Sixth Seal
William Branham preached a series of sermons in March 1963 on the Seven Seals of the book of Revelation, and said that each seal identifies a religious disturbance. William Branham compared Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:29-30 with the Sixth seal.
| Matthew 24:29-30 | Revelation 6:12-17 |
|---|---|
| Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. | And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? |
William Branham opens the Sixth Seal with a modified retelling of Max Brand’s 1920 story “A Sagebrush Cinderella”.
He then ties the earthquake, and signs in heaven and on earth, to the ministries of Moses and Elijah after the Rapture. Since Moses and Elijah both performed signs in heaven and earth during their ministries, he concluded that they would return to continue their job.
- “Israel is God’s son, so he is going to deliver him here in the Tribulation period, just exactly the way He did down in Egypt. …There is your Seal. Who does it? It’s the prophets, the other side of the Rapture. With the Power of God, the Word of God, they just condemn nature. They can send earthquakes, turn the moon into blood, the sun can go down, or anything, at their command.”
By 1964, William Branham was trying out his own hand at condemning nature, proclaiming judgment on Los Angeles, and claiming that an earthquake in Alaska was fulfillment of his ministry’s judgment on the West Coast.
William Branham again makes a number of very strange statements in this sermon:
- He talks respectfully about Mormon prophets: “Joseph Smith…that fine man, and the vision, I don’t doubt at all but what he had the vision. I believe he was a sincere man. But the vision he had was contrary to the Scripture.”
- He mentions a vision being present in Heaven with Jesus and the recording angel, when the recording angel calls his name. Meda and Hope then enter heaven with him. This story is to reassure those who listened to sermon on the Fifth Seal, that those waiting under the altar following his ministry would enter heaven with him.
William Branham also takes the time to lash out critically at big-game hunters:
- "Why, it's a sin. That's not sport. When I was standing out on the field out yonder, in where I hunt and things like that, and see where them white hunters come out there and shoot them deer and cut a hindquarters off of it and sometimes kill eight or ten little does and leave them laying there, and their fawns running around trying to find their mammy, and you mean that's sportsmanship? That's pure murder in my book… Buffalo Bill and them plainsmen had shot off all them buffaloes, forty, fifty in an afternoon. They know when they ridded that, they got rid of the Indian. Oh, my, a stain on the flag the way they treated them Indians. There you are. But remember, the Bible said, "The hour's come that God will destroy them that destroys the earth."
On May 26, 1965, William Branham went to Africa and shot 33 large game animals (including buffalo) in 21 days. Owen Jorgenson wrote that “Bill wanted to shoot a lion…He tried setting a trap. First he shot a zebra. Tying the dead zebra behind the Land Rover, he drug it in a wide circle around a tree, then left the zebra carcass under the tree, hoping a lion would smell the zebra scent and follow it to the tree”. So it turns out that William Branham became the big-game hunter that he condemned so harshly. Think about it…when is the last time you shot 33 large game animals in 21 days? William Branham simply did in Africa what he accused the white man of doing in America – and he did it while wearing shorts.
Plagiarism
William Branham’s secret source of information for this sermon was the writings of Clarence Larkin. Here is a comparison:
| What William Branham Said | What Clarence Larkin Said |
|---|---|
| Notice, just exactly like come over there: "And the sun became as black as sackcloth..." See? Same thing, these happenings of nature. What was it? What, when nature happens like this, has been? God calling Israel. (See?) God's calling out Israel. Now, "sun as black as hair..." Now, God was about to deliver Israel there (All right.), bring them out of their enemy's hand, which was Egypt at that time.
Matthew, 27th chapter of Matthew and the--the 45th verse, I believe it is. Now, from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. Now, notice just exactly what He did back here now in this. See? And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal,... lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon--and the moon became as blood; Blackness, darkness: Egypt--blackness, darkness, God delivering Jesus at the cross, just 'fore He brought Him up from the resurrection... In Isaiah, let's take this. Isaiah the prophet seen this Sixth Seal open and spoke of it... Let's just... I like this--this of Isaiah. Let's go back here to Isaiah, the 13th chapter of Isaiah. I like...
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SIXTH SEAL
When the “SIXTH SEAL” was broken John tells us that there was a “GREAT EARTHQUAKE,” and the “SUN BECAME BLACK AS SACKCLOTH OF HAIR,” and the “MOON BECAME AS BLOOD,” and the “STARS OF HEAVEN FELL TO THE EARTH,” and the “HEAVEN DEPARTED AS A SCROLL,” and “EVERY MOUNTAIN AND ISLAND WERE MOVED OUT OF THEIR PLACE.” Such physical phenomena and changes have happened before. We must not forget the “GREAT DARKNESS” that for 3 days overspread Egypt in the days before the Exodus (Ex. 10:21–23), nor the “DARKNESS” that settled over Jerusalem and Calvary on the day of the Crucifixion of Christ. Matt. 27:45. In Isa. 13:9–10, we read—“Behold the ‘DAY OF THE LORD’ cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall NOT GIVE THEIR LIGHT, the sun shall be DARKENED in his going forth, and the moon shall not CAUSE HER LIGHT TO SHINE.” Clarence Larkin, The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture, 60-61 (Philadelphia, PA: Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate, 1919). |
| Now, I want you to hold your Book like this: Matthew 24 and Revelations 6, like this, and let's compare something here just a little bit. So watch this now, and you can find out just how--how it is. See, what the Lamb here is showing exactly in symbol what He said over here in Word, doing exactly. So that makes it right. Now, that's--that's all there is to it. Here's--here's one; He's talking of it, and here's where it happens. See? It's just a perfect vindication.
THE SIXTH SEAL 63-0323 |
SIXTH SEAL
At this point it will be interesting to compare, as on the next three pages, Christ’s “Olivet Discourse” (Matt. 24:1–30), with the “Six Seals” of Rev. 6:1–17. The similarity between them is most striking, and proves that the author of the “Olivet Discourse” foreknew, in the “Days of His Flesh,” in their exact order, the things that shall come to pass in the “Day of the Lord.” This is indisputable evidence of the Deity of Jesus. Clarence Larkin, The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture, 61 (Philadelphia, PA: Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate, 1919). |
Questions
Voice of God Recordings and many Message Believers have tried to prove William Branham correct by saying there are discrepancies in the Bible. As part of the Sixth Seal, William Branham addresses these concerns himself:
- “I can take one Scripture and say, “Judas went and hung himself,” take another and say, “You go do the same.” See? But, see, it won’t blend in with the rest of It.”
- "The Bible does not contradict itself. “And the Bible does not contradict Itself anywhere. I've heard the old critics say that, but I have had an offer for him for a long time to show me where it's at. It isn't in here.”
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William Branham preached hard against the "sin" of big-game hunting, during an important sermon like the Sixth Seal. He then went out and shot 33 large animals in Africa in 21 days. In other words, he did the very thing he preached against. What other sins did William Branham preach against, but participate in? |