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Credibility: Difference between revisions
→Was William Branham credible?
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[[Image:Credibility.png|thumb|right|250px]] | [[Image:Credibility.png|thumb|right|250px]] | ||
In our search to find | In our search to find the truth and to separate fact from fiction as it relates to William Branham's ministry, one of the the most important issues that has to be asked is whether William Branham was credible. Most importantly, this question needs to be asked in respect of the various stories he tells in describing his supernatural experiences. | ||
''To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.'' — Edward R. Murrow | ''To be persuasive, we must be believable; to be believable, we must be credible; to be credible, we must be truthful.'' — Edward R. Murrow | ||
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=Was William Branham credible?= | =Was William Branham credible?= | ||
'''''If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.''''' - Mark Twain | {| style="width:100%; border:1px solid #E8B399;background-color:#F0DCC8;vertical-align:top; float:left; text-align:center; padding: 0.3em;margin-left:5px" | ||
|'''''If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.''''' - Mark Twain | |||
Because William Branham was a minister of the Gospel, one starts off with the assumption that he was credible. But that assumption must be discarded if it can be demonstrated that | '''''In order to thoroughly deceive others, it is necessary to also deceive oneself'''. The actor playing Hamlet must indeed believe in the moment that he is the Prince of Denmark, though when he leaves the stage he will usually remember who he really is.'' | ||
''On the other hand, '''when someone's entire life is based on such pretense, they seldom if ever return to reality. That is the secret of many successful politicians, evangelists and confidence tricksters alike–they believe they are telling the truth, even when it seems sure they must have known that they faked the evidence.''' Sincerity, my dear Julia, is a quality not to be trusted.'' – Sarah Caudwell from 'The Sibyl in Her Grave' | |||
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Because William Branham was a minister of the Gospel, one starts off with the assumption that he generally told the truth, that he was credible. But that assumption must be discarded if it can be demonstrated that he regularly strayed from telling the truth. | |||
William Branham portrayed himself as a simple, honest, uneducated man who was sent from God as a prophet to forerun the second coming of Christ. However, many of the stories that he told have been proven to be untrue and many of the doctrines that he said he received directly from God were, in fact, [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] from other ministers. Another significant issue is that many of [[Different Stories|William Branham's stories changed dramatically over time]]. Why did this happen? | William Branham portrayed himself as a simple, honest, uneducated man who was sent from God as a prophet to forerun the second coming of Christ. However, many of the stories that he told have been proven to be untrue and many of the doctrines that he said he received directly from God were, in fact, [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] from other ministers. Another significant issue is that many of [[Different Stories|William Branham's stories changed dramatically over time]]. Why did this happen? | ||
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The following items have caused us to question William Branham's credibility (click on the links to read a detailed explanation of the issue): | The following items have caused us to question William Branham's credibility (click on the links to read a detailed explanation of the issue): | ||
#Did William Branham visit the Vatican and see the inscription "''[[VICARIVS FILII DEI]]''" above the throne of the Pope? | |||
#[[William Branham and Billy Graham|Did William Branham lie about his prophecy regarding Billy Graham?]] | |||
#[[1933 Ohio River Experience|Did anyone hear the voice on the Ohio River in 1933?]] | #[[1933 Ohio River Experience|Did anyone hear the voice on the Ohio River in 1933?]] | ||
#Did William Branham see [[Stories about Eagles|a mother eagle carry her babies on her wings?]] | |||
#[[The Cloud|Why did William Branham say that he was under the cloud when they took its picture, when he clearly wasn't?]] | #[[The Cloud|Why did William Branham say that he was under the cloud when they took its picture, when he clearly wasn't?]] | ||
#Did William Branham travel [[William_Branham's Travels#Around the world seven times?|around the world seven times?]] | |||
#[[Bible saved from the flood|Was William Branham's Bible saved miraculously in the 1937 flood?]] | |||
#[[The Man from Windsor|Why did the story of the man from Windsor change so drastically over time?]] | #[[The Man from Windsor|Why did the story of the man from Windsor change so drastically over time?]] | ||
#[[Plagiarism|Why did William Branham say that he received his revelations from God when he took many of his doctrines from other men?]] | #[[Plagiarism|Why did William Branham say that he received his revelations from God when he took many of his doctrines from other men?]] | ||
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#[[William Branham's Double Standard#Trimmed Hair & Short Skirts in the Branham Family|Why did William Branham criticize women that cut their hair and wore short skirts, when his own family did?]] | #[[William Branham's Double Standard#Trimmed Hair & Short Skirts in the Branham Family|Why did William Branham criticize women that cut their hair and wore short skirts, when his own family did?]] | ||
#[[Arvel Mosier|What actually happened to Hattie Wright's boys?]] | #[[Arvel Mosier|What actually happened to Hattie Wright's boys?]] | ||
#[[William Branham on Suicide#Inaccuracies about William Cowper's death|Why did William Branham say he went to William Cowper's grave when he didn't?]] | |||
#[[William Branham on Suicide#Inaccuracies about William Cowper's death|Why did William Branham say William Cowper committed suicide when he died of heart failure?]] | |||
#[[William Branham on Suicide#Stephen Foster|Why did William Branham state the Stephen Foster committed suicide, when this is not true?]] | |||
#Was there really a connection between [[The Pope and the Lunar Eclipse|the Pope visiting israel in 1964 and the lunar eclipse that preceded his visit?]] | |||
=But didn't Abraham lie?= | =But didn't Abraham lie?= | ||