Second Seal
Where did William Branham say he got his revelation from?
William Branham said this about his "revelation" of the second seal:
- And now, tonight, we are studying this Second Seal. And for the first four Seals there is four horse riders. And I tell you, today something happened again. And, I—I, something that I…I go and get the old script that I had, that I talked on, long ago, and just set down there. And I thought, “Well, I—I did the very best I could.” And many writers and things, and I thought, “Well, I’ll read a little while, and look over and see this and that.” And the first thing you know, something just happens, and it’s altogether different. It just comes in different. Then I grab me a pencil right quick, and start writing down just as fast as I can, while He’s there. Oh, it just something happened just about one-half hour ago. I was telling Brother Wood, coming down, just a few minutes ago. Just something, you know. You know, there’s a lot of things happen, you just can’t talk about, you know. But just something just took place that just helped me so much.[1]
William Branham's Revelation of the Second Seal
For the second horse rider, the red horse, William Branham said the following:
- Now here is my revelation of it. This is Satan, again. It’s the devil, again, in another form... The council was held, and they elected a head bishop. And then, by doing this, they united church and state together. Then, he dropped his bow. He got off his white horse. He got on his red horse, for he can kill anybody that don’t agree with him. There is your Seal. Same fellow! Watch him ride on into Eternity yonder, with it, see, unites both his powers together.[2]
Comparison to the teachings of Charles Taze Russell
As with the First Seal, we again compare William Branham's teaching above to what Charles Taze Russel said in the 1918 book, The Finished Mystery:
- 6:3. And when He had opened the second seal.—Revealing the second period of the history of the Antichrist.
- I heard the second beast.—Infinite Power. See Rev. 4:7.
- Say, Come and see.—Come and see Infinite Power consenting to a thing apparently in victorious opposition to it.
- 6:4. And I beheld and lo there went out another horse.—A creed-horse, quite different from the Scriptures which it misrepresented.
- That was red.—The color of sin—imperfection. “Though your sins be as scarlet.”—Isa. 1:18.
- And power was given to him that sat thereon.—The same rider, the Antichrist.[3]
Questions
Does it concern you that we have found proof that a number of William Branham's prophecies did not come true?
- “I charge any of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus to ever--to put your finger on one thing of the hundreds of things that's been told before they come to pass and say they did not come to pass. Tell me one time that on the platform, out there wherever it was, that He ever spoke anything that wasn't perfectly just exactly that way.” (William Branham, The Second Seal)
Didn’t William Branham say that he came out of the desert, and claim the Third Pull would happen in the secret chamber? If so, do you want to believe Jesus' warning or William Branham's stories?
William Branham said:
- It goes right into the desert, from there on. Eternity sets in. Seven peaks, right on the Continental Divide. That’s right between right and wrong. And at the end of that, the Third Pull was the last Pull of the range. Is that right?[4]
- And just then He picked me up. He took me up, and sit me way up high, to where a meeting was going on. Looked like a tent or a cathedral, of some sort. And I looked, and there was a little box, like, little place over in the side. And I seen that Light was talking to somebody, above me, that Light that you see there on the picture. It whirled away from me, like that, and went over that tent. And said, “I’ll meet you there.” And said, “This will be the Third Pull, and you won’t tell It to nobody.” And in Sabino Canyon, He said, “This is the Third Pull.” And there’s three great things that goes with It. And one unfolded today, or, yesterday; the other one unfolded today; and there’s one thing that I cannot interpret, because it’s in an unknown language. But I stand right there and looked right straight at It. And this is the Third Pull coming up.[5]
But Jesus said:
- “And now, just before the coming of Christ, the Bible said there would be false christs arise and would claim to be Christ, and would say, "Lo," the people say, "He's in the desert." Don't believe it. "Lo, He's in the secret chamber." Don't believe it. "For as the sun shineth from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be." See? Yes, He'll--He'll--He'll appear, and it'll be a universal thing.” (William Branham, The Second Seal)
Controversial Statements
William Branham says some very strange comments during this sermon, such as:
- ”when a man turns down the Gospel Truth, Satan marks him. Where? At his ear.” However, William Branham admits turning down the Gospel call as a youth, as published in his Life story by Julius Stadsklev.
- ” The devil, as I proved to you the other night is in a trinity just like God”
- ” God works His place in a trinity: justification, sanctification and incarnate Himself in His people with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Same thing. The devil's just in a type after Christ.”
- “And I'd want you to, not by no mean, think that I am trying to inject some kind of a--a cult of Elijah's blankets or robes and oh, all those things we've had plenty of them.”
Moving to the Next Seal
Video Transcript
In our last video we covered the source of William Branham’s revelation of the First Seal. Moving to the Second Seal, William Branham again states that he did not get his revelation from anyone else. It came straight from God:
- And I tell you, today something happened again. And, I—I, something that I…I go and get the old script that I had, that I talked on, long ago, and just set down there. And I thought, “Well, I—I did the very best I could.” And many writers and things, and I thought, “Well, I’ll read a little while, and look over and see this and that.” And the first thing you know, something just happens, and it’s altogether different. It just comes in different. Then I grab me a pencil right quick, and start writing down just as fast as I can, while He’s there. Oh, it just something happened just about one-half hour ago.[6]
William Branham is clear that this is his revelation:
- Now here is my revelation of it. This is Satan, again.[7]
- ...the Roman Catholic church put sixty-eight million Protestants to death.” Was his sword red? Was he riding a red horse? What was it? The same power; the same rider. There is the Seal.[8]
But if we look at the writings of Charles Taze Russel, we understand exactly how William Branham received his revelation:
- And when He had opened the second seal... The same rider, the Antichrist. ...The pope (each pope in his turn) is the head of the false church.[9]
William Branham appears to be teaching the doctrine of Charles Taze Russell... the Watchtower Society... the Jehovah’s Witnesses... as having come straight from God… to him.
Did you know that Charles Russell is revered by his followers as the messenger to the church of Laodicea? Is this just a coincidence?
Footnotes
- ↑ William Branham, 63-0319 - The Second Seal, para. 11-12
- ↑ William Branham, 63-0319 - The Second Seal, para. 261, 284
- ↑ Russell, C. T. (Charles Taze), The Finished Mystery, Brooklyn : International Bible Students Association, 1918
- ↑ 63-1110M - Souls That Are In Prison Now, para. 312
- ↑ 63-0324E - The Seventh Seal, para. 299-300
- ↑ 63-0319 - The Second Seal, para. 11-12
- ↑ 63-0319 - The Second Seal, para. 261
- ↑ 63-0319 - The Second Seal, para. 289
- ↑ Charles Taze Russell, Studies in the Scriptures, Volume VII, The Finished Mystery: The Winepress of God's Wrath and the Fall of Babylon (published posthumously), edited by C. J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher, copyright 1917, Peoples Pulpit Association, Brooklyn, N. Y., USA, International Bible Students Association, published 1918, p. 140
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: