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God spoke to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, after the serpent had beguiled Eve, and said "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This scripture presents two mysteries: first, what is the seed of the woman, and secondly, what is the seed of the serpent?
Physically, it is the male that carries seed for reproduction. A woman has no seed of her own. The only man that was born without a natural father was Jesus. The woman's seed, therefore, is the virgin-born man, Jesus Christ.
The serpent, however, is not awaiting a similar virgin-reincarnation. But, just as the seed of the woman refers to a physical offspring, so the seed of the serpent refers to a physical offspring. The hatred that was prophecied to exist between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent must be evident in the Bible in order to understand who the seed of the serpent is. However, this hatred is not evident between Jesus and an animal, such as a snake, but between Jesus and man. Jesus was crucified by men, which were the manifestation of the seed of the serpent, just as Abel was murdered by Cain, another manifestation of the seed of the serpent.
Jesus said to these people “Ye are of your father the devil”
Knowing what Jesus was referring to, they replied “We be not born of fornication.”
The fornication these people were referring to was the fornication between Eve and the Serpent, who was possessed of the Devil. Cain was the offspring of that union (i.e. the seed of the serpent), and is not counted among the descendant of Adam.
William Branham's teaching on the Serpent's seed
William Branham taught that the fall of mankind started with sexual intercourse between Eve and the 'Serpent' [1], which was an upright being prior to the curse. From this relationship, Cain was conceived and produced as a fertile man/serpent hybrid. Cain's children then came through Adam's daughters, and the evidence of any difference between Adam and Cain's lineages would have been diluted with each successive generation.
William Branham supported the doctrine of the serpent seed with rationale from various scriptures including:
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Text
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 3:1</KJVBible>
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The serpent was the most intelligent of all the beasts and could talk which lends support for the contention that the serpent was the 'missing link' in the creation, between apes and man.
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 3:6-7</KJVBible>
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The result of partaking of the 'fruit' was a knowledge that they were naked, a reference to the sexual nature of the sin.
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 3:13</KJVBible>
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Eve’s claim that the serpent had 'seduced' her. The term ‘beguiled’ in the King James Version means 'sexually seduced’ or ‘defiled’ rather than ‘deceived’ (which most contemporary translations give). The original Hebrew word is ‘nasha’ ("naw-shaw") which literally means to lead astray, mentally delude, or morally deceive. Genesis 3:13 is the only place where it is translated ‘beguiled’. Elsewhere in the Old Testament the word is usually translated ‘deceive’ or ‘deceived’.
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 3:14</KJVBible>
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The serpent was previously an upright being and only became a 'snake' after it was cursed by God.
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 3:16</KJVBible>
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The woman was cursed in childbearing; a punishment befitting the 'crime' (being sexual in nature).
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 4:1-2</KJVBible>
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The failure of the Bible to refer to Adam 'knowing' his wife again before the birth of Abel meant that Cain and Abel were twins. This was made possible throught the process of heteropaternal superfecundation where the mother ovulates more than one egg and has more than one partner during her fertile period. One egg is fertilized with sperm from one partner, and the other egg from sperm of the second partner. Hence, Rev. Branham contended that Cain was the son (or seed) of the serpent and Abel was the son of Adam.
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 4:25</KJVBible>
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Eve does not credit Adam with the fatherhood of Cain. She does not say God had given her another seed; that would have been Christ, for He was given. This son, Seth, was appointed instead of Abel. She recognizes her son that came by Adam; she does not recognize Cain for he came by the serpent. When she says “another seed instead of Abel”, she is saying that Cain was different from Abel, for if they were of the same father she would have had to say, "I have been given some more seed."
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| <KJVBible>Proverbs 30:20</KJVBible>
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An unrelated Biblical comparison of the act of sexual intercourse to the act of eating. This provides support for the partaking of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil as an allegory for sexual intercourse.
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| <KJVBible>John 1:13</KJVBible>
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Rev. Branham asserted that Cain and his descendants showed the characteristics of Satan, which were not shown by Abel, Seth and his descendants.
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| <KJVBible>II Corinthians 11:2-3</KJVBible>
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St. Paul is referring to the church and Eve in terms of chastity. A woman could be a thief, shoplifter, liar, or any one of many things and still be a virgin; but a loss of virginity can only come through sexual intercourse. Rev. Branham held that just as Satan, through the serpent, used perverted seed to create a perverted life (Cain); so Satan now seeks to pervert the Word of God to destroy the virginity of the Bride of Christ (the Church).
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| <KJVBible>Genesis 2:9</KJVBible>
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Rev. Branham held that there is no Biblical indication that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a physical tree or that its fruit was physical fruit. Similarly, the tree of life was not a physical tree but rather is an allegory of Christ both in the three times in Genesis ( <KJVBible>Genesis 2:9</KJVBible>, <KJVBible>Genesis 3:22</KJVBible>, <KJVBible>Genesis 3:24</KJVBible> ) and in the three times it is referred to in the book of Revelation ( Revelation 2:7, <KJVBible>Revelation 22:2</KJVBible>, <KJVBible>Revelation 22:14</KJVBible> ). This assertion was also referenced to John 6:53-57 where Christ invited his disciples to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
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| <KJVBible>Jude 1:14</KJVBible>
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Rev. Branham noted that Cain was excluded from Adam's physical lineage, inferring that Cain was not of that lineage.
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In Genesis 4:1, Eve says of Cain "I have gotten a man from the LORD." Rev. Branham was of the view that since all life comes from God, and that Eve's statement in itself does not discount the serpent seed doctrine.
- You could take the orneriest woman in the town, the worst man; if they had a baby, it would have to come from the Lord, because God has laws set together. And these laws, like the sun to raise; you put a cocklebur in a good field, it'll grow. And it has to grow, because it's God's law. When seed is planted, it must grow. And nothing can grow life but God, because it operates under His laws. Therefore when the evil seed was planted in the womb of--of Eve, it had to bring forth, because it's God's law of production. And it could do nothing else but bring it, and it had to come from God. (MARRIAGE.AND.DIVORCE_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-13 SUNDAY_ 65-0221M)
Genesis 4:1 says that: "Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel." William Branham taught that there was one act of Adam, and two children, whereas when Seth was born, there was one act, and one child. Genesis 4:25 "And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth..."
William Branham also taught that people follow the nature of their parents. Adam was a son of God, and Eve was a daughter of God. The creation of God could not have any evil in it. If Cain was the son of Adam and Eve, he would have been righteous like all the other sons of Adam and Eve, from Seth to Noah. Why was Cain a liar and a murderer? It was because he was like his father.
William Branham was also well aware of the potential racist connections of the doctrine, but tried not to carry any of these racist interpretations into his teachings:
- "The colored race is off of the same tree that we're off of, and every human being: the same one." There's no difference. Exactly. We're just all... One may be yellow, and the other one brown, the other one black, and the other one white, and the other one pale, and the other one red, and just like that, but you're all from that same tree. That's just the physical part out here. That's right. You're human beings just the same, created here by God." (QUESTIONS.AND.ANSWERS.ON.GENESIS_ JEFF.IN COD WEDNESDAY_ 53-0729)
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