Our Response to Owen Jorgensen
Recently, Owen Jorgensen, the author of Supernatural: The Life of William Branham wrote a response to those who criticize William Branham's ministry. This is is our response to his letter (the complete text of his letter is below). Those interested in this subject should also see An Open Letter to Owen Jorgensen by Luca Freeman.
Our Open Letter to Owen Jorgensen
We agree with your Brian Tracy quote:
- Your beliefs act as a set of filters that screen out information that is inconsistent with them. You do not necessarily believe what you see, but rather you see what you already believe. You reject information that contradicts what you have already decided to believe, whether or not your beliefs, your prejudices, are based on fact or fantasy.
But we have a significant concern that you have not applied it in your books on William Branham. You believe that William Branham's word is on par with the Bible so you have simply parroted his words in your books. There is no independent analysis of his life or ministry.
God knew that His people would have trouble identifying true and false prophets so the Bible contains some very clear identifications of a true prophet. When a prophet speaks, people do not know whether the prophet is lying (speaking out of his own imagination) or if the prophet has actually received a dream or a vision from God. God told Israel to listen to everyone who claims to have received a vision from Him because such persons must either be exonerated or destroyed!
Performing Miracles Proves NOTHING!
Owen, the problem with your summary (theory #7) is that it contains a significant flaw - performing miracles proves NOTHING!
Jesus said in Matthew 24:24-25 that false prophets can perform great signs and miracles, so we know that displays or manifestations of supernatural power do not necessarily mean that God has sent a prophet. In fact, the book of Revelation reveals that a time is coming when the devil himself will call fire down out of the sky to prove that he is God, and this overwhelming miracle will deceive most of the inhabitants of Earth.
- And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beat, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth…[1]
William Branham even said that Judas had the gift of healing. So, while your theory sounds good, the ability to perform miracles does not prove that a prophet is sent from God. Sadly, it is just that... a theory. We don't need theories, we need clear answers that are based on the Bible.
Having the Gifts of the Spirit does not make someone a prophet
Another flaw is that having one or more gifts of the Spirit does not make one a prophet. Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 12 that the Holy Spirit bestowed spiritual gifts on the early church. Even if you insist that William Branham exercised several of these spiritual gifts, this does not cause his words to be on par with the Bible (and while you might deny that you believe that, we can prove to you that virtually everyone in the message puts the message on equal standing with the Bible).
The REAL Biblical Test
A true Prophet must be 100% accurate. There is absolutely no margin for error. A true Prophet of God must accurately predicts things that do come to pass.
Seven obvious errors
Let’s look at seven consecutive mistakes William Branham made in a recorded prophecy given on November 13, 1960:
1) Roosevelt will cause the whole world to go to war. (Incorrect. This explanation for the start of WW2 ignores Hitler and Pearl Harbour.)
2) Mussolini, shall make his first invasion towards Ethiopia, and he will take Ethiopia; but that'll be his last. (Incorrect. Ethiopia was not Mussolini’s first invasion, and it was not his last)
3) “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.” (Incorrect. The Maginot Line was built by France.)
4) “Women [will] help elect the wrong person.” (While William Branham blamed Kennedy’s election on the women’s vote, he also blamed it on “crooked machines”…rigged voting machines on December 11 & 18, 1960; March 15 & 21 1961 and January 14, 1963. So was it the women's vote, or crooked machines?)
5) “Automobiles will continue to get like egg shape.” (Incorrect. Many of today’s cars are less egg-shaped than the VW Beetle of 1938.)
6) “Finally they will build one that won't need a steering wheel.” (Incorrect. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen debuted in 1886 and was steered with a tiller. The steering wheel didn’t appear until 1894.)
7) “Then I seen the United States as one smoldering, burnt-over place… That's what the Lord showed, but I predict this will take place before 1977.” (Incorrect. This did not happen)
During the above statements, William Branham said, “Now, you see why I'm hammering the way I do. I got, THUS SAITH THE LORD.” This is very, very surprising, especially because William Branham also said “You can go to my hometown and find it one time, in all the times that It's ever told anything, that didn't come to pass just exactly the way It said. Now, you pin a sign on my back as a false prophet.” Those are his words, not mine. Test his prophecies. If they fail, he is a false prophet who did not have Thus Saith The Lord.
Hundreds of problems
It is astounding that in our few years of research, we have turned up well over a hundred problems with William Branham and his message which you can read by clicking here. Yet you mention not a single one! How are we to consider your work credible?
Your books avoid answering how William Branham could prophecy things that did not come to pass. For example, in Book 1 of the Supernatural series, you retell the prophecy of 16 men falling off a bridge over the Ohio river - yet the fulfillment of this vision is missing from every book in the series. Why?
Even members of William Branham's family have admitted to us that 16 men did not die in the construction of the municipal bridge.
No independent research
The problem is that your "research" consisted primarily of re-writing William Branham's own stories. It did not consist of looking for evidence like you can find at www.searchingforvindication.com.
Your book only includes 2 evening meetings in India when there were actually 3 (there were no healings the second night, only prayers...based on eyewitness reports). Your approach also explains why you have William Branham meeting the Egyptian King Farouk in Egypt a year after the king was exiled from the country due to a military coup. How can that be?
So if William Branham exaggerated (which he admits) or got his facts wrong, then your books are historical fiction.
That's really sad, given your 25 years of sacrificial time to write the books.
Owen, when all is said and done, we are confronted with Deuteronomy 18:20-22 and we cannot get past it:
- But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’ — when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
We are in love with Jesus Christ and cannot agree with those in the message that William Branham's words are on par with the Bible. "Let God be true, and every man a liar. (Romans 3:4).
William Branham was simply a famous evangelist with false prophecies that died almost 50 years ago.
Footnotes
- ↑ Revelation 13:13,14
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