Hitler
This is an essay analyzing William Branham's Seven Visions of 1933. It was written by a former message follower.
Click on the links below to go to a specific section within the essay. You are currently on the topic below that is in bold:
An Introduction to the Analysis of the Seven Visions of 1933
What were the Seven Visions?
How many Visions?
Why were the Visions given?
Why did the Visions fail to change men’s religious ideas?
A Comparison of the 1960 Sermon and the Church Age Book
A Critique of each Vision
- Mussolini
- Hitler
- Three ISMs
- Scientific progress
- Women and morals
- Powerful Woman in America
- America destroyed
The Prediction
The sequence of the visions
Two views of the Seven Visions
Summary of the discussion
Hitler
| Church Age Book statement of the vision |
|---|
| An Austrian by the name of Adolph Hitler would rise up as dictator over Germany, and that he would draw the world into war. It showed the Siegfried line and how our troops would have a terrible time to overcome it. Then it showed that Hitler would come to a mysterious end. |
The first problem with this vision is the confusion about who started World War II. This statement correctly indicts Adolf Hitler and does not mention President Roosevelt or his predicted role the war. However, William Branham also referred to a vision which indicted President Roosevelt. It is clear that the Roosevelt prophecy was either a part of one of the Seven Visions of 1933 or an extra vision viz:
- This one, first. I’d like to read something to you. “1932.” Listen to this. “As I was on my way, or as I was getting ready to go on my way to church this morning, it came to pass that I fell into a vision. Our services is being held on Meigs Avenue, at the old orphan’s home where Charlie Kern lives in part of the building.” He lives just across the street now, you know. “And it came to pass, that, while I was in this vision, I seen some dreadful things take place. I speak this in the Name of the Lord. “The President which now is, President Franklin D. Roosevelt,” now remember, this is twenty-eight years ago, “will cause the whole world to go to war.[1]
- But the Lord showed me a vision of the great powerful woman, in '33, 1933, it's on paper. Of how that Roosevelt would cause... He helped cause the world to go to war.[2]
- All right. A Second World War! I said, “The President that now is…” I copied this off the old scripture, yet, the old thing yesterday, that, “The President that we now have,” which was…How many remembers whose it was? [A brother says, “Franklin Roosevelt.”] Franklin D. Roosevelt. I said, “The President we have in now will run even in the fourth term,” he was on his first then, “will run into the fourth term, and we will be taken to a Second World War.”[3]
But Roosevelt is not named in the Church Age Book which indicates that Roosevelt and his relationship to the causes of World War II and his four terms in office were not included in the original visions. This is another significant disconnect – William Branham said a number of times that the Roosevelt details were part of the Seven Visions but on the other hand they were not. He included the Roosevelt details in a statement about World War II in the sermon ‘The Laodicean Church Age’ (which was the basis for the Church Age Book) and so all the Roosevelt citations are included in this section. The first verifiable reference is found in a sermon in March 1958, therefore this is not a prophecy because it relates to an event that occurred in the past - World War II began in 1939. There are 25 other references to this vision and they are can be reviewed in Appendix 1 under the heading ‘2 Hitler’.
| Sermon statement |
|---|
| And in 1933 when…the vision of the Lord came to me up here and predicted that, Germany would rise up and have put that Maginot Line there. Many of you remember. And how they'd be all fortified in there, and the Americans would take a great beating right there at that line…Now, you remember; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD." Why we are not a denomination September 27, 1958 |
The only common element between this statement and the Church Age Book version is ‘Germany’. In the book the vision is:
- Adolph Hitler would be a dictator in Germany
- He would start a world war
- The Siegfried defensive line would cause many Americans to lose their lives
- Hitler would die mysteriously
In the 1958 version of the sermon the vision is:
- Germany would ‘rise up’
- Germany would build the Maginot defensive line
- The Maginot defensive line would cause many Americans to lose their lives
And this vision was explicitly ‘Thus saith the Lord’, including the Maginot line!
The Maginot line was built by France and the Siegfried line by Germany – which one was in the vision? The statements cannot both be ‘Thus saith the Lord’ since they are contradictory. This is obviously another serious issue.
When problems like this are raised the rationalizations begin. In this case it will be said that the prophet made a slip of the tongue, he meant to say ‘Siegfried’. The problem is that he unequivocally maintained that it was the German Maginot line more than 20 times and made the same statements only a few times about the Siegfried line (I say “approximately’ and ‘few’ here because he was very confused about the French Maginot line and the German Siegfried line sometimes saying that the French built the Siegfried line and the Germans built the Maginot and sometimes using both words (Maginot and Siegfried) in the same sentence to refer to one of the lines).
And then they will say ‘well he wasn’t an educated man’ and therefore can be excused. But the real point is this: God is supposed to have prepared a message for the world, that the Coming of the Lord was drawing nigh and providing historical markers that would convince people that this was true. Why would he then allow his prophet to muddle up the details so that people would be justified in calling the visions into question? Well, one typical answer is that ‘it was done to confound the wise’! Ignoring the absurdities, as you progressively add caveats to a claim in an attempt to justify it, it becomes more difficult to believe that it is actually true.
A classic, hypothetical example is about a man who claims to have a dragon in his garage and he invites you to check it out. But as you apply tests to determine if there really is a dragon in the garage (looking, measuring its temperature, trying to detect footprints etc) you are told that it is invisible, levitates, never walks around and has a very low metabolism and is too cool to detect. The dragon has become such a queer object that it is indistinguishable from ‘no dragon’ at all.
It’s the same with these rationalizations, you end up with a prophecy that is no prophecy at all (or maybe you end up with no prophet).
| Sermon statement |
|---|
| I'd like to read you a prophecy that was given... This one first. I speak this in the Name of the Lord. The president which now is, President Franklin D. Roosevelt. (Now remember, this is twenty-eight years ago.) will cause the whole world to go to war. (Now, look what happened now.) In...President Franklin D. Roosevelt took America to England's tea party. That's right. Germany never picked on us; we picked on them, throwed the whole world into a war, to cause a world war. Condemnation by Representation 13 November 1960 |
This definitely adds Roosevelt to the vision. It also incorrectly claims that Roosevelt caused world War II – why, because ‘we picked on them (Germany)’. This is all headed up as a prophecy spoken in the Name of the Lord! But Germany declared war on the USA on December 11th 1941 and the USA reciprocated either on that day or the next. And the war started in 1939, Roosevelt did not cause the world to go to war and it could not be said ‘in the name of the Lord’ that he did.
Roosevelt was an isolationist at the start of the war in Europe and steadfastly refused to get involved. This state of affairs continued until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941 which then triggered the declarations of war. Adolf Hitler ‘picked on’ (declared war on) the USA and Franklin D Roosevelt reciprocated. The two claims made in this rendition of the vision are both incorrect and could not have been framed by an omniscient God.
| Sermon statement |
|---|
| I seen that Maginot (Maginot line, it was instead of the Siegfried)--the Maginot line eleven years and told the people. It's wrote on paper. He's never one time...I charge any person in Divine Presence, or in the world, to ever tell me one time that the Holy Spirit ever spoke and said these things that it didn't come to pass. Why? 26th November 1960 |
Here William Branham is adamant that in the World War II vision he saw the Maginot line being built and it definitely was not the Siegfried line! He also says that whatever the Holy Spirit says always comes to pass! Well, what was said? Based on this statement either William Branham or the Holy Spirit is in error.
| Sermon statement |
|---|
| I got, THUS SAITH THE LORD. In her voting she will elect the wrong person. The Americans will take a great beating at a place that Germany will build, which will be a great wall built of concrete (The Maginot Line, eleven years before it was ever built.) But finally they will be victors…It will be near the end. (Then I've got in parenthesis: "I predict that this will take place." Now, remember, the Lord ne... That's what the Lord showed, but "I predict this will take place before 1977." Condemnation by representation 13th November 1960 |
He also maintained that his vision of the Maginot Line was received eleven years before it was built which implies that it was finished by 1944. But the Maginot line was ‘built in several phases from 1930’ and was completed when it was ‘extended to the Strait of Dover in 1934’ (Wikipedia).
If the fortification was the Siegfried then the dating is no better. There was an original line which was named the ‘Siegfried Position’ built by the Germans in 1916-17 (later demolished). The second Siegfried line was established farther east during the 1930s opposite the French Maginot Line and built between 1938 and 1940.
In either case, the claim that he received the vision eleven years before the fortification was started of finished is wrong.
No sense could be made of these renditions of this vision. If one is right then another must be wrong and visions can’t be wrong. Roosevelt did not cause the world to go to war but William Branham said that God told him that he did! He said that God told him that the Germans built the Maginot line – they didn’t. William Branham was wrong and wrong to impute God. These statements invalidate the vision and his prophetical ministry.
Footnotes