Philadelphia
Seven Church Ages: Introduction • Ephesus • Smyrna • Pergamos • Thyatira • Sardis • Philadelphia • Laodicea • CAB • Last Messenger?
Philadelphia (Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια, meaning: "brotherly love") (the modern “Alasehir” or "Ala-Shehr" in Turkey) is the sixth city mentioned in the Book of Revelation to receive a message from Jesus Christ. Philadelphia was established in 189 BC by King Eumenes II of Pergamon. Eumenes II named the city for the love he had for his brother, Attalus II, who was loyal to Eumenes II and would follow as his successor.
Lacking an heir, Attalus III Philometer, the last of the Attalid kings of Pergamum, bequeathed his kingdom, including Philadelphia, to his Roman allies when he died in 133 BC. Rome set up the province of Asia in 129 BC by combining Ionia and the former Kingdom of Pergamum. Under Vespasian’s rule (69-79 AD), Philadelphia's name was changed to “Flavia”. By the third century, paganism had held on in the face of a Christianizing Empire, and the city became known as “little Athens” on account of its festivals and variety of temples.
Philadelphia became a powerful Byzantine province between the 10th to 14th centuries, in contrast to Sardis' decline during this time. Philadelphia was an independent neutral city under the influence of the Latin Knights of Rhodes when it was taken in 1390 by Sultan Bayezid I and an auxiliary Christian force under the Byzantine emperor Manuel II after a prolonged resistance, when all the other cities of Asia Minor had surrendered. Twelve years later it was captured by the Mongol Timur, who built a wall with the corpses of his prisoners. A fragment of the ghastly structure is in the library of Lincoln Cathedral.
Ancient Philadelphia was east of Smyrna and southwest of Sardis on the Cogamus River, a tributary of the Hermus river. It was also subject to frequent earthquakes.
Today, Alasehir is known for its fresh fruit, especially dried Sultana raisins. Alesehir also has a mineral spring.
Religion in Philadelphia
The coins from Philadelphia bear the images of Bacchus (Dionysus or Eleutherios) and Baccante. Dionysus is the god of wine, civilizatin, peace, agriculture, law, and theatre. He as known as the "liberator" as a result of the intoxication of wine. Bacchus is another form of Nimrod. Bacchus is the twice-born son of Zeus.
Historical accuracy in the Church Age Book
1. The Plagiarized and Uninspired Timeline
William Branham claimed that God gave him the exact dates and timelines of the Seven Church Ages by divine revelation. In his sermon series, he assigned the Philadelphian Church Age to the period between AD 1750 and AD 1906 [150], and chose John Wesley as its messenger [165].
But when we bring these dates to the auditing table, we find a direct copy:
- The Source of the "Revelation": William Branham copied these dates verbatim from page 27 of Clarence Larkin’s 1919 book, The Book of Revelation [492]. Larkin set up these boundaries based on his own dispensational framework. Branham adopted these boundaries without realizing that they created an duplicate timeline for his chosen messenger.
- The Chronological Anachronism: John Wesley lived from 1703 to 1791 [496]. This means that for the first forty-seven years of his life, Wesley was not even living in his own allotted Church Age. He spent nearly his entire childhood, youth, and early ministry in the "Sardisean" age [491]. Why would a divine revelation repeat the exact arbitrary boundaries of an earlier Baptist theologian, especially when those boundaries create such an awkward fit for the messenger's life?
2. The Myth of the "Unorganized" Messenger
Branham argued that the True Church and its messengers must be "unorganized," bitterly opposing any form of episcopal hierarchy, centralized church government, or human authority. He claimed that church organization is "of the devil" and represents the "deeds of the Nicolaitanes." He wrote of Wesley:
"It should also be mentioned that Wesley never did desire to build a work upon a denominational or sectarian basis."
This is a classic Self-Defeating Argument that completely ignores historical reality:
- A Master of Organization: John Wesley was one of the most brilliant organizers in Christian history. He did not merely preach; he systematized. He established the "United Society," which was governed by a strict set of rules for self-discipline [496, 680].
- The Articles of Religion: Seven years before his death, in 1784, Wesley wrote the Methodist Articles of Religion, the founding document for the American Methodist Episcopal Church, and appointed its first general superintendent, Thomas Coke.
- The Name Itself: The movement was called "Methodism" precisely because of its highly disciplined, methodical, and structured organization. To claim that Wesley "never did desire to build a work upon a denominational basis" is to deny the very origin of the Methodist Church.
3. The Moravian and Women's Ministry Edits
In the Church Age Book, John Wesley’s connection to the Moravians is highlighted as a beautiful spiritual influence. The book details how Wesley was deeply impressed by their meekness and how his contact with them led to his spiritual awakening.
However, a close examination of the sermon tapes reveals a startling fact:
- The Ghostwriter's Hand: In the original audio transcripts of the Church Age Series, William Branham never once mentioned the Moravians. The entire section was added later by his editor, Lee Vayle, during the "grammarizing" process.
- The Women's Ministry Irony: If Wesley is the perfect messenger pattern for the Philadelphian Age, his actions present a massive problem for Branham's rigid anti-woman preaching stance. Over the years, John Wesley became increasingly supportive of women's ministry, eventually encouraging and authorizing women to preach widely in his growing evangelistic movement. If women preaching is a "satanic heresy" as Branham claimed, then his chosen messenger was actively promoting it.
4. The Trinitarian Condemnation of the "Message"
William Branham claimed that the doctrine of the Trinity is "of the devil" and a "Satanic heresy". He argued that the true vine of believers must have perfect doctrine and that his Oneness-style theology was the original apostolic truth.
But John Wesley's own writings stand as a direct condemnation of Branham's theology:
- A Devout Trinitarian: Wesley was a staunch defender of the Trinity, writing that it "enters into the very heart of Christianity".
- The Swedenborg Refutation: In response to the writings of Baron Emmanuel Swedenborg, who taught a modalistic view of God identical to William Branham's "three offices" doctrine, Wesley wrote:
"The grand error which we learn from his whole work is, that there are not three persons in one God. This stares you in the face... He excludes all that believe it from salvation, and counts it the most damnable of all heresies... So all that believe the Trinity are, according to his charitable sentence, possessed by the devil!"
- The Conclusion: John Wesley did not teach Branham's doctrine. In fact, Wesley explicitly condemned Branham's view of the Godhead as a damnable heresy from the pit of hell. If Wesley were alive today, he would have warned his followers to flee from William Branham.
5. The "Little Strength" Contradiction
In Chapter 8, section 'The Open Door' of the Church Age Book, Branham makes a highly unusual theological claim regarding the Philadelphian Age:
"Now getting back to the open mission door of the Philadelphian Age. It did not have the open door of power it ought to have had. Notice in the same verse He mentions this open door. He says, 'Thou hast little strength.' That is right. The POWER of the Spirit was missing in that age."
This represents a severe Logical Contradiction and historical misrepresentation:
- The Greatest Revival Age: The Philadelphian Age was the great era of the Great Awakening and the Methodist revivals. It was characterized by massive outpourings of the Holy Spirit, where thousands fell under the power of God, wept, and repented.
- Supernatural Healing: Branham himself loved to preach about Wesley's supernatural healings, frequently telling the story of Wesley anointing his horse with oil and riding away healed.
- The Contradiction: How can Branham claim that "the POWER of the Spirit was missing in that age" while simultaneously using Wesley's supernatural miracles to prove his status as a "fully vindicated" messenger? The argument destroys itself.
6. The Ultimate Logical Collapse
This brings us to the fatal flaw at the center of the entire Church Age doctrine. William Branham stated that Christians in each age had to follow their messenger to be saved:
"All who did not believe the message and the messenger, perished."
If this is true, then the ledger of salvation cannot balance:
- Premise 1: To be saved in the Philadelphian Age, a believer had to follow the messenger, John Wesley, and accept his doctrine.
- Premise 2: John Wesley was a devout Trinitarian who condemned modalism as a damnable heresy.
- Premise 3: William Branham declared that Trinitarianism is a "Satanic heresy" and that anyone who believes it is "lost".
- Conclusion: Therefore, the Bride of Christ in the Philadelphian Age was required to believe a Satanic heresy to be saved.
This is not faith. This is a logical absurdity. It is a Self-Defeating Argument that collapses the entire dispensational model of messenger-led salvation.
Conclusion
A prophet's message cannot be built on plagiarized timelines, historical fabrications, and deep logical contradictions. John Wesley was a Trinitarian who organized the Methodist Church and supported women preachers. These are not debatable opinions; they are documented historical facts.
When a minister tells you to completely bypass your own mind and accept his illustrations without testing them, he is not asking for deep faith. He is asking for blind submission. The Bible never tells us to shut off our understanding. It tells us to "prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
References
- http://www.luthersem.edu/ckoester/Revelation/Philadelphia/main.htm
- This information is based on material from Wikipedia. As a result, this article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License which governs this website as well.
Links to other articles in the series
This article is one in a series of studies on the Seven Church Ages - you are currently on the topic that is in bold:
Footnotes