:41then God is equally
46:43pleased to dwell in
46:44and do the same
46:45things that he did
46:47in Jesus in us.
46:48And so from there
46:50it's a very short
46:50step and I believe
46:52that.
46:52I believe God
46:53works through us
46:54but it's a short
46:55step to claim
46:56now that the believer
46:57is a little God
46:58or that we have
46:59the same divine
47:00nature in such a
47:02way that we can
47:02function as God's
47:04own earth
47:04and start speaking
47:05things into existence.
47:07And that is exactly
47:08the trajectory here
47:09that we see in
47:10William Branham's
47:11teaching in the end
47:12and even more
47:13explicitly in the
47:15Word of Faith
47:16movement and in
47:17the NAR.
47:18You know,
47:19teachers in that
47:19same stream have
47:20long used the idea
47:21of God dwelling
47:22in the believer
47:23to begin to support
47:24that assertion that
47:25you are gods,
47:27that the believer
47:27is a God-man
47:28or that we share
47:30the same nature
47:30and authority
47:31as God himself.
47:33The blended verse
47:35here becomes
47:36that convenient
47:36bridge and that's
47:38where the key
47:39of this is.
47:40It makes it sound
47:40like the Bible
47:41teaches that God's
47:42greatest pleasure
47:43is to dwell inside
47:44human beings
47:46in a way that
47:47elevates them to
47:48divine status.
47:50But that is not
47:51what Matthew 3.17
47:52says and it's not
47:53what Colossians 2.9
47:55is teaching.
47:56Scripture does teach
47:57the Holy Spirit
47:58and dwells every believer.
47:59It teaches real union
48:01with Christ.
48:02It teaches that we
48:04are partakers of
48:05the divine nature
48:05in the sense of
48:072 Peter 1.4
48:08sharing God's
48:09moral character
48:09and eternal life
48:11that we've been given.
48:12But it never teaches
48:13that we become gods
48:15or that the creature
48:16and creator distinction
48:17is erased
48:18or that God is
48:20well pleased to dwell
48:21in us in the same
48:23unique sense
48:23that the fullness
48:24of deity was dwelling
48:25in Christ.
48:26This hybrid sentence
48:28that William Branham
48:29created.
48:29It helps obscure
48:31that critical difference.
48:32It takes language
48:33that belongs uniquely
48:34to Christ
48:35and makes it sound
48:36so transferable
48:37to the believer
48:38in a way that fuels
48:39this little God's
48:40doctrine.
48:41And that's why
48:42this kind of blending
48:43is not a harmless
48:44preaching technique.
48:46It's a distortion
48:47that opens the door
48:48to teachings
48:49which undermine
48:50the uniqueness of Christ
48:52and the proper
48:52relationship between
48:53God and His people,
48:55God and the creature.
48:57the creator
48:58and the creature.
48:59But faithful interpretation
49:01refuses that shortcut.
49:03It keeps God's words
49:05at the baptism intact.
49:07It keeps Colossians 2.9
49:09focused on the full deity
49:11of Christ alone.
49:12And it refuses
49:13to create new sentences
49:15that can later be used
49:17to support our doctrines
49:18that the apostles
49:19never taught.
49:20It's not a small mistake here.
49:22You know,
49:23when you alter
49:24the words of God
49:25and His Bible
49:26concerning the Son,
49:27you're dealing
49:28with the very heart
49:29of Christology,
49:30who Jesus is
49:32and how the Godhead
49:33relates to us.
49:35Absolutely.
49:36And think about
49:37the church today.
49:38Think about
49:38the Pentecostal
49:39charismatic movement today.
49:41You hear all
49:41this modern language
49:42like I'm decreeing,
49:44I'm declaring,
49:45I'm taking authority,
49:46I'm manifesting
49:47the kingdom.
49:48You have apostolic authority,
49:49you have prophetic authority,
49:51it's all about authority.
49:53When people say this,
49:54they're not thinking
49:55about William Branham.
49:56You'll hear the ministers
49:57talking about it,
49:58you too can have authority,
49:59and they're not telling you
50:01that that's exactly
50:02what Branham did,
50:03or that many of these
50:04ministries that exist today,
50:06they're built on top
50:07of this mess.
50:08More specifically,
50:10they're not telling you
50:11that as a catalyst
50:12for that movement,
50:13you had a leader
50:14who was literally
50:15altering why Jesus
50:17came to the church.
50:19That's a problem.
50:20And so,
50:21for me,
50:21you have to go beyond
50:23the doctrines,
50:24look back at the history
50:25of this,
50:25and see where this doctrine
50:27actually came from.
50:29Yes,
50:29it was a cross-pollination
50:30of ideas,
50:31and yes,
50:31Branham didn't originate it,
50:33but as one of the catalysts,
50:35think about why
50:36he was a catalyst for it,
50:37and think about
50:38how people have misused
50:40and abused this.
50:41They're taking it
50:42to levels that are
50:42so far extreme
50:43that it doesn't even
50:44resemble Christianity.
50:46Well,
50:46that's because
50:47they had a different version
50:48of why Jesus Christ
50:49was sent to the church.
50:51So,
50:51John,
50:51that's so true.
50:52We've been through
50:52a lot today,
50:53and I want to close
50:54with this.
50:55You know,
50:56if the Father is well-pleased
50:57to dwell in the Son
50:58in the way Branham's
51:00phrasing suggested,
51:02it can be used
51:03to support ideas
51:04that blur that distinction
51:06between the persons
51:07of the Godhead
51:08or treat the relationship
51:11in ways New Testament
51:12never taught it
51:14between God and the Son.
51:16Historically,
51:17you know,
51:17similar kinds of
51:18rewording of scriptures
51:19have been used
51:20to prop up modalism
51:21and other errors
51:23that deny
51:24the eternal distinctions
51:25in the Godhead.
51:27More broadly,
51:28you know,
51:28once a teacher is willing
51:29to create hybrid verses,
51:30that authority
51:31shifts to them.
51:33Scripture is no longer
51:34the final authority
51:35of the rule.
51:35The combined new phrases
51:37become the new authority
51:38and the new Bible.
51:40People start quoting
51:41these blended versions
51:42as if it were
51:43the Bible itself.
51:45And that's how
51:46extra-biblical ideas
51:47get protected
51:48within the group
51:49by the appearance
51:51of biblical,
51:52very biblical language
51:53and even two verses
51:54in the Bible.
51:55And that's the heart
51:56of what I wanted
51:56to lay out today,
51:57John.
51:58You know,
51:58Branham's method
51:59of combining
51:59Psalms 58 and 51
52:01we spoke of before,
52:03and now especially
52:04Matthew 3.17
52:05and Colossians 2.9
52:06shows us clearly
52:07why this approach
52:08is not sound exegesis,
52:11why we need
52:11to be careful
52:13when teaching,
52:14when we teach ourselves
52:15to avoid leading
52:16to doctrinal problems.
52:18And above all,
52:19we should never have
52:20our own personal agenda
52:21or pet doctrines
52:23to promote,
52:24such as the Word of Faith
52:25teaches
52:25and such as
52:26the Message teaches
52:27or the NAR.
52:29And they embrace things
52:30that injects
52:31aberrant
52:32and even pseudo-Christian
52:33doctrines
52:34into the mix,
52:36which are not really biblical,
52:37and they inject these
52:39into the minds
52:39of sincere people,
52:42which once they
52:43embrace them,
52:43it becomes very
52:45extremely difficult
52:47for that person
52:48to sort it out
52:49and then correct it
52:50and even to
52:51obtain right doctrine.
52:53So,
52:55glad we could go
52:55through this today,
52:56John.
52:57I know it was a lot
52:57of information,
52:58a lot to digest,
53:00but I look forward
53:00to the next time
53:01to look at another topic
53:03along these same lines.
53:04Absolutely.
53:05Well,
53:06if you've enjoyed our show
53:07and you want more information,
53:07you can check us out
53:08on the web.
53:09You can find us
53:09at william-brannum.org.
53:11For more information
53:12about the Message teachings
53:14of the Godhead,
53:14you can read
53:15Godhead and Their Own Words,
53:17Voices of Oneness Preachers
53:18of the End Time Message.
53:19And for more about
53:20the dark side
53:20of the New Apostolic Reformation,
53:22you can read
53:23Weaponized Religion
53:24from Christian Identity
53:25to the NAR.
53:26Available on Amazon,
53:28Kindle,
53:28and Audible.
53:52Maria,
53:52for more information than
53:52buying ebbs.
53:52Who knows heed
54:08but visit
54:08any otherathletes.曾
54:08on
54:08the Internet!

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