Three ISMs
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
Three ISMs
| Church Age Book statement of the vision |
|---|
| The third vision was in the realm of world politics for it showed me that there would be three great ISMS, Facism, Nazism, Communism, but that the first two would be swallowed up into the third. The voice admonished, "WATCH RUSSIA, WATCH RUSSIA. Keep your eye on the King of the North." |
What could this vision mean? It sounds as if it means that the countries espousing Nazism and Fascism would become communist. The ‘Watch Russia’ phrase seems to indicate that the world power to take notice of in the future would be Russia and that Russia would in some sense be a dominant world player or would be the initiator of some significant action. But it is vague as to the real intent.
It therefore is difficult to decide what would constitute fulfilment. William Branham said that it had been fulfilled – how? Italy became a democracy immediately following World War II. The part of Germany controlled by the USSR (East Germany) became Communistic until 1990 when the two countries (East and West) were unified under a democratic system. Other Eastern European countries under Soviet control became Communistic (albeit briefly) but not from Nazi or Fascist systems.
Russia itself has renounced Communism. The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 (58 years after the prophecy) stripped significant wealth and territory from the country and the population plummeted. Today Russia’s economy is only the same size as Spain’s. The world has been watching Russia for 85 years and has seen nuclear brinksmanship economic and political failure and not much else.
The irony of post-war politics especially in the west is that the Christian Democratic parties did best post war and these are Catholic based parties which is almost the antithesis of the prophecy of the ‘Three ISMs’. The vision, whatever it meant, was not fulfilled and almost certainly cannot be fulfilled.
The first time that this vision is mentioned was in a sermon in 1953. It therefore post-dates the fall of both Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in World War II and therefore cannot be considered to be a prophecy.
| Sermon statement |
|---|
| And I said, "There'll be three great isms, Communism, Fascism, and Nazism." And I said, "They'll wind up in one ism, and that one ism will dominate the world and will burn the Vatican City." You remember me saying that years and years and years ago. And just exactly that way. Israel and the Church 26th March 1953 |
No one heard him saying years and years ago ‘just exactly that way’ and that Russia would burn The Vatican. The original vision did not mention the Vatican. This, again, is astounding.
But here he does add something to the vision – that communism would dominate the world.
So again, the prophecy is wrong. Communism has not dominated the world. Communism (a ‘communal’ ideology) is: a theory or system of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. Russia is not communistic and even China which is theoretically communistic (and is governed by the Communist Party) is decidedly capitalistic in its trade and financial management. The communistic thesis is a failed experiment and is currently espoused by only:
- The Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC)
- Laos
- Cuba
- North Korea
- Vietnam
As noted, the PRC is financially capitalistic and allows private property. The other countries are failed states with little chance of becoming significant economies. No, the communistic philosophy is dead.
As for Communism burning the Vatican, it has not and one would be hard put to imagine a reason why it would. But in other quotations William Branham does supply a convoluted rationale. He said:
- Going to Sunday school one morning, I was caught away in a vision. And I said, "Now..." Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, I said, "Now, there's going to be three great isms. Which is now in existence. One of them is in Rome, which is--is Fascism, and one of them is in Germany which is Nazi--Nazism. And the other one is in Russia, which is communism." I said, "Those three great isms is the unclean spirits that went out of the mouth of the false prophet, and the dragons, and so forth that will unite themselves together, speaking things that they should not, and they'll all beat at one another, until they'll finally wind up in one ism. And I predict that that will be communism. And communism will burn the Vatican city.
Here he claims that this vision is directly related to a scripture, Rev 16:13.
- And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
This would constitute a 'fulfilment' of the scripture or an explanation of its meaning which would be of great significance – the three unclean spirits of the dragon, beast and false prophet are Fascism, Nazism and Communism! He actually claimed that he was led to expound the relationship between the ‘ISMs’ and the three spirits by the Holy Spirit. But the next verse says:
- For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Fascism etc are the ‘spirits of devils, working miracles etc? This has no obvious meaning, is most unlikely to have anything to do with this scripture and of course was not in the original.
| Sermonstatement |
|---|
| There'll be three isms. And they'd all heap up in one ism, and that ism will bring forth a persecution that would send Jesus Christ to the earth again." That's exactly so. That was Communism, and--and Hitler and--and Nazi, and so forth; and how that Fascism of Mussolini, and Hitler, and Stalin. I said, "One of them will take the place of it. I don't know which one it'll be, but I believe it'll be the king of the north." Questions and answers No 1 3rd January 1954 |
In this quote he adds the notion that the one ISM will initiate a persecution (presumably of the church) which would trigger the second coming. This was not a part of the original vision. He then says that one of the three ISMs will take over and he doesn’t know which one but thought it would probably be Russia (the king of the north)! Well, did the vision say which one would dominate! He claimed that this vision had been fulfilled yet there has been no persecution of the church.
None of this makes any sense and the vision continues to have no meaning even after 86 years.