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| This page summarizes virtually all of the research we have conducted since 2004 with respect to William Branham and his message. Click on any of the questions or colored links to read further details on the issue. | | This page is a '''master list of all of the issues and problems that have been raised by us and others in respect to William Branham and his message'''. It summarizes virtually all of the research we have conducted since 2004 with respect to William Branham and his message. Click on any of the questions or colored links to read further details on the issue. |
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| =What is the motivation for this website?=
| | The purpose of this list is to provide a short concise summary of all known issues and can be used as a quick reference guide when discussing any concerns relating to William Branham, his message and those that follow him. Our aim is to provide a detailed explanation for each issue, as well as our detailed research, when you click on them. To the extent that the specific question does not link to anything, it simply means we have not had the time to research the issue as yet. |
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| The development of this website started out in 2004, and was ultimately published in 2007, with the purpose of being a sane voice in defense of the message of William Branham.
| | =='''THE CHALLENGE'''== |
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| We left the message church we had attended for 37 years after it turned out that the pastor of the church had covered up the sexual abuse of a minor. The majority of the congregation also left within a month after our leaving and a new church started up. It did not differ doctrinally from the church we left, yet the pastor believed all those who left were apostate. The most problematic issue was the fact that not a single message minister stood up publicly against the egregious sin of our former pastor.
| | If you disagree with our conclusions on any of the issues we have raised below, '''[[A Scriptural Challenge to Followers of William Branham|please prove us wrong]]'''. Honestly, we don't want to have anything incorrect on this website. |
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| How could this be? '''Wasn't the purpose of the message to create a pure bride that could stand above sin and the world?''' We began to think that the message had somehow been perverted by the ministers of the message. To determine whether this was the case, we went to the very foundation of our faith and started examining what we believed. We asked ourselves these two questions:
| | =='''OUR PROMISE'''== |
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| #Had ministers of the message perverted William Branham's teaching? OR
| | If you are aware of any errors/problems/concerns with information on this list or in the related articles on our website, please let us know [[Contact information|by email]] or by [https://www.facebook.com/BelieveTheSign a message to us on our Facebook page]. We will correct any factual errors as quickly as possible. |
| #Was there a fundamental problem with the message itself?
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| ===Can we trust the Bible?===
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| Because the message was basically a "King James Version Only" denomination (and, yes, we believe the message is a "denomination" as that word is commonly defined), we started examining the Bible and which versions we could consider as trustworthy. Through our research over a period of about 9 months, '''it became clear that the Bible was very trustworthy,''' although our understanding was changed somewhat as we clearly understood how the New Testament had been passed down to us today.
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| ===Can we trust the message?===
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| We then started to research the message. Our sole purpose was to prove the message to be true so that we could determine how it had been perverted by the message ministers who refused to stand up against sin in the pulpit.
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| While the Bible had stood up well to intense scrutiny, our research into the message started raising some very difficult questions - visions that had apparently failed, prophecies that had changed over time, credibility issues and doctrinal problems.
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| Paul, in Acts 17, considered those that searched scripture to try to prove whether things were true to be more noble than those that did not:
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| :''The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001), Ac 17:10–11.</ref>
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| The research we did to try answer to the questions we encountered raised even more questions, '''so we became even more diligent in our efforts to prove that the message was correct and that William Branham was a true prophet of God'''. The ongoing results of our research continued to raise even more questions. We spent several years researching these issues which in turn raised multitudes of questions.
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| ==What happened next...==
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| Our biggest problem was that '''no one in our church''' was prepared to sincerely consider our questions and try to answer them. We talked to many well-known ministers that also followed William Branham, but they didn't have any answers either. A few of the more honest ministers actually admitted that we had stumbled onto some questions that they couldn't answer (at least in a way that reflected positively on William Branham). So we kept searching for answers.
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| What was important to us was the Bible and it has always been our sincere desire to follow Christ regardless of the cost. That is more important to us than family, friends or work. Our questions were driven by our desire to know Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.
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| ==What does the Bible say about sincere questions?==
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| Read our article on [[Reason and the Message#Jesus' reaction to someone who questioned him|What Jesus had to say about asking questions?]]
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| The Book of Acts contains numerous examples of Paul reasoning with the Jews in their synagogues about the Messiah. Paul was dealing with tough questions being put to him by Jews that did not believe the message of Christ.
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| When someone comes to us with a tough question, how are we supposed to respond? Peter gives us the answer in 1 Peter 3:15 (shown below from several translations):
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| :KJV - ''But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and '''be ready always to give an answer to every man''' that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear...<ref>1 Peter 3:15-16 (KJV)</ref>
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| :NASB - ''...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, '''always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you''', yet with gentleness and reverence...<ref>1 Peter 3:15-16 (NASB)</ref>
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| :NLT - ''Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And '''if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it'''. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.<ref>1 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)</ref>
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| I am not sure why those in our church did not seem to believe or practice this verse, but we have found this attitude through out the message - message believers refuse to answer, or even discuss, our questions in an open and honest manner.
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| This page consists of our list of questions. Each question contains a link which, if you click on, will take you to our detailed research on the specific issue.
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| ===How did Jesus deal with questions arising out of doubt?===
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| There was a person in the Bible that thought that Jesus was the messiah but later on he began to have some doubt.
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| How did Jesus deal with this man's doubt?
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| Here is the story about John the Baptist from Luke 7:18- 23:
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| :''John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’ ” At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” <ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), Lk 7:18–23.</ref>
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| Jesus did not say, "How could you doubt me, John?" He did not condemn John for doubting. What he did was point to the evidence and to tell John's followers to go back to him and tell John the Baptist what they saw.
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| Jesus did not condemn doubt and he simply pointed to the evidence.
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| ==Fear not==
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| If you are a message believer, the list below is frightening. You may get angry. Some have become physically ill. They are going to raise a lot of questions. '''But please just take your time.''' Think about the questions that we are asking and the facts that we are presenting (click on the highlighted text to go to the specific research on an issue).
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| We are not expecting you to believe anything just because we are saying it. But '''what we have done is to provide all of the facts, quotes and references necessary to back up all of our research and observations'''. Study these things out for yourself. If you can find any errors in our research, we will change the information on our website - [[Contact information|please, just let us know about it]].
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| To the extent anyone in the message has sought to provide us with an explanation for, or specific solution to, a problem or concern that we have raised, we have listed these in the discussion of the issue. There have not been a lot of explanations to date that have been sent to us, and most of them are easily identified as being the product of [[Cognitive Dissonance]] (if you don't know what that is, please click on the link).
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| Finally, don't be afraid. The opposite of love is [[If you need help#If you are afraid|not hate, but fear]]. If you have [[How to Deal with Doubt|doubts, they need to be resolved]], and the only way to do that is to find out the truth. We wished that we had known these things years ago. And we are presenting them here so that you don't have to spend the years researching these issues that we did.
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| {|style="width:100%; background-color:#cedff2; border:1px #a3b0bf solid; text-align:center;"
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| |''There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, '''because fear has to do with punishment'''. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love. 4:19 We love because he loved us first.'' (1 John 4:18-19)<ref>Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible (Biblical Studies Press, 2006), 1 Jn 4:18–19.</ref>
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| ==A Challenge and A Promise==
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| The following is a '''master list of all of the issues and problems that have been raised by us and others in respect to William Branham and his message'''.
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| The purpose of this list is to provide a short concise summary of all known issues that can be used as a quick reference guide when discussing these concerns. Our aim is to provide a detailed explanation for each problem, and the research we have uncovered, when you click on them. To the extent that the specific problem does not link to anything, it simply means we have not had the time to research the issue as yet.
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| '''THE CHALLENGE''' - If you disagree with our conclusions on any of the issues we have raised below, '''[[A Scriptural Challenge to Followers of William Branham|please prove us wrong]]'''. Honestly, we don't want to have anything incorrect on this website.
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| '''THE PROMISE''' - If you are aware of any errors/problems/concerns with information on this list or in the related articles on our website, please let us know [[Contact information|by email]] or by [https://www.facebook.com/BelieveTheSign a message to us on our Facebook page]. We will correct any factual errors as quickly as possible.
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| People have also asked us whether it is wrong to highlight all of the issues with William Branham and his message. We have looked at this issue carefully and believe it is not only right but we are [[Are we wrong to highlight the problems with William Branham and his message?|required to tell people what we found.]] | | People have also asked us whether it is wrong to highlight all of the issues with William Branham and his message. We have looked at this issue carefully and believe it is not only right but we are [[Are we wrong to highlight the problems with William Branham and his message?|required to tell people what we found.]] |