Sixth Seal

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Where did William Branham say he got his revelation from?

William Branham said this about how he received the revelation of the sixth seal:

Something happened today when this Seal was revealed, that I had to walk completely out in the yard, just walk around, out in the yard a little while. That’s right. It just simply almost took my breath right away from me. See? So you talk, a tension? Oh, my! See? Another thing, see, you’re laying right onto what I say. And God is going to hold me responsible for what I tell you. See? And so I—I must absolutely be as sure as all sure can be sure, see, of these things, because this is a—a tremendous time that we’re living in. Yeah.

Now we find out, in last night’s service, also, the great mystery opened with this Seal, which was absolutely contrary to my former understanding. Just presuming that it was right, I always allowed them souls under the altar to be the early Christian martyrs. But we found out, last night, when the Lord God broke that Seal for us, it absolutely is impossible. It wasn’t them.

William Branham's Revelation of the Sixth Seal

The following are excerpts of William Branham's teaching from his series on the seven seals.

When did Matthew 24 take place?

These three verses, it took place, actually, on Tuesday afternoon, April the fourth, a.d. 30. And the first two verses took place on the afternoon of the…of April the fourth, in a.d. 30. And the 3rd verse taken place on Tuesday evening of the same day.

The Three-fold Question

Now I want you to notice, tonight, that in the Sixth Seal, there was a—a threefold purpose of the Sixth Seal.

Now notice, here is—here is three questions are asked by the Jews, His disciple. Three questions are asked. Now watch. “What,” first, first, “What…? When shall these things be, when, ‘There won’t be one stone left upon another’?” “What shall be the sign of Thy Coming?” second question. “And of the end of the world?” See it? There is three questions.

Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 tied together

Now watch. The First Seal is Revelation 6:1 and 2. Now we read 6:1 and 2. ...Who did we find this fellow was? [Congregation says, “Antichrist.”—Ed.] Antichrist. Matthew 24, now, 4 and 5.

Now the Second Seal, Matthew 24:6, Revelation 6:3 and 4.

Now let’s notice the Third Seal. Now, this is famine. Now, Matthew 24:7 and 8. ...Now, Revelation, in the 6th, now we’re going to open the Third Seal. It’s found in Revelation 6:5 and 6.

Fourth Seal, “pestilences” and “death.” Notice, Matthew 24. We’ll read the—the 8th verse, 7th and 8th... the Fourth Seal; and on the 6:7 and 8, on the other one, on the Revelation. Now let’s see the 7th and 8th of Matthew 24. All right, now. ...Now the Fourth Seal, as we read it over here, was the…The Fourth Seal, was begin 7th and 8th, on this other now. And when he had opened the fourth seal, and lo…the fourth beast said, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse... Now wait. I got this wrote down wrong. ...Now let’s see, Matthew 24:7 and 8. ...Now, that would be the Fourth Seal. Let’s see where we get the Fourth Seal. “And when he had opened the Fourth—Fourth Seal…” Yeah, it’s the pale-horse rider, “Death,” see.

Now, the Fifth Seal, Matthew 24:9-13... Now watch here on the 6th, Seal, 6:9 to 11. Now let’s get that one, Revelation 6:9 to 11.

Now, in the Sixth Seal, is the one we’re coming to now, Matthew 24:29 and 30. 24, and let’s get 29 and—and 30. Here we are. Now, now we’re going to get, also, Revelation 6:12 to 17.

Who were the Two Witnesses?

Now let’s stop here, again, and—and get something else, so, ’fore we bring it into home. Now watch here. These two prophets, look what they’re going to do now, just like Moses and them did down there. “And there was given me a reed…” And the 3rd verse of the 11th chapter. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, that they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

...Elijah, he knows how to do it; he’s done it before. Amen! Moses knows how to do it; he’s done it before.

...And now here is these two prophets standing here with the Word of God, to do anything to nature they want to. And they shake the earth. And it shows exactly who does it. It’s Moses and Elijah, ’cause there is their ministry re-impersonated again, it’s both men.

...Boy, that’s interrupting nature! Now, how long did—did this man, Elijah, close the heavens for? [Congregation says, “Three and one-half years.”—Ed.] There you are, exactly. How long is Daniel’s seventieth, last part of the seventy weeks? [“Three and one-half years.”] There you are, exactly.

Comparison to the teachings of Clarence Larkin

We need to compare William Branham's teaching above to Clarence Larkin's teaching. The following is quoted verbatim from Larkin's book, The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture (Philadelphia, PA: 1919):

When did Matthew 24 take place?

TUESDAY AFTERNOON APRIL 4 A.D. 30	AND Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not he thrown down.
TUESDAY EVENING	3 ¶ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

The Three-fold Question

1. WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE?
2. WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY COMING?
3. AND OF THE END OF THE WORLD (AGE)?

Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 tied together

MATT. 24:4–5 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.	1-SEAL FALSE CHRIST’S	REV. 6:1–2 AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
MATT. 24:6-7 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:	2-SEAL WARS	REV. 6:3–4 3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
MATT. 24:7 and there shall be famines,	3-SEAL FAMINES	REV. 6:5–6 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
MATT. 24:7–8 and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.	4-SEAL PESTILENCE AND DEATH	style="text-align:center;"REV. 6:7–8 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
MATT. 24:9–13 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.	5-SEAL MARTYROOMS	REV. 6:9–11 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood oh them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should he fulfilled.
MATT. 24:29–30 29 ¶ 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: 30 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.	6-SEAL PHYSICAL CHANGES	12 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; 13 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. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

Who were the Two Witnesses?

If we study carefully what shall happen during the period the “TWO WITNESSES” shall testify, which as we have seen will be the last half of the “Week,” or 3½ years, we shall see that the “TWO WITNESSES” can be no other than MOSES and ELIJAH. It is probable that Elijah will shut up the heavens that there shall be no rain, during the 3½ years of their witnessing, for we read that there is to be a “FIRE TEST” such as Elijah appointed on Mt. Carmel in the days of King Ahab (1. Kings 18:17–40), and the contest will be between Elijah and the “FALSE PROPHET,” and that the “FALSE PROPHET” shall have power to do what the Priests of Baal could not do, bring FIRE FROM HEAVEN. Rev. 13:13. The crucial question on Mt. Carmel was, who is GOD, JEHOVAH or BAAL? In the days of Antichrist it will be, who is GOD, JEHOVAH or ANTICHRIST? The test will be the power to bring down FIRE FROM HEAVEN. As the “False Prophet” will imitate the power of Elijah and bring down FIRE FROM HEAVEN, the test will not be decisive. The true Israel of God however will acknowledge the claim of Jehovah, while the followers of “The Beast” will continue to believe in him. But Elijah shall not be as fortunate as he was in the days of Ahab, for then he escaped the vengeance of Jezebel, but he will not be able to escape the vengeance of Antichrist who will see to it that both he and Moses are slain. As the Plagues that are to accompany the pouring out of the “Vials,” are four of them similar to the “Plagues of Egypt,” who more likely to bring them to pass than Moses? The evidence seems conclusive that the “TWO WITNESSES” will be MOSES and ELIJAH.

Two Prophets Controlling Nature

William Branham 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.”

One Prophet Controlling Nature

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.

Plagiarism

William Branham opens the Sixth Seal with a modified retelling of Max Brand’s 1920 story “A Sagebrush Cinderella”.

He also continues taking the bulk of his sermon notes directly from the writings of Clarence Larkin. Here is a comparison:

What William Branham Said	What Clarence Larkin Said
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.	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.
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..."	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.”
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...	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.”
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...	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.

Questions to ask yourself

God Will Judge Big Game Hunters

William Branham went to Africa and shot 34 large game animals in 21 days. What other sins did he preach against, but participated in?

"...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."

No Contradictions in the Word

Voice of God Recordings and many Message Believers have tried to justify inconsistencies in William Branham's stories, doctrines and prophecies by saying there are discrepancies in the Bible. As part of the Sixth Seal, William Branham addresses these concerns himself. So if William Branham's Message was the "Word for your day" as he claimed, then shouldn't it be free from contradictions as well?

“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.”

Is the Vision Biblical?

At the end of the sixth seal sermon, William Branham 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. Is this story simply 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?

If Joseph Smith's vision was real but not Biblical, shouldn't you also put William Branham's visions to the Biblical test?

Double check whether your faith is in receiving the Holy Spirit, or in William Branham's vision of heaven.

“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.” (William Branham, The Sixth Seal)

Links to other articles in the series

This article is one in a series of studies on the Seven Seals - you are currently on the topic that is in bold:

• Introduction
• First Seal
• Second Seal
• Third Seal
• Fourth Seal
• Fifth Seal
• Sixth Seal
• Seventh Seal
• Videos
• An Analysis of William Branham's Plagiarism

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